In this blog, Ian Wellman, Director of Cloud Services at Tenth Revolution Group, explores why more organizations are reassessing their Dynamics 365 support models as renewal cycles approach.
At some point in the next three to six months, your Dynamics 365 support contract will come up for renewal. In many organizations, that renewal will be signed the same way it was last time – quickly, with minimal scrutiny and no clear view of what the business is actually getting for the investment.
That is not a renewal. That is a habit.
I have had more conversations about this in the last three months than in the previous three years combined. Businesses running Dynamics 365, whether that is Business Central, Finance and Operations, Customer Engagement, Power Platform, or a combination across the estate, are looking at the arrangement they have with their delivery partner with fresh eyes.
The real question is not performance
Most partners delivered a strong implementation. They configured the platform, supported go-live and maintained a professional relationship.
What is changing is the expectation of what comes next. Two years ago, support meant stability, ticket resolution, updates and keeping the system running.
Today, it means something very different:
- Data strategy through Fabric
- Copilot and AI-assisted workflows
- Advanced Power Platform development
- Continuous optimization of business processes
- Limited documentation
- Unclear governance
- Incomplete knowledge transfer
- Over-reliance on individuals
The skill set required to deliver this next phase is not the same as the one that delivered your implementation. That gap is real and for many organizations, it is growing.
What is at stake
When your platform is managed externally, risk compounds over time. Not immediately, but gradually and often invisibly.
Cost accumulates without ownership
Mid-market organizations typically spend £150,000 to £300,000 annually on partner-managed support. Over a contract cycle, that becomes a significant investment in capability the business never retains.
Speed is dictated by someone else’s backlog
Every change request, workflow update, or automation sits in a queue. What should take days often takes weeks.
Knowledge sits outside the business
Configuration, integrations, security models, and Dataverse architecture are often understood by a small number of external consultants. If they move on, that knowledge goes with them.
Platform continuity is outsourced
Microsoft releases two major updates every year. Each introduces changes that require testing, validation, and strategic decisions. Without internal ownership, you rely entirely on your partner to interpret impact.
Strategic control is limited
This is the biggest shift. Dynamics 365 is no longer just an operational system; it’s becoming a strategic platform.
If your ability to evolve it depends entirely on an external partner, your roadmap is not just supported by them but constrained by them. The combination of skills required today, across Dynamics, Power Platform and AI, is rare. These professionals are not actively applying for roles. They are selective, in demand, and expect a credible value proposition.
This is where specialist support becomes critical.
Organizations that succeed in this transition do not rely on generalist recruitment or internal hiring alone. They engage specialists who understand the market, the talent pool and how to attract the right profiles.
If you are considering bringing Dynamics 365 capability in house, start with the team. Define the skills you need, understand what the market looks like and build a plan to secure the right talent before making the shift.
Option one: shop around
The first instinct for many businesses is to test the market. The Dynamics 365 partner landscape has expanded significantly and there are more options than ever.
At one end, there is a growing number of offshore and nearshore providers offering managed services at lower day rates. If reducing cost is the priority and you are comfortable with the trade-offs around time zones, communication, and cultural alignment, this can work. Some organisations have made it work well, particularly for straightforward BAU support.
At the other end, there are established onshore and nearshore partners with sector expertise and senior consulting teams. Switching can bring fresh perspective, better industry alignment, and renewed accountability. It also means a period of disruption while the new partner learns your environment.
But there is a third reason to shop around that has nothing to do with dissatisfaction or cost. Your incumbent may have done excellent work implementing Business Central or F&O, but that does not mean they have the depth to take you where you need to go next.
If your roadmap includes deploying Copilot across your Dynamics 365 environment, building AI assisted processes in Customer Engagement, developing advanced Power Platform solutions, or bringing Fabric into your data and analytics strategy, those are specialist capabilities.
They require dedicated investment, specific certifications, and practical delivery experience that not every partner has built. I see this regularly, a partner that delivered a strong core implementation, but whose consulting team is still operating with the same skill set they had three years ago. The platform has moved on, but partner has not.
That is not a criticism, but a recognition that the Microsoft ecosystem, and particularly the AI layer now sitting across it, has broadened faster than most partner organisations can keep pace with.
If your ambitions have outgrown your partner's skill set, the renewal is the right moment to address it rather than discovering the gap mid project when you are already committed.
Even if you do not switch, running a competitive process gives you information and leverage. It forces your incumbent to justify their pricing, their service levels, and critically, their forward capability. Can they demonstrate real Copilot delivery experience? Have they built Fabric solutions for clients at your scale? Do they have consultants who understand AI assisted workflows in CE or F&O, or are they still learning?
These are fair questions, and renewal is the right time to ask them.
Option two: renegotiate with your incumbent
The second option is to stay with your existing partner but change the terms. This is often the most pragmatic route, particularly if the partner has deep knowledge of your environment and the relationship is strong.
But renegotiation should not just be about price. A lower monthly fee for the same scope does not solve the underlying problem if the underlying problem is dependency, or if the partner's skill set is not keeping pace with your platform ambitions.
The more valuable renegotiation is about what actually changes. Is the partner delivering proactive recommendations or just closing tickets? Is there a structured knowledge transfer component built into the contract? Is the arrangement helping you build internal capability or keeping you reliant? And crucially, can the partner credibly support your next phase?
If you’re planning to adopt Copilot, extend your use of Power Platform, or bring Fabric into the picture, does the partner have the people who can deliver that, or will they be learning on your time and your budget?
Many good partners are already investing heavily in these areas. The best ones are bringing AI capability to their clients proactively, running Copilot readiness assessments, and building Fabric practices alongside their core Dynamics work. If your partner is one of them and they are willing to have this conversation openly, that tells you something worth knowing.
If they’re not, that tells you something too.
Option three: bring it in house
This is the option I am seeing the biggest shift towards. More businesses are looking at the risk of their Dynamics 365 estate sitting externally and deciding they want to own it.
This does not mean cutting the partner off overnight. It means building towards a position where the business has its own people making configuration decisions, managing the platform roadmap, handling day to day support, and engaging the partner selectively for specialist work rather than depending on them for everything.
I want to be direct about two things before anyone commits to this path.
First, it is not automatically cheaper. A platform owner, a couple of functional consultants, a Power Platform developer, plus recruitment costs, onboarding, training, and the overhead of managing a team internally, that adds up quickly.
The case for in house is about control, speed, and strategic ownership, not a simple cost saving. At the lower end of the mid-market, the numbers may not support a full internal team and a hybrid model with targeted partner support may be the smarter answer.
Second, the Dynamics talent market is not just tight. For most businesses trying to recruit directly, it is close to impossible. The combination of skills that defines a strong platform team today, functional depth in BC or F&O, practical Power Platform capability, understanding of Copilot and AI assisted workflows, is genuinely rare.
These people are not on job boards or responding to LinkedIn InMails from internal talent teams who do not speak their language. They’re in demand and they know their value.
This is where working with a specialist makes the difference. Companies like Nigel Frank, who have been operating in the Microsoft Dynamics recruitment space for over 20 years, make this look easy because they have the network, the market knowledge, and the credibility with candidates that a generalist recruiter or an internal HR team simply does not have in this space.
Building the team is achievable but trying to do it without a specialist who knows where the talent sits and how to attract it is one of the fastest ways to stall the whole transition before it starts.
The biggest risk I see is not the decision to bring it in house, but the execution. I have seen businesses recruit a couple of people, give the partner notice, and find themselves in serious trouble six months later. The new team was dropped into an environment they did not build, with no documentation, no governance framework, and no structured handover.
In some cases it was more nuanced, a team that understood the configuration but not the business logic behind it, or an environment with years of undocumented customisations that only the outgoing partner's senior consultant truly understood. Either way, the institutional knowledge walked out the door.
That is not a recruitment problem, but a transition problem and it requires a proper plan.
If your roadmap includes AI, Copilot, or advanced Power Platform use, now is the time to assess whether your current partner can actually deliver it. Secure the Dynamics 365 talent you need to build and scale your in-house capability with Tenth Revolution Group, powered by Nigel Frank.
The biggest risk is not the decision, but the execution.
Bringing a platform in house without a structured transition plan is where most businesses struggle.
Common issues include:
The result is a team that owns the platform but does not fully understand it.
A successful transition requires structure, oversight and accountability from day one.
How Tenth Connect supports the decision
Tenth Connect works with organizations across all three paths. We’re not tied to any single partner and we do not sell technology. We sit on the client side and act in your interest.
The focus is simple - help you make the right decision, execute it effectively, and leave you in control. We have built three services for businesses approaching a renewal or reassessing their support model.
Platform Ownership Audit
A free, independent review of your environment, partner model and contracts. Clear insight into what you are paying for and whether it aligns with your goals.
Partner Selection
A structured process to evaluate the market. Focused on capability, commercial value, and alignment with your roadmap, especially across AI, Copilot and data.
Own Your Platform
End-to-end support to build internal capability, manage transition and ensure knowledge is fully transferred before reducing partner dependency.
Your partner stays in the picture for specialist work. The difference is that you are choosing to engage them rather than depending on them.
Where to start
If your partner support contract is coming up for renewal and you are not sure which of these options is right for you, start with the audit. It’s free, it is independent, and it will give you the foundation to make a confident decision rather than a reactive one.
If your renewal is in the next six months, please get in touch and we can send you the audit framework so you can see exactly what we look at.