Dynamics 365 Partner UK & Ireland

The most common mistake organisations in the UK and Ireland make is treating this as a software decision rather than a project delivery decision. The Dynamics 365 platform is the same regardless of which partner sells it, what varies enormously is how each partner implement it, how well they scoped your project, and whether they’re still available 6 months or years after your go-live.

Before you shortlist Dynamics 365 Partners in the UK, verify their current Microsoft Solutions Partner status via the Microsoft AppSource Partner Directory. Then ask for evidence of their experience with comparable projects in your sector. A credible Dynamics 365 Partner in the UK should be able to share case studies, and details about projects they have deployed that are similar to yours.

Walkerscott is a certified Microsoft Solutions Partner operating across the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South East Asia. We’ve been delivering Dynamics 365 implementations since 2011 and provide fixed-price project certainty on every engagement, so you know the scope, the cost, and the timeline before we start.

Dynamics 365 implementation costs vary significantly depending on the product (Business Central, Finance & Operations, CRM, and others), the complexity of your processes, how many integrations are involved, and the state of your existing data.
Licence costs are part of the picture – but implementation, data migration, training, and ongoing support all add to the total investment. Any honest partner will walk you through the full picture before you commit to anything.

One of the biggest levers on implementation cost is the approach your partner takes to building the solution. Dynamics 365 is a mature platform with substantial out-of-the-box capability, and a good partner will configure that capability to fit your processes before reaching for custom development.

Out-of-the-box configuration is faster to deliver, easier to maintain, and keeps your system aligned with Microsoft’s ongoing updates. Custom code can add complexity and take longer to build, requiring more rigorous testing, and may need to be revisited every time Microsoft releases a platform update. Customisations should be justified by a clear business case, not used as a default because they’re easier to sell.

The more a Dynamics 365 partner leans on customisation, the higher your implementation cost will be.

Where UK organisations get caught out is the gap between what a partner quotes and what the project actually costs. Keep a close eye on change requests once a project starts, each one may sound reasonable in isolation, but collectively they can send a project well over budget. The root cause is almost always inadequate scoping at the start, sometimes compounded by an over-reliance on custom development that inflates the build phase beyond original estimates.

At Walkerscott, our approach is to configure first and use Dynamics 365 as Microsoft intended, extending with custom development only where there’s a clear business case the platform genuinely can’t meet out of the box. Combined with our fixed-price Dynamics 365 implementation model, what we quote reflects a solution designed to be practical and maintainable, not one engineered to maximise billable hours.

If you’re comparing proposals and one looks significantly cheaper than the others, ask specifically what’s included, what triggers a change request, and how much of the build relies on custom code.

Configuration means adjusting Dynamics 365 using built-in settings and tools, like changing workflows, fields, views, and business rules within the platform’s standard capability. Customisation means writing code to extend or change the system beyond what Microsoft has built natively.

The distinction matters for two reasons. First, heavily customised systems are more expensive to maintain, more likely to break when Microsoft releases updates, and harder to hand over to another partner if the relationship doesn’t work out. Second, some partners retain ownership of the custom code they write, which creates genuine lock-in. If they own the intellectual property sitting inside your system, switching partners becomes difficult or prohibitively expensive.

Walkerscott’s approach is to configure first and customise only where there’s a clear business case that can’t be met out of the box. When we do build custom functionality for a Dynamics 365 implementation, full IP ownership transfers to the client. Your system is yours.

For a standard Business Central or CRM implementation for an SME, you can expect six to twelve weeks from project kick-off to go-live with a partner using a structured rapid deployment methodology.

Larger or more complex implementations, like Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, multi-entity, or projects with significant integrations typically run longer.

The single biggest driver of timeline overruns is inadequate discovery and scoping at the start creating delays and rework during the project.

Walkerscott uses Ascent, our rapid deployment framework for Dynamics 365, which uses pre-built configurations to bypass the traditional heavy lifting of implementation. For eligible projects, this means going live in weeks, not months,  without cutting corners on scope or data migration.

This is the question most UK organisations forget to ask, and one of the most common sources of frustration after a Dynamics 365 project is completed. The implementation phase tends to be well-resourced and responsive. The post-go-live picture is often very different.

Before you sign with any Dynamics 365 partner in the UK, get to know the support they are able to offer post deployment. Do they have a well resourced helpdesk team? What are the response time commitments, and are they in the contract? How are system updates and Microsoft release waves managed? Do they offer staff training?

At Walkerscott, our managed services and client care model is built around continuity. We proactively manage updates, optimisations, and integrations on your behalf.

Three things consistently separate Dynamics 365 implementations that come in on budget from ones that don’t.

The first is a thorough discovery phase. Every process that will touch the system – finance, procurement, operations, reporting – needs to be documented before a single line of configuration begins. Any gaps between your requirements and Dynamics 365’s out-of-the-box capability should be identified and costed upfront, not discovered mid-project.

The second is data quality. Legacy systems almost always contain inconsistencies that aren’t visible until you try to migrate them, like duplicates, missing records, mismatched fields. Auditing and cleansing your data before migration begins saves significant time and cost compared to fixing it after go-live.

The third is a fixed-price commercial model. Time-and-materials engagements place all the financial risk of scope uncertainty on you as the client. Every ambiguous requirement becomes a change request. Walkerscott provides fixed-price project certainty for Dynamics 365 implementations across the UK, the scope, cost, and timeline are agreed before we start, and they don’t move.

Yes. Walkerscott is a certified Microsoft Solutions Partner, holding designations across Business Applications, Digital & App Innovation, and Data & AI. We also hold the Low Code Application Development Specialisation, recognising our expertise in Power Apps and the Microsoft Power Platform.

We are ISO 27001 certified, meaning information security is built into our delivery model, not treated as an afterthought. We are trusted by state and federal agencies in Australia and New Zealand, with pre-approved status on multiple government procurement panels. 

Walkerscott has been delivering Dynamics 365 implementations since 2011, working with organisations across the Not-for-Profit, Government, Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Corporate Enterprise sectors. If you’d like to understand our experience in your sector specifically, we’re happy to walk you through relevant projects and case studies.

Walkerscott implements the full Dynamics 365 suite, including Business Central, Finance & Operations, Customer Insights, Contact Center, Customer Service, Sales, and Field Service. We also extend Dynamics 365 with Klevr Apps, our proprietary suite of industry-ready applications covering fundraising and donor management, grants management, contract and procurement management, and membership management.

For organisations in the Not-for-Profit sector, Klevr Fundraising provides a purpose-built CRM on the Dynamics 365 platform, designed for the compliance, reporting, and donor relationship requirements that generic CRM tools don’t address well.

If you’re evaluating a Dynamics 365 partner in the UK and want to understand which products and deployment approach fit your situation, talk to our team.