Short answer: first determine what kind of procurement you are actually doing. Business Central, Finance & Supply Chain Management, and Customer Engagement are three different markets with different vendors and completely different project scales. Then build a longlist of five to eight candidates, filter by industry experience and size matching, and put the emphasis of the evaluation on the people who will actually deliver. All partners respond well to a good question, so what matters is not the questions you ask, but how you evaluate the answers.
This guide is written by d365 Guide. We do not implement Dynamics 365, nor do we sell licenses. We exist to enable buyers to compare partners on the same grounds.
Why the partner choice weighs heavier than the system choice
Most organizations spend the majority of their time comparing systems. This is understandable: the system is what is demonstrated, priced, and formally decided upon. But Dynamics 365 is Microsoft's product regardless of where the license is purchased. Some licenses can be bought directly from Microsoft or via Microsoft 365, others are bought with the support of a partner. For most implementations, however, it is the implementation partner who analyzes, configures, integrates, trains, and assists with management.
This means that the variable that truly determines the outcome is often the one that is least scrutinized. An ERP or CRM project usually involves several functions and many people internally, spans from preliminary study to stable operation, and impacts large parts of the business if it goes wrong. The consequences are rarely just financial; they also affect those who championed the decision and are responsible for making the solution work.
The point is not that the decision is dangerous. The point is that it can be structured, and that structure is what makes the decision defensible in hindsight.
Choose the guide for the Dynamics 365 system you are evaluating
For companies looking for a new ERP system or a new Business Central partner.
For larger companies and groups with complex finance, logistics or manufacturing.
For companies introducing or developing CRM and sales processes.
For customer service organisations, field technicians and service processes.
Step 1: Determine which market you are in
Talking about "a Dynamics 365 partner" is too blunt to be useful. The three main markets – Business Central, Finance & Supply Chain Management, and Customer Engagement – have different vendor landscapes, project logic, and risk profiles. Within Customer Engagement, Dynamics 365 Sales also clearly differs from Customer Service and Field Service.
The table below is d365 Guide's assessment of the Nordic market, based on our ongoing contact with partners and buyers. The figures should be read as orders of magnitude, not as price lists or official Microsoft statistics. This assessment was updated in September 2026.
| Application Area | Typical Project Size | New Deals per Year in the Nordics |
|---|---|---|
| Business Central | From around EUR 9,000 | Around 500 |
| Sales | Roughly the same level as Business Central, often lower | Around 500 |
| Customer Insights (Marketing) | Varies greatly with data maturity | Around 300 |
| Customer Service, Field Service, Contact Center | Wide variation; complete solutions often exceed EUR 45,000 | Around 200 each |
| Finance & Supply Chain Management | Enterprise. Normally starts around EUR 450,000 | Around 50 |
The differences have practical consequences. For Business Central, there are dozens of Nordic partners, many of whom are small and strongly industry-focused. For Finance & Supply Chain Management, the field is much narrower: we estimate there are about a hundred customer groups in the Nordics in total, and pure new sales projects are uncommon. For Customer Engagement, you encounter two different types of vendors: full-service providers who also do ERP, and specialized CRM and Power Platform specialists.
If you don't clarify which of these markets you are in, you risk comparing candidates that are not comparable.
We have written an in-depth selection guide for each area: Business Central, Finance & Supply Chain Management, Dynamics 365 Sales, and Customer Service and Field Service. This page covers what applies regardless of the application.
Step 2: Build a longlist without relying on a single source
There are four reasonable paths to finding candidates, and they each have different weaknesses.
Microsoft's Partner Directory
Provides registered partners with formal status. The directory answers the question of who is registered with Microsoft, not who is right for you. It also doesn't distinguish between a company with three consultants and one with three hundred.
Industry-specific add-on solutions
Many partners have built their own apps for a specific vertical. If you find a solution that closely matches your business, it often leads to the right vendor. Just check whether the app is the partner's own or licensed from an ISV, as this affects who owns further development.
Your own network
Recommendations from colleagues in the same industry are valuable, but the selection becomes narrow and influenced by who you happen to know. Furthermore, a recommendation says more about a completed project than about the partner's current capacity, which may have changed due to growth, acquisitions, or staff turnover.
Buyer-side comparison
d365 Guide lists Nordic Dynamics 365 partners with the same information described in the same way: application areas, industry experience, size, and proof of delivery. The purpose is for you to be able to sort in and out on comparable grounds before you start booking meetings.
Five to eight candidates is a reasonable starting point. More than that, no decision-making group can evaluate in depth, and depth is the whole point.
Step 3: Four questions to ask yourselves first
Before you meet a single vendor, the decision-making group should agree on the following. If you don't, the partner will make the choice for you, and then the choice will be theirs rather than yours.
- Which three criteria weigh most heavily for us, and do we agree on them? More than three cannot be maintained when presentations begin.
- How much of the work should we do ourselves? Data cleansing, testing, and training can be handled by you or by the partner. The difference is significant in both cost and calendar time.
- Who internally owns the system after go-live? If the answer is unclear, management will in practice become the partner's decision.
- What should be resolved in eighteen months, and how will it be noticed? Without an answer to this, there is no benchmark for whether the project succeeded.
Step 4: Ask the questions that actually differentiate partners
Most questionnaires in this area generate the same answers from all vendors, because the questions are formulated so that the good answer is obvious. The question is rarely whether the partner works with change management. The question is what they answer when you ask for an example.
Below are six questions along with what a useful answer typically contains and what should make you alert. Evaluating the answers is at least as important as the question.
1. Who will deliver, and what are their names?
Request names and CVs for the solution architect and project manager, not the company's overall list of merits. Then ask if you can include them in the contract with a reasonable replacement clause.
Good answers include:
- Named individuals, their previous projects, and how much of their time will be dedicated to you.
- A willingness to regulate staffing in the contract.
Warning signs:
- The answer is about how many consultants the company has in total.
- Names will only be provided at project start.
- After three meetings, you've only met the sales organization.
2. Can we choose references ourselves?
Customer cases presented by the partner are always selected. Instead, ask for a list of all customers in your industry and size class over the past three years, and choose two to call yourselves.
Good answers include:
- A full list, including at least one project that was challenging.
- Contact information for someone who is still a customer, and preferably someone who is no longer.
Warning signs:
- Only published customer cases are offered instead of direct calls.
- References are in a different industry or size class than yours.
3. Tell us about a project that went wrong
What happened, what did it cost, and what did you change afterwards? Partners who have delivered for a long time have all had projects that went off track.
Good answers include:
- A concrete case with timeframe and magnitude of the deviation.
- What they changed in their own working methods as a result.
Warning signs:
- It has never happened.
- The entire cause is attributed to the customer.
4. How do you view customizations?
Business Central and Finance & Supply Chain Management are continuously updated by Microsoft. Every deviation from the standard is something you will have to maintain for many years to come.
Good answers include:
- A willingness to challenge your requirements and propose the standard flow first.
- An estimate of how many customizations a comparable customer has, and what they cost to maintain annually.
Warning signs:
- Everything you wish for can be built.
- The number of proprietary customizations is presented as a strength.
5. What happens after go-live?
Ask to see the support model in writing already during the evaluation. This is the phase you will live with the longest, and it is almost never reviewed before signing the contract.
Good answers include:
- Named customer manager, response times, and pricing model.
- A description of how further development is ordered, prioritized, and priced.
Warning signs:
- Support is described only as an email address or a ticketing system.
- The support agreement is only presented after the project agreement is signed.
6. What does the estimate look like per phase, with assumptions?
A total price without assumptions cannot be scrutinized. Ask for a breakdown per phase along with the assumptions the estimate relies on: number of legal entities, number of integrations, data volume, and how much you will do yourselves.
Good answers include:
- Explicit assumptions and what happens if one of them does not hold true.
- A clear boundary between fixed and variable costs, and a described change management process.
Warning signs:
- A lump sum without breakdown.
- The estimate significantly drops when you mention comparing with another vendor.
Qualifications measure something different than you think
Certifications, awards, and partner status are not worthless, but they rarely measure what the buyer thinks they measure.
- Certifications are individual and tied to people, not to the company. The question is not how many certifications the partner has in total, but whether the certified individuals are the ones assigned to you.
- Microsoft's partner designations have been based on Solutions Partner designations since 2022. The term "gold competency" no longer exists, and if it still appears in a proposal, it's a sign that the material has not been kept up-to-date.
- Partner of the Year and similar awards are given by Microsoft and reflect the partner's performance in relation to Microsoft. They are not customer satisfaction metrics.
- Methodology: Sure Step has been discontinued. Microsoft's current implementation guidance is structured around Success by Design. FastTrack for Dynamics 365 is Microsoft's customer success and advisory program for qualified projects and should not be described as the partner's own methodology or certification. A partner who still describes Sure Step as their current methodology says something about how often the material is reviewed.
What differs by application area
Business Central
Here, industry fit is the most important factor, along with size matching. A company with twenty users that hires one of the largest system integrators risks becoming a small customer with junior consultants. Conversely, a partner with five employees often lacks the stamina for an international rollout. Also, ask if the partner has their own add-on apps and what happens to them if you switch partners.
Finance & Supply Chain Management
Projects are large and run for a long time, making the solution architect the most important person on the project. Competence is also specialized: financial flows and logistics or production flows are rarely handled well by the same consultant, so examine the team as a whole. Ask about the delivery model between consultants in the Nordics and any resources in other countries, and where in that mix the analysis and design are performed. That's where misunderstandings become costly.
This segment differs enough to warrant its own review: see how to choose a partner for Finance & Supply Chain Management.
Customer Engagement
The critical risk is not technical but relates to user adoption. A CRM that sales reps or case handlers bypass will yield poorer data quality than the system you left. Therefore, ask how the partner works with change management and how they measure actual usage after launch. Also, ask how they view the boundary between a standard app and a custom-built app in Power Platform, as that boundary now determines both cost and maintainability.
Sales support and customer service are practically two different procurements with different partner landscapes. We treat them separately in the guides on Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer Service and Field Service, respectively.
About AI and Copilot
Almost all partners today describe that they work with Copilot and agents. Significantly fewer can describe what they have actually put into production for a customer.
Therefore, the question to ask is not whether the partner works with AI, but which function they have deployed, for how many customers, and what the customer gained from it. A concrete example is more illuminating than an entire presentation. Lack of examples is not a disqualifying reason in itself, but then it should not be weighed in as a strength either.
Common mistakes in the selection process
- Comparing hourly rates. The difference in hourly rates between Nordic partners is small compared to the difference in the number of hours a project takes.
- Letting the sales meeting be the evaluation. The person presenting is rarely the person who delivers.
- Building the requirements list too detailed too early. A requirements list of several hundred lines forces customizations that you will then have to manage.
- Skipping the support phase in the evaluation. This constitutes the largest part of the total cost over time.
- Not having internal consensus before going out. If finance, IT, and operations want different things, the partner will choose for you.
A note on sources
Most of what is published in the Nordics on how to choose a Dynamics 365 partner is written by partners. The material is often competent, but it is also written by a party with an interest in the outcome, and the criteria therefore tend to align with their own profile.
There's nothing to moralize about. It's a reason to read multiple sources, and to ask yourself who benefits from those particular criteria carrying the most weight.
Next steps
If you are facing a procurement and want to move forward without first booking five sales meetings, you can compare Nordic Dynamics 365 partners by application area, industry, and size, and take a shorter list into your own conversations.
If you want structure for the evaluation itself, the starting point is simple. Decide which three criteria weigh most heavily for you before meeting any vendor, and stick to them. This is the single biggest difference between a procurement that can be defended and one that is decided by who made the best impression in the room.