Microsoft Cloud · CRM & ERP

Your Microsoft Dynamics 365 partner — configured to your size.

As a Microsoft Dynamics 365 partner with more than 20 years of practice, we configure Dynamics 365 to fit your size — from an 8-person sales team to a larger mid-market company. We deliver only what you need: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Project Operations, Customer Insights Journeys, and (secondarily, depending on ERP demand) Business Central.

30 days free

Try Dynamics 365 — with guidance, not alone.

We set up the trial tenant in 48 hours, train your key users (2 hours), hold weekly office hours with the architect, and prototype your target use case. After 30 days you receive an architecture recommendation — you decide on adoption or shutdown.

Engineering deliverable

What we technically deliver as your Microsoft Dynamics 365 partner.

From the first sprint to go-live — the actual implementation is the engineering core of a Microsoft Dynamics 365 project. Advisory, training, support, and licensing are covered in depth on the linked topic pages further down.

Seven modules

Microsoft Dynamics 365 — modules at a glance.

We know each of these modules from hands-on practice — from an 8-person sales team to a mid-market company with distributed service locations.

Where to start?

Three typical starting points — three entry paths into Dynamics 365.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is broad — and that's exactly why the most common question in the first conversation isn't "which module?" but "where do we start?". Three starting positions cover more than 80% of the projects we see.

Starting point A · first-time CRM

We're looking at CRM for the first time.

Until now: Excel, Outlook contacts, or an old industry tool. The team is growing, pipeline visibility is missing, service requests disappear in shared mailboxes.

  • Start with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales Professional or Sales Enterprise (8–12 weeks)
  • Optional extension: Customer Service for ticket handling (additional 4–8 weeks)
  • Stabilize core CRM processes first — Customer Insights, Field Service, or Marketing follow in phase 2
  • License tier is often the decisive question here: Professional is enough for pure sales setup, Enterprise for Power Platform integration
  • Typical implementation effort €35,000–€70,000 for a 10–25-person sales and service team

See Dynamics 365 Sales →

Starting point B · replace legacy CRM

We have Salesforce, SAP CRM, or Sage — and want to switch.

The existing CRM is too expensive, too complex, disconnected from the Microsoft stack, or poorly maintained. Migration with data retention, user continuity, and interface continuity is the priority.

  • Discovery Spike before the implementation sprint: data-model mapping, customization inventory, integration inventory
  • Phased migration: first the Sales module with existing data, then service and marketing components
  • Experience from productive migrations of Salesforce, SAP CRM, MS CRM 4.0/2011, Sage CRM, and HubSpot
  • Power Platform and Microsoft Graph as integration bridge to existing systems (ERP, telephony, marketing stack)
  • Realistic timeline 6–12 months including data cleansing, acceptance testing, and training

See implementation approach →

Starting point C · ERP demand

We need ERP, not CRM.

Accounting, inventory, purchasing, production control, or financial consolidation is the topic — not sales or service. Dynamics 365 has two different ERP worlds for this, depending on size and complexity.

  • Business Central for 10–500 employees, typical SMB processes, faster implementation (3–6 months)
  • F&O apps (Finance, Supply Chain Management, Commerce, HR, IOM) for 500+ employees, multi-tier consolidation, international rollouts
  • arades actively delivers Business Central — for F&O we recommend network partners and take over the CE side plus integration
  • If you're unsure between BC and F&O: 30-min first conversation with an honest recommendation — even if another partner fits better
  • Modular ERP as the arades-owned solution for hybrid scenarios (one data foundation for apps and ERP) — see the Solutions area

Compare ERP hub →

Glossary & comparison

Customer Engagement, Business Central, Finance & Operations — where do the boundaries lie?

Three worlds under one roof. Anyone who doesn't separate them clearly buys the wrong license or chooses the wrong implementation model. The key differences laid out side by side.

Dimension Customer Engagement (CE) Business Central (BC) Finance & Operations (F&O apps)
Which modules belong here? Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Project Operations, Customer Insights Journeys, Contact Center One integrated ERP suite — finance, sales, purchasing, inventory, production, service Finance, Supply Chain Management, Commerce, Human Resources, Intelligent Order Management
Target audience / company size Sales, service, and marketing organizations of any size — from an 8-person sales team to enterprise SMB 10–500 employees, one to a few sites, manageable processes Enterprise from 500 employees, multi-tier consolidation, international rollouts
License tier (entry) Sales Professional from around €60/user/month, Enterprise variants from around €95 Essentials from around €70/user/month, Premium from around €100, Team Members from around €8 Per app from around €180/user/month (Finance, SCM), activity and team-member licenses for light users
Data model & platform Microsoft Dataverse — shared platform with Power Apps, Power Automate, Power BI, and Copilot Studio Dedicated BC database, AL language, Dataverse connection via standard connector Dedicated F&O database, X++ development, Dual-Write bridge to Dataverse for CE scenarios
Customization depth Low-code (Power Apps, Power Automate) and pro-code (plug-ins, JavaScript, PCF controls) — very broadly customizable AL extensions, AppSource apps, and configuration packages; standard industry logic deliberately kept narrow X++ extensions via Visual Studio, LCS for lifecycle, ISV templates for industries (retail, manufacturing, pharma)
Typical implementation duration Sales-only 8–12 weeks · CE stack with service and marketing 4–9 months Standard rollout 3–6 months · industry-specific with add-on apps 6–9 months 12–24 months for a full multi-entity implementation with consolidation and international rollout
Does arades deliver this itself? Yes — core competence for 20+ years Yes — the only ERP world we actively deliver No — we recommend network partners, take over the CE side and the integration

More background on the platform architecture: One database for all business apps · Licensing & pricing in detail

Clear words on Finance & Operations

The former F&O suite is now five standalone apps.

In 2020, Microsoft decoupled "Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations" into five standalone apps: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance, Supply Chain Management, Commerce, Human Resources, and Intelligent Order Management. Anyone searching for "F&O" today actually finds these five products.

We do not implement any of them ourselves — the discipline requires a dedicated F&O specialist team, its own methodology (LCS, X++, Sure Step), and industry templates that we don't carry in our day-to-day business. We would not do you a favor by claiming F&O competence "because it's also Dynamics".

What we do offer instead when you explore the F&O world:

  • An honest assessment of whether Business Central or the F&O apps fit your size — we won't sell you Business Central if you actually need Finance.
  • Recommendations from our network: F&O partners we work well with on the CRM side.
  • If F&O is already running at your company: we deliver the Customer Engagement side (Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Customer Insights Journeys) and handle the integration to the F&O world.

A detailed overview of the modern apps — Finance, Supply Chain Management, Commerce, Human Resources, Intelligent Order Management — is available in the Insights section "Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP".

30-min initial conversation

Which module fits your task?

30 minutes to get to know each other, clarify needs, and give an honest assessment — even if another partner suits you better.

Related topics from Insights

Advisory, training, support & licensing — covered in depth in our topic pages.

Around Microsoft Dynamics 365 there are four recurring advisory and service questions we have framed not as engineering deliverables but as knowledge content — to read before the first conversation.

Accompanying services

What typically runs alongside this engineering work.

Engineering projects rarely stand alone — license logic, architecture clarification, quality gates, knowledge transfer, and follow-up operations usually run in parallel. Here are the most common accompanying services we add via Discovery Spike, sprint fixed price, or Application Care contracts.

Before · Architecture

Advisory & Architecture

Before implementation begins: tenant structure, data model, security concept, integration mapping. The result is an architecture document any engineering team can build on — including one other than us.

Read more →

Before · CSP

License Advisory & CSP

Which license bundles for which users, which add-on SKUs are required, where you are over- or under-licensed. Sourced as a Microsoft Licensing Partner — with the option to use CSP purely as control without margin maximization.

Read more →

During · Quality gate

Project Assurance

An independent second opinion during a running implementation project — whether we run it ourselves or another partner does. CMMI-based quality gates, risk reviews, fixed price per gate.

During · Adoption

Training & learning program

Not the classic two-day workshop that's forgotten a week later — but a dynamic learning program over 4–6 weeks with initial training, application phases, and follow-up sessions. Training matrix across roles and topics.

Read more →

After · Operations

Application Care

After go-live: a predictable Application Care contract with a monthly flat fee, SLA-based. Includes releases, hotfixes, enhancements, tenant hardening — and continuous guidance rather than ticket-only response.

Read more →

After · Knowledge

Knowledge Recovery

When the original developers are gone, the predecessor partner is no longer reachable, or documentation is outdated — reverse engineering of the existing solution with a documented result: code map, data model, customization inventory.

Read more →

Strategy background · arades topic page

One database for all business apps — Dataverse instead of isolated silos

Why we consistently build all our apps and recommendations on a single data foundation — and when the isolated solution is still the better answer. 2,500 words on architecture, migration paths, and honest boundaries.

Read the topic page →