What ERP consulting actually covers
Where advisory work ends and implementation begins — and why confusing the two is the most common reason programmes overrun.
CommissionedPillar article
Insights
Notes on enterprise technology decisions.
Practical writing on ERP and CRM transformation, Microsoft Dynamics 365, applied AI and business process change — for the people who have to make these calls.
Being straight with youNothing here is published yet. This page shows the editorial plan rather than pretending to a back catalogue we do not have.
Editorial approach
Written by the people doing the work.
There is no shortage of enterprise technology content. Most of it restates a product datasheet at greater length.
What we intend to publish is narrower and, we hope, more useful: the questions that come up repeatedly in scoping conversations, answered properly. What an ERP consultant actually does. How to read a fit-gap report. Which parts of an AX estate genuinely have to be rebuilt. When AI is the wrong tool.
Each piece will be written by a consultant who does this work, and published under their name. Which is also why this page currently lists commissioned topics rather than articles — we would rather show you an empty shelf honestly than fill it with material nobody wrote.
If an article does not change how you would approach a decision, it was not worth publishing.
Editorial plan
What we are writing.
Four subject areas, each building from a foundational piece into more specific supporting articles.
Pillar 01
ERP & CRM transformation
For finance and operations leaders evaluating, replacing or recovering an enterprise system.
Foundational
Supporting
Signs your ERP is the constraint
How to tell whether the problem is the platform, the configuration or the process — before spending money on the wrong one.
CommissionedSupporting
Supporting
Reading a fit-gap analysis properly
What a fit-gap report tells you, what it leaves out, and the questions to ask before accepting its conclusions.
PlannedSupporting
Supporting
Business process reengineering in practice
Working through a real redesign: which steps survived, which were removed, and how the decision was made.
PlannedSupporting
Pillar 02
Microsoft Dynamics 365
For organisations implementing, migrating to, or living with D365 Finance & Operations.
Foundational
Planning an AX to D365 F&O migration
How to assess an AX 2009 or AX 2012 estate, what genuinely has to be rebuilt, and how to sequence the move.
CommissionedPillar article
Supporting
Configure or extend: the decision that sets your cost base
Why the customisation choices made in the first two months determine what the system costs to own for years.
CommissionedSupporting
Supporting
What D365 F&O support should include
The difference between a contract that fixes what breaks and one that absorbs change — and what each costs.
PlannedSupporting
Supporting
Making service updates routine
Building an extension and testing approach that turns Microsoft’s update cycle into a scheduled task rather than a risk event.
PlannedSupporting
Pillar 03
AI & digital transformation
For leaders deciding where AI and automation are genuinely worth applying.
Foundational
Choosing your first AI use case
A practical test for whether a process is a good candidate for AI — and the signs that it is not, yet.
CommissionedPillar article
Supporting
Why AI pilots do not reach production
The recurring reasons a promising pilot stalls, and what to establish before starting to avoid them.
CommissionedSupporting
Supporting
Redesign before you automate
Automation makes a process considerably harder to change. That is an argument for fixing it first.
PlannedSupporting
Supporting
Preparing an estate for Microsoft Copilot
The permissions and data hygiene work that determines whether a Copilot rollout helps or embarrasses you.
PlannedSupporting
Pillar 04
Enterprise software engineering
For technology leaders weighing build against buy, and managing ageing systems.
Foundational
Build, buy or configure
A framework for the decision, with the maintenance cost of each option made explicit rather than assumed.
CommissionedPillar article
Supporting
Modernising without a big-bang replacement
Moving functionality out of a legacy application in stages while it keeps running the business.
PlannedSupporting
Supporting
Integrations that fail well
Designing interfaces for the day the system at the other end is unavailable — because there will be one.
PlannedSupporting
Supporting
Reducing key-person risk in software
Practical steps that make a system supportable by someone who did not build it.
PlannedSupporting
How to read the labels.
“Commissioned” means a consultant has been assigned and the piece is being drafted. “Planned” means the topic is on the calendar but not yet started. Neither is a published article, and neither carries an author byline until it does. When a piece is published it will appear here with its date, author and full text.
In the meantime
The questions we answer most often.
Several of these topics are already covered in the FAQ sections of our service pages, which are written to be read on their own.
What is ERP and CRM consulting?
What the work covers, and how it differs from implementation.
Read on Advisory ServicesMigrating off AX 2009 or AX 2012
Why it is not an upgrade, and what the assessment establishes.
Read on Dynamics 365Where AI is worth applying
The test we use, and what we will not claim about it.
Read on AI SolutionsWhat business process automation is
Which processes are good first candidates, and which are not.
Read on Digital TransformationBuild versus buy
When custom software is justified, and when it is not.
Read on Software EngineeringSomething not covered?
Ask us directly. If the answer is useful to others, it becomes an article.
Get in touchHave a question we should be writing about?
The topics above came out of scoping conversations. If you are wrestling with something that is not on the list, tell us — you will get an answer either way.