Dynamics 365 – Building a Business Case

A business case for Dynamics 365 needs to show the board six things: the problem you are trying to fix, how Dynamics 365 fixes it, the benefits you expect, the full cost, a realistic timeline and how you will get people to use it. If you can put numbers against the first four and a plan against the last two, you have a case that a finance director can approve. This article goes through each part and what to put in it.

What is Dynamics 365 and why does it need a business case?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a set of cloud business applications covering CRM (sales, marketing and customer service) and ERP (finance, operations and projects). You license the apps you need rather than one large system, which is helpful, but it also means the cost depends heavily on which apps you choose and how many people use them. A business case forces those decisions to be made early, before anyone signs a licence agreement.

If you are still deciding whether you need a CRM at all, our article on why your business needs a CRM covers the basics, and business intelligence with Dynamics 365 goes through what each app adds.

How do you identify the problem Dynamics 365 should solve?

Start with how things work today rather than with the software. Talk to the people doing the work in sales, service and finance and write down where time is lost and where things go wrong. Typical examples are leads that never get followed up, customer information split across spreadsheets and inboxes, quotes that take days to produce, and month-end reporting that relies on one person pulling data together by hand.

Then turn each problem into something you can measure. "Sellers spend around five hours a week updating spreadsheets" or "we cannot report on pipeline without a two-day exercise" is far more persuasive than "our processes are inefficient", and it gives you a baseline to measure success against later. Check that the goals line up with the organisation's wider strategy, because a CRM project that supports a growth target the board already cares about is much easier to approve.

How do you show Dynamics 365 is the right solution?

Map each problem to the specific Dynamics 365 app and feature that addresses it, so the case is about your processes rather than a product brochure. For example, Dynamics 365 Sales covers lead and opportunity management and sales forecasting, Dynamics 365 Customer Service covers case management and a knowledge base, and Business Central covers finance, purchasing and inventory for small and medium-sized businesses.

It is also worth explaining how it fits with what you already have. Dynamics 365 works with Outlook, Teams, Excel and Word, and Dynamics 365 Sales can embed Teams chats in records and generate standard documents from Word templates, so people are working in tools they already know. If the organisation already uses Microsoft 365, that familiarity is a real argument for adoption and is worth stating plainly.

How do you outline the benefits?

Split the benefits into the ones you can put a number on and the ones you cannot. Quantifiable benefits include time saved on manual data entry and reporting, more leads followed up and converted, faster quoting, fewer errors and lower support costs if you are retiring an on-premises system. Use your own figures from the discovery work wherever you can, because a board will trust its own data more than an industry average.

Qualitative benefits still belong in the case. Better customer experience, more accurate forecasts and one version of the truth for management reporting are all valuable even if they are harder to price. Keep them in a separate section so they support the numbers rather than replace them.

What does a Dynamics 365 project cost?

There are three main cost areas to include.

• Licences. Dynamics 365 is licensed per user, per month, and each app has different tiers. Dynamics 365 Sales, for example, comes as Sales Professional, Sales Enterprise and Sales Premium, and people who only need to view records or do light updates can often use a cheaper Team Members licence. Check current prices on Microsoft's pricing pages when you build the case, as they change.
• Implementation. Partner fees for configuration, data migration, integration and training. These depend mostly on how many processes and integrations are in scope and how clean your existing data is.
• Internal time. The hours your own staff spend in workshops, testing and training, and the dip in productivity while people get used to a new system.

Charities should check the Microsoft for Nonprofits programme, which offers discounted licences for Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise and Customer Service. The free Sales Enterprise grant was discontinued in October 2023, so the discount is now the standard nonprofit rate rather than a free allocation.

Include the cost of doing nothing as well. If leads are being lost or a legacy system is costing money to keep running, put a figure on it, because the comparison is never between Dynamics 365 and zero.

What timeline should the business case show?

Break the project into phases such as discovery, design, build, data migration, testing, training and go-live, with an estimated duration for each. A phased approach, for example starting with Sales and adding Customer Service later, often makes the case easier to approve because the first phase is smaller and the board sees results before committing to the rest.

Set expectations about when the benefits will show. Measure the return over three to five years rather than the first few months, since the early period is taken up with rollout and adoption.

How do you deal with risk and adoption?

A business case that ignores risk looks naive. List the concerns the board is likely to raise, such as cost overruns, poor data quality, staff not using the system and disruption during go-live, and say how you will manage each one.

Adoption is usually the biggest risk. A senior sponsor who uses the system visibly makes a real difference, as does training a small group of people in each team who can then support their colleagues. Keep the first release simple, remove fields and steps people do not need, and plan for a review a few months after go-live to fix what is not working. Ongoing Dynamics 365 support is worth budgeting for from the start, so the system keeps up with the business after the project team moves on.

Frequently asked questions

How much does Dynamics 365 cost per user?

Dynamics 365 is licensed per user per month, and the price depends on the app and tier, for example Sales Professional, Sales Enterprise or Sales Premium. Microsoft publishes current list prices on its Dynamics 365 pricing pages, and lighter users can often use a lower-cost Team Members licence.

What should be included in a CRM business case?

A clear statement of the current problems with measurable baselines, the proposed solution, quantified and qualitative benefits, the full cost including licences, implementation and internal time, a phased timeline and a plan for risks and adoption. Including the cost of doing nothing makes the comparison more honest.

How long does it take to see a return on Dynamics 365?

It depends on scope and adoption, but returns are best measured over three to five years. The first months are taken up with implementation and getting people used to the system, so early measures should focus on adoption and data quality.

Should we start with one Dynamics 365 app or several?

Starting with one app, often Sales or Customer Service, keeps the first phase smaller and gets results in front of the board sooner. Because the CRM apps such as Sales and Customer Service share the same Dataverse data platform, adding another one later does not mean starting again.

If you would like help putting together a business case or an options appraisal for Dynamics 365, get in touch with us.