When businesses talk about Dynamics 365 implementation, the conversation usually focuses on the same questions.
What will the system do? How quickly can we go live? What will the implementation cost?
These are important questions.
But there is another question that is often overlooked until problems begin to appear:
How will we manage the solution throughout its lifecycle?
This is where Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) becomes critical.
From our perspective at Akadis Global, ALM is not simply a development process or a technical framework. It is a strategic discipline that influences the quality, control and long-term success of your Dynamics 365 investment.
And when ALM is poorly planned, the risks can quickly move beyond the IT department.
ALM is bigger than development
One of the biggest misunderstandings we see is treating ALM as a developer-led activity focused on version control, builds and deployments.
These are important elements of the development lifecycle.
But ALM is much bigger.
A successful ALM strategy should connect governance, project management, business requirements, architecture, configuration, development, testing, maintenance, change management and release management.
In simple terms, it should answer a fundamental question:
How do we control and improve our Dynamics 365 solution from the beginning of the project through to its ongoing operation?
This is why we advise leaders to think about ALM before development begins.
If your ALM strategy is only being discussed when the project is approaching go-live, you are already trying to solve a problem too late.
The real risk of starting without a strategy
A Dynamics 365 implementation involves multiple teams, environments, requirements, configurations and changes.
Without a defined ALM strategy, these areas can quickly become disconnected.
The result?
Poor visibility. Delayed decisions. Inconsistent environments. Unclear ownership. Increased project risk.
The problem is not always immediately visible.
A project may appear to be progressing well. Teams are configuring the system. Developers are making changes. Testing is taking place.
But without proper tracking and governance, leaders can struggle to answer simple questions:
- What has changed?
- Why was the change made?
- Which requirement does it support?
- Has it been tested?
- Who approved it?
- Is the change ready to move to another environment?
If your teams cannot answer these questions quickly, your ALM strategy may not be giving you the control you need.
Source control should be at the centre
From an advisory perspective, we strongly encourage businesses to consider a source control-centric approach.
Why?
Because your environments should not become the only record of your solution.
Source control helps organisations maintain visibility of configurations and development changes. It also supports the creation of new environments using the latest approved configurations, rather than relying on manual replication.
This is particularly important as Dynamics 365 projects become more complex.
The more your solution evolves, the more important traceability becomes.
A business should be able to understand the journey from business requirement to development, testing and deployment.
That traceability is not just useful for developers.
It gives project leaders, functional teams and business stakeholders greater confidence in the decisions being made.
Automation is no longer optional
Another area we believe leaders need to challenge is the continued reliance on manual processes.
Manual builds and deployments are time-consuming and can introduce avoidable errors.
This is where build automation and CI/CD pipelines become important.
The objective is not to automate simply because automation is fashionable.
The objective is to create a more consistent, reliable and controlled delivery process.
Build automation can help identify issues earlier. Continuous integration helps teams bring changes together more effectively. Continuous delivery supports a more structured approach to moving tested changes across environments.
The question is not whether your team can deploy manually.
The question is:
Why are you continuing to rely on manual processes when your project requires greater speed, consistency and control?
Your team structure can make or break ALM
Technology is only one part of the equation.
The structure of your implementation team matters just as much.
A strong ALM strategy needs clear ownership and effective collaboration across functional teams, developers, project leadership and business stakeholders.
At the same time, developers need the right level of control to work effectively without creating unnecessary bottlenecks.
This is where many organisations need to take a step back.
Are your teams structured to support your ALM strategy—or is your ALM strategy being forced to work around your team structure?
The distinction is important.
When ownership is unclear, decisions slow down. When collaboration is poor, requirements can become disconnected from development. When controls are too restrictive, teams struggle to move at the required pace.
The right ALM strategy should create structure without creating unnecessary friction.
ALM continues after go-live
Perhaps the most important point for business leaders is this:
ALM does not end when your Dynamics 365 solution goes live.
In fact, go-live marks the beginning of the operational phase of the solution lifecycle.
Your organisation will continue to manage updates, maintenance, support, new features and future changes.
This means the ALM approach you establish during implementation must be capable of supporting the solution long term.
At Akadis Global, we believe this is where the right advisory approach becomes particularly valuable.
The goal is not simply to help you implement a system.
The goal is to help you create a controlled, scalable and sustainable operating model around your technology investment.
The Akadis Global view
ALM is often treated as a technical checklist.
We see it differently.
ALM is a business control mechanism.
It helps leaders understand how decisions are made, how changes are managed, how risks are identified and how technology continues to support the organisation over time.
The Dynamics 365 implementation itself is only one part of the journey.
The real question is whether your organisation is prepared to manage the solution after the implementation team has left.
That is why ALM needs to be considered early, structured properly and aligned with your wider implementation strategy.
Before your next Dynamics 365 project begins, ask yourself:
Do we have an ALM strategy—or are we simply hoping the project will manage itself?
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