Most Dynamics 365 partners default to one lane and let you absorb the tradeoff. We staff by role and stage instead, and we'll show you exactly how.
All-offshore keeps the rate low and lets real-time communication become an afterthought. All-onsite feels safer and prices in travel for work that never needed a plane ticket. Neither is wrong, they're just one lever pulled all the way, on every project, regardless of what that project actually needs.
Configuration, data cleansing, and testing don't get better with someone physically in the building, so we deliver those remotely with the same senior team who scoped the engagement. The few moments that genuinely benefit from being in a room, a kickoff, go-live cutover, a tense escalation, still get one. That's a different split from an all-offshore partner who skips those moments to protect margin, or an all-onsite partner whose rate reflects travel for work that didn't need it.
Interviews and system access work fine remotely. A kickoff visit helps the relationship more than it changes the output.
Workshops run well over video once overlap hours are set. Nothing about design requires being in the same room.
Cleansing and migration are heads-down technical work. Physical presence adds nothing here.
Configuration and extension work is identical regardless of location, remote by default.
UAT benefits from your team and ours reviewing results together, usually still fine remotely with good overlap hours.
Cutover and the first few days of hypercare are where being in the room earns its cost. This is the stage we plan onsite time around.
Yes, scoped specifically for the stages that benefit from it, like go-live cutover or a rescue health check kickoff, not a blanket policy either way.
Usually, since routine configuration and data work don't carry a travel cost, but we won't promise a number until we've scoped your engagement.
No. We scope overlap hours upfront specifically so real-time decisions don't wait on a time zone gap.
You do. We'll recommend based on where projects like yours have historically needed it, but the call, and the budget, are yours.
Most partners default to one model for every engagement. We scope which stages need which mode project by project, in writing, before Build starts, see our governance page for how that gets decided.
Tell us your team's location and time zone. We'll tell you honestly which stages would benefit from a room together and which wouldn't.
With someone who has run this before.
The six stages this page fits into, end to end.