An urgent customer request sounds simple: sales promises a fast delivery date, marks the order as priority, and asks production to fit it in. But the new order does not enter an empty factory. It enters a schedule already filled with machine reservations, material allocations, setup plans, qualified people, inspection capacity, maintenance windows, and promises made to other customers. The real question is therefore not simply whether the urgent order can be produced, but which existing commitme...

Your ERP can calculate production dates, explode demand through MRP, manage routings, inventory, purchase orders, and production orders. But that does not automatically mean it can create a production schedule that your factory can actually execute. In this episode, we break down the gap between ERP planning and finite production scheduling — and explain why a schedule can look perfectly reasonable in the ERP while multiple orders are competing for the same machine at the same time. THE INFINIT...

When does a manufacturer actually need dedicated production planning software? It is not when the company reaches a certain size. It is not when Excel suddenly becomes “unprofessional.” And it is definitely not because a software vendor showed you a beautiful Gantt chart. The real threshold comes when production complexity, constraints, and constant change become too difficult for planners to reliably coordinate through ERP dates, spreadsheets, whiteboards, calls, emails, and experience alone. I...

Manufacturers often rely on ERP systems to manage orders, materials, inventory, purchasing, production orders, and financial transactions. But when a machine goes down, an urgent customer order arrives, or a critical operator is unavailable, a different question suddenly matters: Can the production plan actually run? That is where APS — Advanced Planning and Scheduling — differs fundamentally from ERP. ERP records and governs the business transaction. APS tests whether production can execute the...

Power Platform makes it possible for people across an organization to solve problems, automate processes, and build business applications faster than traditional development approaches. But that accessibility also creates difficult enterprise questions: Who can build what? Where does company data go? How should environments be structured? And how can organizations prevent shadow IT without becoming the department that says no to every new idea? In this episode of M365 FM, Mirko Peters talks with...

In this episode, we explore how the combination of LinkedIn and Microsoft Dynamics 365 is transforming the way modern sales organizations identify opportunities, build relationships, and close deals. Rather than treating CRM as a system of record, the discussion explains how it becomes an intelligent selling platform when enriched with LinkedIn's professional network and Microsoft's AI capabilities. The episode breaks down how sellers can use LinkedIn Sales Navigator directly within Dynamics 365 to gain deeper customer insights, identify key decision-makers, monitor buying signals, and engage prospects with relevant, personalized conversations. Instead of relying on cold outreach, sales teams can leverage relationship intelligence and real-time business context to create more meaningful interactions throughout the sales cycle. Another major focus is the role of AI through Dynamics 365 Sales Copilot. You will learn how AI helps prioritize leads, recommend next-best actions, autom…

Microsoft Project Online is approaching retirement, and organizations are facing a critical decision: simply replace an aging project management tool or use the opportunity to modernize how projects are delivered across the business. In this episode, Joe Griffin, Microsoft MVP, CEO of proMX UK, and one of the leading experts in Dynamics 365 Project Operations, explores the future of project management within the Microsoft ecosystem. The conversation examines why Dynamics 365 Project Operations is becoming the strategic successor for many project-driven organizations. Unlike traditional project management solutions focused primarily on schedules and tasks, Project Operations combines project planning, resource management, budgeting, financial tracking, time and expense management, invoicing, and AI-powered insights within a single platform built on Microsoft Dataverse. Joe shares practical guidance for organizations preparing for the retirement of Project Online, including migrat…

Quick answer: AI transformation leadership with Areti Iles is covered in this M365 FM episode with a practical focus on how it works, where it fits, and the architecture, security, governance, or operational choices that matter in real Microsoft environments. In this episode of the M365 FM Podcast, Mirko Peters welcomes Areti Iles, Microsoft MVP, Head of Professional Services at Telefonica Tech’s AI Business Solutions Division, community leader, mentor, conference organizer, and one of the most...

In this episode of the m365.fm podcast, Mirko Peters speaks with Microsoft MVP and MCT Billur Samdancioglu about how AI, Copilot, and autonomous agents are transforming finance operations inside Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (D365FO). The conversation explores how modern ERP systems are evolving far beyond traditional accounting platforms into intelligent business ecosystems that connect finance, procurement, analytics, automation, compliance, and AI-driven decision-making. Billur shares insights from more than 20 years of experience in Dynamics AX and D365FO implementations, explaining how the pace of innovation has accelerated dramatically in recent years. A major focus of the episode is Microsoft Copilot inside D365FO. Billur explains how conversational AI is changing the way finance teams interact with ERP systems by enabling natural language queries, automated reporting, invoice analysis, procurement assistance, forecasting, and workflow guidance. Rather than navigating…

In this episode of the M365.fm podcast, Mirko Peters speaks with Microsoft MVP and MCT Anitha Eswaran about the realities of integrating Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (D365FO) into modern enterprise environments. The discussion focuses on why integrations often become fragile, difficult to scale, and hard to govern when organizations rely on outdated architectural thinking or tightly coupled systems. The episode explores how Azure-native integration patterns can improve reliability, scalability, and long-term maintainability. Anitha explains the importance of event-driven architecture, asynchronous communication, APIs, and message-based systems when connecting D365FO with Microsoft 365, Power Platform, external SaaS platforms, and legacy enterprise applications. Rather than building direct point-to-point integrations, the conversation emphasizes designing loosely coupled systems that can evolve without constantly breaking dependencies. Another key topic is governance and ope…

How to Build a Microsoft 365 Service So Valuable Clients Beg to Work With You This episode explains why most Microsoft 365 consulting services become commoditized—and how to escape that trap by designing services around outcomes instead of tasks. The core argument: 👉 Technical expertise is no longer a differentiator. 👉 Service architecture is. Most consultants sell activities like deployments, governance setups, or migrations. But clients don’t actually buy those—they buy certainty, risk reduction, and measurable business results. The episode introduces a structured approach to building high-value, productized Microsoft 365 services that: Solve urgent, high-impact problems Deliver clear, measurable outcomes Provide repeatable frameworks and assets Position the consultant as a strategic partner (not a vendor) The result: instead of competing on price, clients compete to work with you.

Everyone thinks their controls still work because the dashboards are green — until the copilot makes a perfectly “authorized” decision no one can actually explain. This talk makes the case that tools like Dynamics 365 Copilot don’t just speed up work; they quietly change what control even means. Decisions are no longer made inside a single workflow or by a single identity. Instead, intent is compiled by an agent across prompts, models, connectors, and services. Traditional logs show what happened, but not why it happened, which data mattered, or which permissions actually combined to allow it. The risk isn’t obvious failure — it’s silent drift. Decision variance increases, small permissions add up to unexpected authority, side effects spread across systems, and accountability becomes blurry. Everything looks compliant until you’re asked to explain a real financial decision and discover the causal chain is gone. The fix is not policy, it’s engineering: treat the copilot layer …