New Year’s resolutions rarely survive beyond January. Yet for organisations running Microsoft Dynamics 365, the start of 2026 is a genuine opportunity to reset how the platform is used, governed and extended.
Over the past few years, many Microsoft Dynamics 365 environments have grown organically. New modules layered on. Customisations added under pressure. Data imported from multiple systems with limited oversight. The result is often a powerful platform that is under-optimised, under-governed and increasingly difficult to scale.
The pace of change within Microsoft Dynamics 365, particularly around AI, automation and agent-based interaction, means incremental improvements are no longer enough. This is the year to be intentional.
Below are seven New Year’s resolutions that will materially improve performance, insight and return on investment across your Microsoft Dynamics 365 setup in 2026.
1. Actively Explore And Enable AI Features Rather Than Postponing Them
AI within Dynamics 365 has moved beyond experimentation. Capabilities embedded across sales, customer service, finance and operations are now mature enough to drive measurable productivity gains.
Many organisations remain hesitant, often because AI feels abstract or difficult to govern. In practice, the risk is not adoption, but delay.
Meanwhile, competitors who are embedding AI-driven assistance into forecasting, customer interaction and operational decision-making are already moving faster.
In 2026, the resolution should be to actively evaluate where AI can remove friction. This might include predictive opportunity scoring, automated case summarisation, demand forecasting or intelligent reconciliation within finance. These are not transformational moonshots; they are targeted enhancements that compound over time.
The key is controlled experimentation. Define a small number of use cases, enable them deliberately, measure outcomes and scale what works. AI should be treated as an operational capability, not a future aspiration.
2. Commit To Adopting At Least One AI Agent
AI agents for Dynamics 365 became available in 2025; 2026 will be the year they become mainstream within business applications.
Agents go beyond passive assistance by executing tasks, orchestrating workflows and responding to real-time triggers across the platform.
Many Dynamics users will encounter agents through tooling such as Microsoft Copilot and role-specific agents embedded into applications. Yet the real value comes when organisations actively design how agents operate within their own processes.
A strong resolution for the year ahead is to adopt at least one agent with a clearly defined remit. This might be an agent that triages inbound customer enquiries, one that monitors exceptions in finance, or one that supports sales teams with proactive next-best-action prompts.
Starting with a single agent reduces risk while building internal confidence. It also forces clarity around process ownership, governance and outcomes. By the end of 2026, organisations that have operationalised agents will operate with a fundamentally different cadence to those that have not.
3. Cleanse, Rationalise And Govern Your Data Properly
Every AI ambition, reporting initiative or automation strategy stands or falls on data quality. Yet data cleansing is often the most deferred activity within Dynamics 365 programmes because it delivers little visible short-term impact.
That mindset needs to change. Poor data increases operational cost, undermines user trust and limits the effectiveness of AI-driven features. It also compounds over time.
A meaningful New Year’s resolution is to treat data as a first-class asset. This means auditing core entities, removing duplicates, standardising structures and defining ownership. It also means establishing rules for data entry, validation and lifecycle management.
Data governance does not require bureaucracy. It requires accountability. Clear roles, simple standards and consistent enforcement will unlock more value than any single feature release.
4. Create A Formal Roadmap For Module Expansion
Many Microsoft Dynamics 365 environments evolve opportunistically. A new requirement emerges, a module is licensed, a feature is enabled. Over time, this leads to overlap, underutilisation and confusion.
In 2026, organisations should resolve to plan module expansion deliberately. This begins with understanding what is already licensed but underused, followed by mapping future business objectives to platform capabilities.
Whether the next step is Project Operations, Field Service, Customer Insights or advanced finance functionality, the decision should be driven by a clear business case. What operational constraint does this solve? What insight does it unlock? What manual effort does it remove?
A documented roadmap allows leadership teams to sequence investment, align stakeholders and avoid reactive decision-making. It also strengthens governance by ensuring that each expansion aligns with a broader transformation narrative.
5. Reduce Unnecessary Customisation And Standardise (Where Possible)
Customisation is often the silent killer of long-term Dynamics 365 performance. What begins as a sensible adjustment can, over time, create upgrade friction, technical debt and reliance on niche knowledge.
A valuable resolution for 2026 is to review existing customisations critically. Which still deliver clear business value? Which exist simply because “that’s how we do it”? Which now replicate standard functionality that has since evolved?
Standardisation does not mean sacrificing differentiation. It means being deliberate about where complexity truly adds value. Removing or refactoring unnecessary customisation improves upgrade velocity, reduces support cost and makes future innovation easier to adopt.
This is particularly important as Microsoft accelerates release cycles and embeds AI more deeply into standard functionality.
6. Invest In User Adoption, Not Just System Capability
Even the best-configured Microsoft Dynamics environment will underperform if users work around it. Spreadsheets, shadow systems and inconsistent processes are symptoms of poor adoption, not poor technology.
In 2026, organisations should resolve to invest in adoption as an ongoing discipline rather than a one-off training exercise. This includes role-based enablement, clear process ownership and feedback loops that inform continuous improvement.
Adoption also benefits from visibility. Dashboards that reflect user behaviour, process completion and data quality can highlight where friction exists. Addressing these issues improves productivity and trust in the platform.
Ultimately, Dynamics 365 should feel like the natural way to work, not an administrative burden.
7. Align Dynamics 365 Ownership With Business Outcomes
Finally, a critical resolution for 2026 is to clarify ownership. Too often, Dynamics 365 sits between IT and the business without clear accountability for outcomes.
Successful organisations treat Dynamics as a strategic asset with named business owners responsible for value realisation. This includes defining success metrics, prioritising change and sponsoring improvement initiatives.
When ownership is aligned to business outcomes rather than technical delivery, decisions become clearer. Investment becomes easier to justify. The platform evolves in step with organisational priorities.
This shift in mindset often delivers more impact than any individual feature or upgrade.
Making These Resolutions Stick
Resolutions only matter if they translate into action. The organisations that will extract the most value from Dynamics 365 in 2026 are those that move deliberately, prioritise fundamentals and embrace change pragmatically.
AI, agents and automation are powerful accelerators, but only when built on clean data, clear processes and strong governance. 2026 is not about chasing every new capability. It is about building a Microsoft Dynamics environment that is fit for sustained growth.
Need a Dynamics 365 partner to help your resolutions stick? Get in touch with our experts:
