High Risk:
Partner (mostly) Owns D365
Hard truth: You’re paying a fortune for the privilege of being dependent. Your partner owns your roadmap, inflates your budget, and you can’t make a move without them. Every change request is a negotiation. Every enhancement is a change order. Longer term independence is going to take some work.
A couple options for you:
1. Audit immediately
Bring in an independent D365 expert to document all customizations, configurations, and dependencies. This becomes your liberation roadmap.
Start parallel tracking:
For every partner resource, add one internal resource to shadow them. Within 90 days, you’ll have options and leverage you don’t have today.