the Grid is Going Real -Time Microsoft just Made a very Big Bet on D365 to Run it
We track every new Microsoft Dynamics 365 and NetSuite job posting across North America, every single day, and October gave us the clearest read yet on where this market is actually heading. The short version is that ERP hiring cooled about 11% from September. That headline is true, and it is also misleading. Almost the entire drop sits in the Dynamics implementation tracks, while NetSuite held flat and demand for senior, in-house talent stayed strong. Whether this market feels soft or busy right now depends entirely on which role you are trying to fill. I pulled the full track by track breakdown into this month’s DynamicsFocus Recruiting Report, and it is attached below. If you have a role that has been sitting open since the summer, I would genuinely love to hear what you have tried so far and am more than happy to schedule a 30 minute Teams call to share potential strategies to rectify the situation, no strings attached. #MicrosoftDynamics #D365 #Dynamics365 #NetSuite #ERP #NetSuiteRecruiting #MicrosoftDynamicsRecruiting #TalentMarket #Hiring #AIAgents
November 6, 2026
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I’ve spent 25 years placing talent inside the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem. I’ve watched Dynamics go from a mid-market accounting play (Great Plains) to the operational backbone of some of the most complex enterprises on the planet.
What came out of DTECH 2026 last February was worth paying close attention to.
DTECH is where grid operators, energy executives, and enterprise software vendors sort out the next chapter of how critical infrastructure runs.
Microsoft’s message this year was clear: we’re done with pilots. AI in utilities is moving to production. And Dynamics 365 is sitting right in the middle of it.
The Hitachi Energy Integration
The announcement that caught my attention most was Hitachi Energy’s Ellipse EAM being combined with Microsoft Dynamics 365, Microsoft Fabric, Copilot, and Microsoft Foundry into a unified solution.
Ellipse is one of the most widely deployed asset management platforms in the global utility sector. Pairing it with D365 means utilities can now manage equipment lifecycles, operational workflows, analytics, and business financials on a connected stack; with AI threaded through all of it.
That’s not a product demo. That’s a fundamental change in how utility companies will staff and operate their Dynamics environments going forward.
The Bigger Theme
Microsoft framed DTECH around three priorities: trusted data foundations spanning IT and operational technology, AI embedded into operational workflows rather than bolted on as a reporting layer, and security architectures built for critical infrastructure governance.
The grid problem and the ERP problem are converging. Static, siloed systems built to handle yesterday’s billing cycles aren’t going to cut it when the grid is making decisions in milliseconds.
D365 paired with Azure and Copilot is Microsoft’s answer to that gap.
What This Means for Talent
Every major platform shift in the Dynamics ecosystem produces a talent supply problem.
Implementation demand accelerates while the pool of people who understand both the technology and the industry context takes years to develop. I’ve seen it happen with D365 CE, F&O, and Business Central. The pattern repeats.
Utility companies and the Dynamics partner firms serving them are about to need people who understand ERP architecture AND operational technology integration AND AI-enabled workflows. That skill intersection is not common.
The organizations that start building those teams now; before implementation backlogs form; are the ones that will have a meaningful advantage 18 months from now.
If you’re a Dynamics partner with a utilities or energy practice, or an energy company evaluating your D365 roadmap, I’d be glad to have that conversation.
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