{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Catch Up Podcast","title":"From Mechanical Engineer to D365 Technical Architect with Phil Mackison","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":3217,"description":"What has to be true before AI is any use inside an ERP system?\nIn this episode of The Catch Up Podcast, host Philip Blackmore speaks with Phil Mackison, D365 F&O Technical Capability Director at HCLTech, about a technical career that started by accident on the Isle of Man and ended up in enterprise Dynamics architecture.\nPhil explains how he moved from mechanical engineering into report writing, why he backed Damgaard Axapta over SAP against his father's advice, and how the technical architect role changed when Dynamics moved from on-premise to the cloud. He is direct about what AI can and cannot do: applying best practice and checking documents, yes; automating processes on top of poor data, no. Gartner expects AI-enabled tools to account for 62% of cloud ERP spending by 2027, up from 14% in 2024, with data quality still one of the main blockers.\nThere is practical advice too: know why you are replacing the system, get your data catalogue in order first, and take your most respected internal person out of their day job to own it.\nPhil Mackison: Phil Mackison is D365 F&O Technical Capability Director at HCLTech, where he owns the technical methodologies used on enterprise Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations implementations and handles recruitment and resourcing across the D365 Finance practice. He has more than 20 years in ERP, starting as a junior engineer on the Isle of Man before moving into report writing, then functional consulting in trade and logistics, then technical architecture. His delivery record spans Damgaard Axapta 2.1 through to Dynamics 365, including enterprise programmes at Capgemini and Hitachi Solutions, and his own specialism has been security and infrastructure. Phil is based in Worcestershire. \nEpisode Insights:\nPhil never did the engineering job he was hired for. Three weeks of typing in bills of materials turned into a report-writing role, and he never went back.\nThe best consultants come from industry first, because they have...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/iWBZTiC94l_5ILnmTBn8PhdqZZ1oGG1Nu4q8ji6v23Q/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS83NDYz/NGM5ZWU5NzM4OTI1/ZDA5YTgxYmExZTBj/NDc5YS5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}