Industry · Heavy equipment
Win on time-to-fix with the technicians you already have
A dealership is a Service Operation: the service bay, the field trucks, the parts counter, the rental yard, and the warranty desk. Ludia Consulting’s senior consultants tie them together so dealers get more billable hours from every technician, the right part to the machine the first time, and warranty claims paid. Then your people run it and change it without us.
Sources: TechForce Foundation, Technician Supply, Demand and Opportunity Report, May 2026; Association of Equipment Manufacturers, Aug 2026; American Rental Association forecast, June 2026.
Dealers now win on time-to-fix
Technicians are now harder to find than machines are to sell. The dealers pulling ahead get more wrench time from the people they have.
Half of diesel technician demand goes unmet. Every hour a technician spends waiting on parts or calling around for a diagnosis is an hour you can’t hire back. Your service manager sees unbilled WIP; your CFO sees it in absorption.
With construction growth flat, the aftermarket carries more of the year. OEMs are betting their growth on services and connected machines, and dealers deliver most of that work. Telematics signals and PM contracts only turn into revenue when the fault code reaches a product support rep and a work order.
Right to repair is moving the dealer’s edge. Under a July 2026 FTC settlement, Deere gives owners and independent shops the same diagnostic tools its dealers get. Dealers now compete on time-to-fix and parts on the truck, both problems a connected Service Operation is built to solve.
A dealership earns its margin between the bay, the counter, and the office
Each department can run well on its own and the machine still sits down for a second day. We connect the five links, so the customer deals with one dealership.
- 1 · Customer service
Customer Service (opens Microsoft’s site)
Contact Center (opens Microsoft’s site)Status and parts calls answered the first time
The service and parts lines see the machine and its open work orders, so the customer gets the answer on the first call.
Agents at work: service writers and counter pros hand case setup and intent to the Case Management and Customer Intent agents (generally available), and keep the relationship.
- 2 · Field service
Field Service (opens Microsoft’s site)The right technician on the machine, the first trip
Shop, field, and rental make-ready work scheduled by skill, territory, and parts on hand.
Agents at work: dispatchers review schedules drafted by the Scheduling Operations Agent (preview, not for production use yet) and keep the final call.
- 3 · MobilityField Service (opens Microsoft’s site)
Power Apps (opens Microsoft’s site)A veteran’s knowledge on every field truck
Field technicians carry the machine’s service history and the manuals, even out of coverage.
Agents at work: technicians ask knowledge agents built in
Copilot Studio for likely causes and parts, and keep the repair, safety, and warranty calls. - 4 · Supply chain
Supply Chain Management (opens Microsoft’s site)Parts staged at the machine before the technician arrives
Parts are reserved against the work order, with branch stock visible from the truck.
Agents at work: parts managers let the Procurement Agent (preview) chase late supplier orders, then decide what to expedite.
- 5 · Finance
Finance (opens Microsoft’s site)WIP billed and warranty claims paid
Hours, parts, and failure data land on the work order, so invoices go out at close and claims reach the OEM complete.
Agents at work: controllers use the Finance Agent for reconciliation and collections follow-up; warranty administrators still approve every claim.
Across every link
Agents take the lookups and follow-ups between the counter, the bay, and the office; your people make the calls. See the connected Service Operation →
Underneath it all
Azure (opens Microsoft’s site)
Microsoft Foundry (opens Microsoft’s site)
Dataverse (opens Microsoft’s site)
Microsoft Azure is the secure cloud every link runs on: identity, integration with the systems you keep, and the data that ties them together. In Microsoft Foundry we build, test, and govern the custom AI agents and models your operation needs beyond the ones inside Dynamics 365. They work from your own data and are evaluated before they touch the work. How we build AI →
The work, as your technicians and branches do it
Four jobs your people do every day, and what changes when the record goes with them.
Service writer
Intake that gets it right the first time
The serial number, SMU hours, fault codes, and the customer’s complaint are on the work order before it’s scheduled, so the right technician gets the job.
Their call: which job goes first.
Field technician
Complaint, cause, correction
Copilot drafts the three Cs from the technician’s notes and photos, so the story is complete and warranty claims aren’t kicked back for missing detail.
Their call: the diagnosis and the words that go to the OEM.
Parts counter
The part staged before the truck rolls
Parts are reserved against the work order, with branch stock and transfers in view, so the technician isn’t waiting on the counter.
Their call: what to transfer and what to order.
Rental yard
Check-in that recovers the damage
Check-in inspections with photos on a phone. Damage becomes a repair work order and a line on the customer’s invoice in one flow.
Their call: what’s billable damage.
What changes for your CEO, CFO, and COO
For the CEO or owner
Grow without rebuilding the back office
Add a branch, an OEM line, or a rental fleet without starting a new project each time. Your people make the change, on your timeline.
For the CFO
Service revenue you can see, bill, and collect
Hours and parts land on the work order, so WIP gets billed and warranty claims go out complete. And you know what the work costs and returns before you sign.
For the COO or VP of service
More machines fixed on the first trip
The right technician, with the right part and the machine’s history, reaches the job once. More wrench time from the crews you already have.
Ludia’s senior team knows dealers from first meeting to results
Four things decide results for a dealer, and the service bay is where each one is tested.
The right people
Consultants who have sat at a dispatch desk
Senior, US-based consultants who know service writers, product support reps, and parts counters. The person who plans your work stays to deliver it.
The right knowledge
They know how a dealership makes money
Warranty recovery, PM agreements, branch stock, and the dealer systems you already run, plus deep Dynamics 365 know-how and a standing feedback loop with its product teams since 2018.
The right tools
Proven methods, one branch at a time
Microsoft’s 
Success by Design practices and a pilot-branch rollout, so one branch proves it before the rest follow. Automation and AI only where they earn their place.
The right outcome
A dealer team that runs it themselves
We measure success by your satisfaction and by how well your team runs things after we step back.
Where dealers see results first
Dispatch that fits the day
Schedule by skill, territory, and parts on hand, so the right technician rolls once. Your dispatcher stays in charge of the board.
Field Service →Parts at the machine
Reserve and stage parts against the work order, with branch stock visible from the truck, so a down machine needs fewer second trips.
Warranty claims that get paid
Capture failure data, photos, and hours on the work order, and check the claim before it goes to the OEM, so fewer claims sit aging.
Field Service →One set of numbers for customers, machines, and parts
Clean customer, serial, and parts records, each with a named owner. The work pays off whatever you run next.
A way off an aging system, one phase at a time
Keep AX 2012 stable while you choose the exit, then move in phases.
Faster answers on the parts and service lines
Answer status and parts-availability calls in Dynamics 365 Contact Center, with your counter pros handling exceptions and relationships.
Agility and enablement
Your people make the next change without calling us.
Dealers change fast: a new OEM line, a branch acquisition, a rental fleet. Your admins and service managers should be able to make those changes themselves.
Your admins train alongside our consultants from the first sprint. Every design decision is written down with the reason behind it. Service managers get a runbook for adding a branch, a territory, or a work order type.
How we work →
Knowledge capture · The right tools
A veteran’s knowledge on a second-year tech’s first call.
Today a newer technician facing an unfamiliar fault calls around until a senior tech picks up, and the truck often goes out twice. The fix starts with knowledge capture: fault patterns, fixes, and parts recorded on the work order, where the next technician can find them.
AI is one way to put that knowledge on the tablet. A knowledge agent reading the machine’s service history and the manuals can surface likely causes and the right part before the truck leaves the yard. The repair call, the safety call, and the warranty call stay with the technician.
How we decide where AI belongs →
Where we’ve done this work
Ludia works with equipment dealers in construction machinery and material handling, with delivery under way today. Client names stay confidential.
Construction equipment dealers
These dealers are bringing their service teams onto Field Service now, and cleaning up the data on the dealer systems they run today.
See client results →A multi-state material-handling equipment dealer
The dealer keeps service running on a tuned AX 2012, with Ludia’s support, while it plans what comes next.
See client results →An equipment aftermarket business in energy services
A Western Canadian energy-services company that supports compression and process equipment runs finance, field service, and mobile work on one set of numbers.
See client results →Built on Microsoft Dynamics 365
The Microsoft products behind each part of your Service Operation. Each one links to Microsoft’s own page.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field ServiceWork orders, scheduling, and the technician’s mobile app, from dispatch to completion.on microsoft.com (opens Microsoft’s site)Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain ManagementParts, inventory, and procurement, planned from the service schedule.on microsoft.com (opens Microsoft’s site)Microsoft Dynamics 365 FinanceBilling, job cost, and the close, on the same numbers the field uses.on microsoft.com (opens Microsoft’s site)Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer ServiceCases, knowledge, and service agreements, so every request reaches the right person.on microsoft.com (opens Microsoft’s site)Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact CenterVoice, chat, and messaging in one place, with agents that understand intent.on microsoft.com (opens Microsoft’s site)Delivered the way Microsoft recommends, with FastTrack (opens Microsoft’s site) and Success by Design (opens Microsoft’s site).
For your IT team: what Microsoft has ready for dealers, and what isn’t ready yet
Some of what Microsoft ships for dealers is ready for production, and some is still in preview. Our architects tell you which is which before you plan around it.
Field Service is ready for dealers today
Generally available. Work orders, schedule board, offline mobile app, machines as customer assets, and PM agreements.
Service now connects to finance natively
Generally available, Sept 2026. Connected workflows run from work order to invoice across Field Service, 
Project Operations, and Finance.
Contact Center handles service and parts lines
Generally available. Voice, chat, and case routing for status calls and parts availability.
Native rental is still early
Preview. Rental management in Dynamics 365 is early. Today a full rental operation still needs an ISV or the OEM template.
Agents: some ready, some in preview
Finance reconciliation in 
Microsoft 365 Copilot and the Contact Center agents are generally available. The Procurement Agent is in paid preview. The Scheduling Operations Agent is in preview and not for production use yet.
Dealer systems connect in batches
Most dealer systems on IBM i are batch-oriented, so we design scheduled interfaces with one declared system of record per domain.
Status as of Sept 28, 2026, from Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 announcements (Sept 23, 2026) and the AI at Work roadmap. Microsoft now ships changes continuously, so we re-check status before every plan.
Heavy equipment insights
Heavy equipment
The technician gap is a knowledge problem you can start on today
Most diesel technician openings replace people who leave. How service leaders keep a veteran’s know-how on the systems they already run.
Enablement
Five decisions to write down so your team can change course without consultants
The choices your admins will need to understand when the business changes next year.
Field Service
First-time fix is won at the dispatch desk
Why repeat truck rolls start with a schedule the dispatcher doesn’t trust, and what the dispatch desk needs before anything else.
Questions dealers ask us
We’re replacing our dealer system in a few years. What should we fix now?
Fix the work that pays off on any platform. Clean customer, serial, and parts masters, document every interface, and baseline your service processes. None of it needs new software, and all of it shortens the move when it comes.
Can Dynamics 365 Field Service run alongside our current dealer system without double entry?
Yes, if each domain has one declared system of record. Work orders and scheduling live in Field Service; invoicing and parts stay where they are until you move them. Most dealer systems on IBM i are batch-oriented, so we design scheduled interfaces, not real-time promises.
How does Ludia roll out Field Service without disrupting the service bay?
In phases: a pilot branch first, then waves by branch cluster, following Microsoft’s FastTrack and Success by Design methods. A senior solution architect scopes the work and stays through go-live. The biggest variable is dispatch process design, so we sit with your dispatchers from the start: the schedule they trust decides whether the system sticks.
Will our own people be able to run it after go-live?
Yes. Your admins build alongside our consultants, and each architecture decision is documented with its reason. By go-live, your team can add a branch or change a territory without us, and managed support is there if you want it.
Does Dynamics 365 handle equipment rental?
Not as a full rental system today. Microsoft’s native rental management is in preview, so dealers with a rental fleet use a rental ISV or the OEM template. We’ll tell you plainly which fits your fleet, and we won’t build a custom rental system you’d have to maintain alone.