This year's North American Cat Dealer IT and Digital Conference (NADITA) in April 2026 provided a wealth of technical and strategic insights for the Cat dealer community and featured a D365 roundtable discussion titled "Listening First, Designing Second: A Real-World Dynamics 365 Journey at Ring Power Corporation."
This session moved beyond high-level theory to provide a candid, conversational case study of how Ring Power Corporation navigated a complex transformation of its accounting system by prioritizing collaborative partnerships and real-world dealer processes.
A Multidisciplinary Panel of Experts
The roundtable featured a diverse group of project leaders who shared their unique vantage points on the implementation process.
Andreas Vogel (Ludia Consulting). As the facilitator, Andreas led the group through the chronological journey of the project, from initial design to post-go-live stability.
- Arturo Niebla Jr. (Ring Power Corporation). Arturo provided the essential client-side perspective, detailing his experience as "boots on the ground" IT managing the restructuring of data and the transition through the go-live week.
- Pam McElhany (Ludia Consulting). Pam shared her expertise on the discovery process, explaining how the team uncovered day-to-day workflows to shape the solution design without stalling project momentum.
- Jennifer Albright (Spend Right Consulting). Jennifer addressed the critical role of procurement, offering lessons how to avoid common pitfalls during transformation, and shared her experience helping the Ludia and Ring Power teams with critical accounts payable, credit, accounts receivable, and system administration issues that contributed to improvements in mapping data, translating legacy system security roles to D365, mapping processes, writing test scripts, and designing process improvements.
- Howard Kirkland (FDC Solutions). Representing the integration and technical partner perspective, Howard discussed the management of legacy constraints and the practical steps taken to reduce integration risks early in the project.
Key Takeaways from the Roundtable
The discussion was organized into four core themes that highlighted the practical realities of a large-scale Microsoft Dynamics 365 rollout.
Discovery Beyond Requirements. The panel emphasized that "listening first" was critical to achieving actual business outcomes rather than just fulfilling a list of technical requirements.
- Managing the "Go-Live Shock." Arturo Niebla reflected on the intensity of the go-live period, sharing takeaways on how cross-functional alignment helped mitigate the challenges of the first week of production.
- Protecting the Business through Integration. Howard Kirkland provided a roadmap for avoiding business disruption during the cutover process, emphasizing the importance of fallback plans and clear ownership across teams.
- The Impact of Governance. During the interactive Q&A, the speakers discussed essential governance habits, such as maintaining decision logs and design authority, to keep the program on track.
A Model for Future Transformations
Attendees left the session with a pragmatic understanding of what it takes to modernize the finance and accounting system in a Cat dealership. By sharing their specific successes and lessons learned, the panelists provided a clear model for structuring partner collaboration to deliver both operational stability and digital innovation.
The session concluded with an engaging 20-minute Q&A, where dealers exchanged ideas on sequencing integrations and the first moves necessary to set a multi-year program up for success. Thanks to the session attendees for helping this be such a productive discussion.
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