Microsoft platform modernisation: themes we see in the field

Theme 1: the constraint moved from technology to content

Where integration and infrastructure once determined feasibility, the limiting factor in current programmes is more often the state of the content and data estate: ownership, currency, classification and permission accuracy. This became visible when generative AI made the condition of that estate immediately obvious to end users.

Theme 2: adoption planning still starts too late

Adoption activity commonly begins at user acceptance testing, by which point the design decisions that determine whether people will use the solution have been made. Programmes that involve change practitioners during design consistently encounter less resistance later.

Theme 3: governance follows incidents

Platform governance is usually introduced after an incident rather than before enablement. The resulting controls tend to be stricter and less well targeted than they would have been if designed alongside adoption, and they are harder to relax once in place.

Theme 4: estimates lose their assumptions

Effort estimates are frequently transmitted as single numbers, detached from the assumptions and exclusions that produced them. Change control then becomes a negotiation without a baseline. Preserving assumptions as structured data alongside the estimate removes a recurring source of dispute.

Theme 5: the second year is under-planned

Business cases routinely fund implementation and treat ongoing enhancement as an operational residual. Platforms that continue to deliver value are those with a funded backlog, a named product owner and a regular release cadence after the programme closes.

What we would suggest

1. Assess content and permission readiness before committing to AI scenarios.
2. Fund change management from design, not from testing.
3. Design governance alongside enablement rather than after an incident.
4. Keep estimate assumptions as structured data through to delivery.
5. Fund year two before year one completes.