Sonya Shankar

Programme Manager · AI Transformation & D365 Delivery

Sonya
Shankar

I lead enterprise technology programmes at the intersection of Microsoft Dynamics 365, Azure, and digital commerce - delivering ERP transformations, AI-enabled operations, and headless commerce platforms within Microsoft Partner ecosystems - from strategy through to global go-live.

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18+
Years delivering enterprise programmes
£5M+
Programme budget managed
20+
Cross-functional team leadership
5
Continents · UK, US, AUS, EU, Asia
PMP CSM ITIL V4 ISO 20000 Microsoft Certified
About

Strategy meets
delivery

I'm a commercially-minded Programme Manager with deep specialism in AI Transformation, Copilot for Finance delivery, D365 Commerce headless architecture, and enterprise ERP transformation within Microsoft Partner ecosystems.

My career spans Four of the world's leading technology organisations - 365Connect, Dell Technologies,IBM and TCS - where I've led programmes ranging from AI/ML platform builds to multi-region D365 Commerce go-lives serving B2B and D2C customers across five continents.

I connect C-suite vision to technical execution: fluent enough in architecture to challenge solution decisions, credible enough in business to shape investment cases, and experienced enough in delivery to know where programmes actually fail. My approach to AI is governance-first - I design the output review policies, confidence thresholds, and human oversight frameworks before any capability reaches production, and I am currently extending this into agentic AI and MCP integration on live D365 environments.

Currently building towards broader Technology Leadership roles, with a focus on D365 F&O, Copilot and agentic AI delivery, and enterprise transformation at scale.

D365 Commerce & F&SCM
Programme Governance
Copilot Studio & AI Builder
MCP & Agentic AI Integration
Azure & Integration
Stakeholder Leadership
AI / ML Programme Delivery
P&L & Commercial Ops
Agile / SAFe / Scrum
Data Migration & Governance
Experience

18 years,
Five continents

Concurrent programme delivery across the Microsoft D365 estate: Finance and Operations, Supply Chain, headless Commerce, Copilot for Finance AI transformation & Azure APIM integration governance. Programme budgets up to £5M+, coordinating teams of up to 20+ across internal consultants, client-side leads, and third-party partners. Full lifecycle accountability from mobilisation and business case through to production go-live, hypercare & post-implementation value realisation, across multi-region, multi-entity client engagements within a Microsoft Partner environment.

Oct 2023 – Present

Programme/Technical Project Manager | AI Transformation & D365 Delivery

365Connect · United Kingdom
ClientsBucher Municipal · LifestyleSports · R&B
  • Programme governance across all client engagements: RAID management, change control, phase-gate sign-off, and steering committee reporting. Budgets £5M+; cross-functional teams of 30+ across internal consultants, client-side leads, and third-party partners across multiple geographies.
  • AI Transformation delivery - Copilot for Finance enablement across Bank Reconciliation, Collections Intelligence, and Period-End Close. Governance-first approach: AI Output Review Policy, confidence thresholds (95% autonomous threshold for bank reconciliation; 80% for collections scoring), and human-in-the-loop sign-off designed before any capability reached production. 35 UAT test cases; 90% three-year ROI estimated against £94,500 programme investment.
  • Digital and AI Transformation advisory - AI readiness assessments, responsible AI governance framework design, Copilot integration advisory, and AI business case development across D365 Finance and Commerce client environments, including a 6,000+ audit/year global certification estate spanning 15+ countries.
  • Multi-region headless D365 Commerce programme governance - B2B eShop serving 6,000+ wholesale accounts across four legal entities and four regions (UK, US, Australia, Europe). Programme investment grown from £3M origin to approximately £6M through three additional purchase orders covering data migration, multi-region rollout, and platform enhancements including online payment integration.
  • Architecture involvement across CSU topology design, Azure APIM integration layer, React frontend governance, X++ API customisation for complex B2B pricing and spare parts catalogue requirements, and multi-currency/multi-entity pricing design across four entities.
  • Governance across the Azure APIM integration layer - API contracts, dependency management, and cross-platform data consistency across Commerce, ERP, and third-party systems.
  • Data migration governance - 92,400 customer records unified across three legacy systems with 99.1% loyalty balance preservation; phased migration sequencing and quality validation across complex product catalogues and multi-region estates.
  • Omnichannel Commerce delivery - four-channel D365 Commerce rollout: eCommerce, MPOS across 36 locations, Call Centre module, and Click & Collect. Outcomes: +22% eCommerce conversion vs legacy platform; 31% of online orders fulfilled via Click & Collect; 0.3% fulfilment failure rate.
  • ERP transformation - full D365 F&O implementation replacing three legacy ERPs across UK, Germany, and Australia. Four-phase go-live; month-end close reduced from 3.5 weeks to 5 days; 60% of manual B2B orders eliminated via self-serve portal; brand partner onboarding reduced to 2–3 weeks via standardised EDI framework (Nike, Puma, Under Armour, Asics, On Running).
  • Solution design and discovery - workshops with Solution Architects, functional consultants, and client business stakeholders across Finance, Supply Chain, and Commerce programmes. 7 Architecture Decision Records documented across one ERP transformation programme alone.
  • Change management and business adoption - stakeholder communication plans, end-user training across finance, supply chain, and operations teams, go-live readiness assessments, and user adoption programmes across multi-region phased go-lives.
  • Pre-sales and advisory - client discovery, SOW authoring, proposal writing, and commercial negotiations for new D365 and AI transformation engagements.
  • Commercial operations - P&L ownership, resource utilisation, budgeting, invoicing, and vendor contract governance for the D365 practice.
  • Post go-live support and Error-to-Incident Framework - structured hypercare models, SLA frameworks, and incident escalation paths. Azure Monitor alerting, Log Analytics, and Azure DevOps implemented to eliminate silent integration failures across live estates.
  • Team development - mentoring functional consultants and junior PMs; establishing delivery standards and building team capability across D365 Commerce and Azure integration disciplines.
Oct 2018 – Oct 2023

Programme Manager - Data, AI & Cloud

Dell Technologies · Bangalore, India
  • Directed AI/ML teams delivering predictive models, achieving 30% reduction in manual data processing via Python-based solutions.
  • Led AI-driven customer service chatbot delivery - 30% increase in CSAT, 40% reduction in support costs.
  • Orchestrated Azure cloud migration programmes, reducing infrastructure costs by 25% and improving platform scalability.
Dec 2010 – Oct 2018

Service Delivery Manager & Project Manager

IBM India Pvt. Ltd. · Bangalore, India
  • Led 20-person teams delivering server migration, data centre, storage, and cloud transformation across global enterprise clients.
  • Delivered custom e-commerce platform increasing online sales by 25% in Q1 post-launch.
  • Migrated 100+ servers across heterogeneous platforms with SLA-compliant major incident management.
Aug 2007 – Nov 2010

Subject Matter Expert & Quality Analyst

Tata Consultancy Services · Bangalore, India
  • SME for AC Nielsen IAM, administering 700+ enterprise clients and 30,000+ user accounts.
  • Implemented IAM system reducing security breaches by 60% and access turnaround from 48 hours to under 6 hours.
Case Studies

Programmes in
practice

A growing portfolio of real and project-based case studies/used cases spanning ERP transformation, commerce architecture, cloud migration, AI adoption, and IT operating model design.

Flagship · Live Delivery
D365 Commerce · CSU · F&O · Azure
Multi-Region D365 Commerce Transformation
End-to-end programme delivery for a global spare parts eShop - headless architecture, multi-region go-live, ERP integration, and post-live hypercare across UK, Europe, and international markets.
Case study in progress
→
01
D365 F&O · Finance · SCM · Procurement
Multi-Tower ERP Transformation
£3.2M programme. Three legacy ERPs replaced with a single D365 F&O platform across UK, Germany, and Australia. £1.3M annual recurring benefit. 26-month payback.
Read case study
02
Copilot for Finance · Copilot Studio · AI Builder · D365 F&O
AI-First Finance Operations
Phased Microsoft Copilot deployment across a 300-person finance function. Period-end close cut from 7 days to 3. £552K annual savings. 19-month payback from £848K investment.
Read used case
03
MCP · D365 F&O · Azure API · Copilot · Claude
Conversational ERP - MCP Integration
MCP server built on D365 F&O - enabling AI assistants to query live ERP data in natural language. £285K investment, £320K annual benefit, 14-month payback. First UK mid-market MCP deployment on D365.
Read used case
04
D365 Commerce · CSU · F&O
Omnichannel Commerce Transformation
Programme charter, headless architecture blueprint, and multi-region channel launch sequencing plan.
Read case study
05
Azure APIM · Logic Apps · Service Bus · D365
Enterprise Integration Architecture
Integration topology blueprint, API governance policy, and catalogue design for complex enterprise D365 environments.
Read case study
06
D365 Commerce · Azure DevOps · MCP · Log Analytics · APIM
Commerce Support Intelligence
Unified AI support platform for a 6,000-account eShop - MCP-powered diagnostic layer cutting ticket resolution from 45 minutes to under 10, across UK, US, AUS, and EU go-lives.
Coming soon
Skills & Technology

Deep expertise,
broad reach

Microsoft Dynamics 365
D365 Commerce Commerce Scale Unit D365 F&SCM Copilot for Finance D365 Project Ops Headless Commerce Order Lifecycle
Azure & Integration
Azure APIM Logic Apps Service Bus Azure DevOps Dataverse Azure Monitor / Log Analytics Azure Synapse
Programme Leadership
Programme Governance RAID Management P&L Ownership Change Control C-Suite Reporting Multi-Vendor Mgmt Benefits Realisation Phase-Gate Delivery
AI & Data
MCP Server Copilot Studio Azure OpenAI AI Builder AI Governance Responsible AI Confidence Thresholds Power BI Python / ML Data Governance
Delivery Frameworks
Agile / SAFe Scrum ITIL V4 JIRA / Confluence Azure DevOps MS Project
Technology
React X++ EDI / AS2 REST APIs SQL / PostgreSQL JavaScript Power Platform Lean Six Sigma
Certifications

Credentials &
continuing development

PM
PMP - Project Management Professional
Project Management Institute
SM
Certified Scrum Master
Scrum Alliance
IT
ITIL V4 Foundation
Axelos
IS
ISO/IEC 20000 Lead Auditor
APMG International
MS
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft
AZ
AB-731 · AI-900
Microsoft Learn - In progress · 2026
Get in Touch

Sonya Shankar
AI Transformation and D365 Delivery

Certified Microsoft AI Transformation Leader Copilot & Agentic AI D365 Commerce, F&O & SCM Delivery Azure APIM Integration
Sonya.shankar02@gmail.com · LinkedIn · United Kingdom · +44 7884 873998