Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Guides Retirement: What Comes Next for IT Leaders

Over the last few years, we’ve worked with several organizations that piloted mixed reality for frontline training, remote inspections, or expert assistance. In many cases, those projects started with Microsoft’s early mixed reality offerings and stayed small, often tied to a specific plant, team, or proof of concept.

Now Microsoft has made it clear that those tools are reaching the end of the road. If your organization still relies on them, this change needs to be on your planning radar.

What’s Changing

Microsoft has announced the retirement of Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Dynamics 365 Guides.

Here are the key dates that matter:

• November 1, 2025 Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Guides will no longer be available for purchase or renewal.
• December 31, 2026 These products will stop receiving security updates.
  

Microsoft’s official lifecycle announcement is available on Microsoft Learn:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/announcements/dynamics-365-guides-remote-assist-end-of-support

After December 31, 2026, running these applications becomes a security and compliance risk, even if they continue to function.

Why This Matters for IT Leaders

This retirement is less about losing a feature and more about risk management and future alignment.

If these tools are still licensed or deployed in your environment, you need to think about:

• Security exposure once updates stop
• Operational disruption if a renewal fails after November 2025
• Unsupported integrations with Microsoft 365, Entra ID, or device platforms
• Orphaned pilots that quietly turned into business-critical processes
  

For regulated industries or organizations with strong cyber insurance requirements, unsupported software can quickly become a finding.

Common Mistakes We’re Seeing

When products like this are retired, we often see the same missteps:

• Assuming “end of sale” means the product is safe to use indefinitely
• Forgetting about small user groups that still rely on Guides for onboarding or safety training
• Waiting until renewal time to figure out what replaces Remote Assist
• Treating mixed reality as a niche tool instead of part of the broader frontline and collaboration strategy
  

These mistakes usually lead to rushed decisions or unplanned spend.

What Actions Customers Need to Take Now

Microsoft’s guidance is clear, but execution takes planning. Here’s how we recommend approaching it.

1. Plan the transition early

Identify all users, devices, and scenarios that depend on Dynamics 365 Remote Assist or Guides. Pay special attention to frontline workers, field service teams, and manufacturing or healthcare environments.

Your transition should happen before your next renewal or before December 31, 2026, whichever comes first.

2. Explore alternative solutions

Microsoft is not exiting mixed reality as a concept. Instead, the ecosystem is shifting toward partner solutions.

A range of mixed reality and remote assistance solutions are available through the Microsoft Marketplace. These offerings may better align with modern device support, security expectations, and evolving frontline use cases.

3. Revisit the business outcome

This is a good moment to step back and ask:

• Do we still need mixed reality for this scenario?
• Would mobile, video, or AI-assisted workflows meet the same need?
• Should this integrate with Microsoft Teams, Power Platform, or Dynamics in a different way?

Not every pilot needs a like-for-like replacement.

How CloudServus Helps

As a Top 1% Microsoft Solutions Partner and Azure Expert MSP, CloudServus helps organizations turn product changes like this into structured, low-risk transitions.

We support customers by:

• Assessing current usage and licensing exposure
• Mapping business scenarios to supported Microsoft and partner solutions
• Evaluating security, identity, and device implications
• Aligning replacements with Microsoft 365, Entra, and frontline strategies

If this retirement overlaps with broader initiatives like frontline modernization, cloud security, or licensing optimization, we can address those together. Many customers pair this work with a Cloud Security Assessment or Microsoft Licensing Assessment to ensure nothing is missed.

The Bottom Line

Dynamics 365 Remote Assist and Guides are officially on the clock. Waiting until your renewal or late 2026 limits your options and increases risk.

Now is the right time to inventory usage, plan a transition, and decide whether mixed reality still fits your operational goals.

If you want help evaluating your current environment or exploring supported alternatives, CloudServus is ready to help with practical, Microsoft-aligned guidance.

Reach out to CloudServus to start a transition conversation before timelines become constraints.