From insight to action: how Adobe and Microsoft are helping marketers move faster with AI
Today’s marketing leaders are under pressure to do more than ever—deliver meaningful personalization, accelerate execution, and prove measurable business impact. At the same time, teams are navigating increasing complexity: fragmented data, disconnected tools, and insights that arrive too late to act on. AI can change this—but only when it’s embedded directly into how people already work. That’s why Microsoft and Adobe are deepening our partnership: bringing customer experience intelligence, AI-powered workflows, and enterprise-grade AI directly into Microsoft 365 Copilot—so teams can move from insight to alignment to execution in one continuous workflow. The result is faster decisions, more coordinated execution, and clearer business outcomes—without breaking flow or context. Bringing customer experience intelligence into the flow of work Marketing teams don’t struggle because they lack data. They struggle because insights live in one place, collaboration in another, and execution somewhere else entirely. That disconnect slows teams down and creates unnecessary friction between analysis and action. Together, Adobe and Microsoft are changing that dynamic by connecting Adobe’s customer experience capabilities with Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Cowork—so insight, collaboration, and next-best action can happen where work already happens: in Copilot Chat and in everyday apps like Teams, Word, and PowerPoint. Marketers can ask questions, explore insights, align with teammates, and take action without jumping between tools—turning intelligence into impact at the moment it matters. Adobe Marketing Agent for Microsoft 365 Copilot: now generally available A major milestone in this journey is the general availability of the Adobe Marketing Agent for Microsoft 365 Copilot, now available via Microsoft Commercial Marketplace. The Adobe Marketing Agent brings Adobe customer experience intelligence directly into Copilot, enabling marketing teams to: Accelerate time from insight to decision Move seamlessly from analysis to execution Keep humans firmly in control, with AI supporting—not replacing—decision‑making Importantly, the agent is enterprise-ready by design. IT administrators can deploy and manage the experience through the Microsoft 365 admin center, ensuring security, governance, and compliance at scale. Expanding executive experiences with Copilot Cowork Looking ahead, Adobe skills designed for customer experience orchestration will be accessible in Copilot Cowork—in a future release. This upcoming experience will enable customer experience leaders to engage with customer experience insights in a more direct, conversational way, bringing strategic visibility into the same Copilot environments where decisions are made and actions are coordinated. Built on Azure to scale securely and responsibly The technology foundation of this innovation is Azure. Adobe Experience Platform, Adobe Experience Platform Agent Orchestrator, and Adobe AI Agents are built on Azure and leverage Azure AI models, providing the scalability, security, and reliability enterprises require. By running on Azure, these agentic experiences benefit from Microsoft’s global infrastructure, enterprise‑grade security, and responsible AI commitments—supporting customer trust as organizations scale AI across their business. Designed for interoperability across agent ecosystems Modern enterprises don’t operate in a single ecosystem—and their agents shouldn’t either. Adobe agents are built to interoperate with agents created using Microsoft Azure AI Foundry or Copilot Studio, enabling customers to orchestrate richer, cross‑functional workflows across marketing, sales, service, and operations. This architecture is designed to enable organizations to compose agentic solutions that reflect how work actually happens—across systems, teams, and business processes. Moving from experimentation to execution This partnership reflects a broader shift in how organizations adopt AI—moving from experimentation to embedded, enterprise‑ready execution. By bringing the full power of Adobe Experience Platform together with Microsoft’s AI platform, cloud infrastructure, and Copilot experiences, we’re helping teams move faster with clarity, confidence, and control. This is how AI becomes not just powerful—but practical. Learn more Adobe + Microsoft partnership page Adobe Marketing Agent for Microsoft Copilot pageGitHub Copilot is moving to usage-based billing
Instead of counting premium requests, every Copilot plan will include a monthly allotment of GitHub AI Credits, with the option for paid plans to purchase additional usage. Usage will be calculated based on token consumption, including input, output, and cached tokens, using the listed API rates for each model. This change aligns Copilot pricing with actual usage and is an important step toward a sustainable, reliable Copilot business and experience for all users. Learn more here and access partner resources here. APAC Office hours link – May 6, 7:00 PM — 8:00 PM PDT EMEA/AMER Office hours link – May 7, 8:00 AM — 9:00 AM PDTPartner Blog | How partners are using AI as a strategic accelerator to drive business goals
Partners from across the Americas have been sharing their innovative AI concepts with us this year. We’re seeing several trends, but one has been particularly prominent: using AI to support business acceleration. From brainstorming to evaluating ideas, partners are using tools like Microsoft Copilot to turn concepts into action faster. In this blog, we’ll explore how Microsoft partners like BNY, Cisco, and GFT Technologies are integrating AI into their planning and strategy efforts. Reclaiming time for innovation at BNY Before AI, analyzing data for insights was a time-consuming and resource-intensive pursuit. Although there were tools available, it was still a highly manual process. AI supports partners in potentially cutting time to insight from days to minutes. Partners still need the right data and prompts, but the potential for faster and better responses is there. However, speed alone doesn’t create a competitive advantage. Faster insights may lead to greater output, but that doesn’t ensure better outcomes. The shift happens when that reclaimed time is deliberately redirected toward higher-value work such as revisiting business priorities, identifying new growth opportunities, and aligning teams around what matters most. In practice, this means using AI not just to answer questions but to inform which questions should be asked next. “AI has changed leadership in a way that we can move forward in our strategic initiatives,” says Deanna Lanier, Head of Data & Analytics Strategy and New Product Innovation at BNY. “Now, we can place more innovation into our processes, and we can certainly start thinking about the organization and how we change it from a digital perspective.” Enabling insights is just the first step in BNY’s journey. The financial institution is reviewing both internal and external operations through an AI lens. Some opportunities to enhance existing practices have already been identified. With faster time to insight, BNY now has time to convert those opportunities into action. Using AI as a brainstorming partner at Cisco There are many ways to use AI, but research seems to be the most well-known. Many newer users see AI as an advanced search engine. Experienced users don’t simply ask it to generate content; however, they use it as a strategic accelerator. Continue reading blog hereAzure Native Integrations: Public Preview of Napster Companion API on Azure
What is Napster Companion API? Napster Companion API is Napster's platform for building Omniagents: persistent, multi-channel AI agents with one identity, one memory, and one set of tools that show up across every channel an end user touches. The same Omniagent meets the customer on the website, in the mobile app, on video, and on the phone line with the same face, the same voice, and the same memory of the last conversation. The Omniagent as a digital worker The clearest way to think about an Omniagent is as a digital worker: It has a role (customer support specialist, sales advisor, internal IT assistant). It carries the memory of past shifts and prior conversations. It has the tools it needs to do the job which include APIs, knowledge bases, ticketing systems, CRMs. It shows up across every surface the end user touches, like a human worker who answers the door, the phone, and the inbox. When something is outside its scope, it hands off to a human colleague with the context already attached and picks the thread back up when the human is done. Use cases for the Companion API Teams are already exploring the Companion API across a wide range of scenarios: Agentic commerce. Agents that guide end users through discovery, recommendations, purchase, and post-sales support all in one continuous conversation across channels. Customer service. Agents that resolve issues end to end, escalate to humans with full context attached, and pick the thread back up across sessions. Internal operations and digital coworkers. Agents that orchestrate workflows, retrieve knowledge, and automate repetitive tasks for the workforce. Capabilities introduced by Napster Companion API The Companion API public preview brings the following capabilities to Azure customers: Persistent multi-channel agents that maintain identity, memory, and context across web, mobile, voice, video, and telephony. Real-time multimodal interactions across voice, video, and text for natural back-and-forth conversation. Tool and API orchestration that lets agents take real actions like opening tickets, updating records, retrieving documents, and triggering workflows. Persona-driven agents with configurable behavior, conversational style, and avatar-based interaction. Knowledge bases and deterministic question-and-answer pairs for grounded, accurate responses on topics where exactness matters. Developer SDKs and a no-code Dashboard for building, testing, deploying, and iterating on agents. Better together: Napster and Microsoft This integration is the result of a long-term Azure-native partnership between Napster and Microsoft. It is not an external service layered onto Azure infrastructure but it is a co-engineered offering designed to help enterprises operationalize persistent AI agents at scale. In practice, the Azure Native integration delivers: Benefit What it means for you Seamless development experience Provision and manage Companion API resources directly from the Azure portal, alongside your other Azure services. Build and operate Omniagents in the Napster Dashboard, reached through single sign-on. Bring your own model or use Napster Hosted Connect your Azure OpenAI realtime deployment on Microsoft Foundry so inference runs in your tenant. Or use the Napster Hosted tier where Napster manages the model for you. Simplified billing Manage Companion API spend through Azure Marketplace, on the same invoice as the rest of your Azure consumption which means no separate procurement, no separate billing relationship. Single sign-on with Microsoft Entra Switch between Azure resources and the Companion API Dashboard without re-entering credentials. Enterprise-ready foundation Built on Azure's compliance, security, and global infrastructure footprint. How it works?    If the player doesn’t load, open the video in a new window: Open video Get started in minutes Provisioning Napster Companion API on Azure takes just a few clicks: Open the Azure portal and search for *Napster Companion API*. Create a new resource and choose your subscription, resource group, region, and pricing tier. Link your Napster organization (or create one as part of resource provisioning). Launch the Companion API Dashboard from the resource overview page using single sign-on, and start building your first Omniagent in the Napster portal. Full step-by-step guidance is available in the Napster Companion API documentation on Microsoft Learn Resources Product documentation: Napster Companion API on Microsoft Learn Quickstart: Create a Napster Companion API resource Azure Marketplace listing: Napster Companion API Napster for partners: napster.com/partners Azure Native Integrations overview: Azure partner solutions What's next This public preview is the first milestone on a broader roadmap. We are eager to hear from early adopters. Try the public preview, build your first Omniagent, and let us know what you think as your feedback will shape what ships next. Get started today by searching for Napster Companion API in the Azure portal.Make your mark on the Microsoft AI Tour—learn more about sponsorship
A preview of sponsorship opportunities for the 2026–2027 Microsoft AI Tour is now available. This one‑day event series is traveling to 30+ cities in priority markets around the globe. Sponsors can accelerate pipeline through high-impact, in-person experiences that help customers make confident, informed technology solution decisions. Sponsorship packages start at USD5,000. MCAPS Start for Partners, an event taking place on July 22, presents another exciting opportunity for your business. You'll get insights from Microsoft leaders on where we’re investing, our shared priorities, and how to activate AI-led opportunities to drive growth this year. Registration details coming soon. Preview Microsoft AI Tour sponsorship opportunitiesUpdates to Teamwork Deployment specialization: View new name and requirements
Starting April 29, 2026, Microsoft is renaming the Teamwork Deployment specialization as the Secure AI Productivity specialization to reflect the increased focus on the secure foundations required for successful AI adoption. Additionally, the performance, skilling, and Solutions Partner designation requirements will be updated to better align with foundational workloads from Microsoft 365 E3 and the realities of modern AI adoption. These updates expand the workloads included in the specialization and refresh requirements to reflect the skills partners need to deploy, secure, and scale AI‑powered collaboration. Additionally, partners will be required to hold both the Modern Work designation and the Security designation to earn the Secure AI Productivity specialization. Partners currently enrolled in the specialization will need to meet these updated requirements at their next renewal if it occurs after April 29, 2026. Learn more
Foundry IQ and the partner opportunity: Turning domain knowledge into AI advantage
Turning domain knowledge into AI advantage with Foundry IQ The enterprise software landscape is undergoing a fundamental shift. AI agents are moving quickly from experimental pilots into production workloads. As organizations deploy agents at scale, a hard truth is emerging: an agent is only as valuable as the knowledge behind it. General-purpose models can reason, summarize, and generate. What they cannot replicate is the deep domain expertise software development companies have spent years building into products, data models, and best practices. That expertise is what turns an agent from “capable” into “useful” in real business workflows. This is the moment to ask a strategic question: where does your knowledge live in the AI agent economy, and how easily can customers find it when they are building agents? Microsoft Foundry IQ is designed to answer that question. What Foundry IQ means for the partner ecosystem Foundry IQ is a knowledge layer within Microsoft AI Foundry that connects curated, structured knowledge sources to the agents customers build and deploy. Organizations constructing agents in Foundry can browse, evaluate, and attach knowledge sources in the same place they select models and tools. Microsoft is leading with its own investment. Foundry IQ already surfaces product knowledge for first-party services, including: Microsoft Fabric (data pipelines, lakehouses, analytics) Azure Storage (blob, file, queue, and table architectures) SharePoint (collaboration, content management, and search) A growing set of additional Microsoft services For partners, this matters because it establishes a distribution surface inside the workflows where customers design and operationalize agents. Customers already use Microsoft knowledge sources when building. That same integration path is now open to partners, creating a clear opportunity to bring domain expertise into the agent-building experience. Microsoft knowledge covers Microsoft products. Customers also need industry and function-specific expertise that only partners provide. Foundry IQ enables you to meet that need by connecting your knowledge to the moment of highest intent, when customers are assembling the knowledge and tools their agents will rely on. In return, partners can gain: Increased visibility inside the platform where enterprise AI decisions are made A route to customer acquisition at the point of agent creation, not only through a separate sales cycle Stronger integration into the Microsoft ecosystem that can reinforce alignment with Microsoft sellers The ability to consume Microsoft first-party knowledge via the Model Context Protocol (MCP), making partner-built agents more capable without duplicating knowledge pipelines Three partner value paths The opportunity is not one-size-fits-all. Depending on your product architecture and go-to-market strategy, Foundry IQ opens three practical paths. Path 1: Integrate your knowledge where customers are already building Microsoft has populated Foundry IQ with knowledge for Fabric, SharePoint, Azure Storage, and other first-party services. Partners can integrate alongside these sources, becoming discoverable at the moment customers are assembling their agents. This is about showing up where design choices happen, not after the architecture is locked. A financial services organization builds a compliance agent and pulls in Microsoft platform knowledge alongside your regulatory expertise. A healthcare organization constructs a clinical workflow agent and discovers your domain knowledge at the point of need. In this model, your expertise becomes part of the agent’s foundation. Instead of being evaluated later through a separate procurement cycle, it becomes a selectable component in the agent-building workflow. That creates a new distribution channel at the point of highest customer intent. Path 2: Consume Foundry IQ to power your own agents The value flows both ways. Partners building agents, or agent-building platforms, can consume Foundry IQ as a knowledge source through MCP. Consider a partner offering a vertical supply chain platform. By connecting to Foundry IQ via MCP, that platform can: Ground its agents in Microsoft knowledge for Azure infrastructure, data services, and collaboration tools Layer the partner’s proprietary supply chain logic on top Deliver more capable agents without building and maintaining knowledge pipelines for every Microsoft service This is leverage. Partners benefit from Microsoft’s knowledge investment. Customers get agents that understand more of the full stack, from infrastructure through industry workflows. Path 3: Extend your existing knowledge platform with Foundry IQ Some partners already operate knowledge management or intelligence platforms. For these partners, Foundry IQ can expand relevance without forcing a platform rewrite. Foundry IQ and Microsoft Search capabilities can be integrated into your existing solution so you can: Combine your proprietary knowledge graph with Microsoft’s enterprise knowledge surface Deliver a more unified experience without requiring users to leave the platform they already use Evolve a standalone knowledge product into one that is connected to broader enterprise intelligence workflows This path strengthens your role as the knowledge hub while extending the reach of the content you surface. The business case for software development companies Across these paths, the business case tends to show up in three ways: Growth through integration When your knowledge becomes a selectable part of a customer’s agent architecture, each deployment becomes a durable touchpoint. Agents built with your integration can create ongoing product usage and expanded commercial opportunity. Differentiation through domain expertise Microsoft covers the platform layer. Partners cover the domain layer. As reasoning capabilities become more common, curated domain expertise becomes a key differentiator in agent outcomes. Ecosystem leverage through co-innovation Partners who integrate early can shape emerging patterns, build stronger visibility into customer demand, and become a natural choice when customers need domain-specific knowledge connected to their agents. Next steps Microsoft has already committed its product knowledge to Foundry IQ, and customers are using it to build agents. The domain layer is where partners complete the picture. Start with these actions: Identify your value path: Which of the three models aligns with your product and go-to-market strategy? Inventory your knowledge assets: What expertise, data sets, or frameworks would materially improve customer-built agents? Define an integration plan: Prioritize one scenario where your knowledge creates clear customer value and can be packaged repeatably. Engage your Microsoft partner development team: Align on scope and the right technical path to integrate or consume knowledge. The partners who move early can help set quality benchmarks and establish durable placement in the agent-building workflows customers adopt first. Additional resources Microsoft AI Foundry – Build, evaluate, and deploy AI agents Foundry IQ Overview – Learn how Foundry IQ connects knowledge to agents Model Context Protocol (MCP) – Open standard for connecting AI agents to knowledge and tools Azure AI Foundry Documentation – Technical documentation for the Foundry platform Microsoft Partner Network – Explore partnership opportunities and engagement pathNow generally available: Microsoft 365 E7 and Agent 365
We're excited to announce the general availability of Microsoft 365 E7 and Agent 365! Microsoft 365 E7 is the Frontier Suite powered by Work IQ, designed for a human-led, agent-operated enterprise—turning human intent into AI action that functions securely and at scale. Microsoft 365 E7 bundles Microsoft 365 E5, Copilot, Agent 365, and more into a single integrated offer built for customers’ Frontier Transformation. Designed for organizations to move from AI experimentation to scale, it includes Microsoft Entra Suite and advanced Defender, Intune, and Purview capabilities, delivering comprehensive security across agents and employees. Agent 365 is the control plane for customers to observe, govern, and secure both Microsoft and third-party AI agents, grounded in shared intelligence and built with trust to protect the organization. This marks a clear path for customers to upgrade to Microsoft 365 E7, unlocking access to Agent 365 for a setup built for secure agentic operations. Get more detailsDiscover new ways to innovate—read the State of the Partner Ecosystem blog
The AI industry has rapidly moved from experimentation to production, and Microsoft partners play a critical role in helping organizations deploy AI responsibly and at scale. Today’s customers expect secure, governed, outcome-driven solutions from their providers. To support the partner ecosystem, Microsoft invests in offerings like incentives, skilling, and go-to-market resources, so partners can continue to innovate and grow. Microsoft also tracks emerging AI trends and insights—synthesizing them to keep you informed and pointing you toward program offerings you can use to capture market opportunity. Explore the State of the Partner Ecosystem blog to learn about the latest AI developments and the investments Microsoft makes to empower partners to lead the way in Frontier Transformation. Visit the blogPartner Case Study | DeepJudge
Legal work depends on precision, precedent, and the ability to apply institutional knowledge across diverse matters. For many firms, that knowledge is documented but not always easy to access or act on. DeepJudge, a Microsoft partner, is helping legal teams bridge that gap with AI-powered search and workflow tools built on Microsoft Azure. DeepJudge specializes in enterprise search and agentic AI workflows tailored for legal professionals. DeepJudge participated in Microsoft for Startups and the Pegasus Program, a selective initiative that helps high-potential partners scale through technical guidance, go-to-market support, and early access to Microsoft innovations. Today, the company’s platform is built on Microsoft Azure—including Azure OpenAI Services, Azure Kubernetes Service, and Microsoft Defender for Cloud—to promote high performance and robust data protection. Making internal knowledge accessible—and secure CMS Switzerland, a full-service law firm with more than 160 employees and a legacy spanning over 80 years, offers tailored legal solutions for businesses, investors, and private individuals. Known for its deep legal expertise and cross-border capabilities, CMS Switzerland built a strong foundation of internal knowledge—contracts, case files, templates, presentations, and precedent documents—stored across various systems and folders. While this information was historically well maintained, it wasn’t always easy for lawyers to locate and apply it consistently across cases. “Clients hire law firms for their expertise—but law firms often underestimate their breadth and depth of existing knowledge and experience,” said Stefan Brunnschweiler, Managing Partner at CMS Switzerland. The firm wanted to better surface and apply its internal expertise across teams—without disrupting existing workflows or compromising on data protection. The goal was to institutionalize internal know-how so that all employees could access and apply it confidently in their daily work. Security was a critical consideration. As part of CMS, one of the largest international law firms with over 7,200 lawyers in 92 offices across 50 countries, CMS Switzerland needed a solution that could meet strict data protection requirements while offering the flexibility and performance of modern AI tools. “Data security is our top priority,” Brunnschweiler emphasized. “The fact that Microsoft hosts our data in Switzerland and that DeepJudge, through Microsoft, also ensures high data protection convinced us.” CMS Switzerland began exploring options that could help surface internal knowledge more efficiently, reduce time spent on manual research, and support faster onboarding of new employees. The firm was looking for a solution that could meet the highest standards for security, reliability, and usability—while also aligning with the operational realities of legal work. Continue reading here Explore all case studies or submit your own Subscribe to case studies tag to follow all new case study posts. Don't forget to follow this blog to receive email notifications of new stories!
