Microsoft Partners: Accelerate Your AI Journey at AgentCon 2026 (Free Community Event)
Recently, a customer asked me a question many Microsoft partners are hearing right now: “We have Copilot — how do we actually use AI to change the way we work?” That question captures where we are in the AI journey today. Organizations have moved past curiosity. Now they’re looking for trusted partners who can turn AI into real business outcomes. That’s why events like AgentCon 2026 matter. A free, community-led event built by practicioners AgentCon is not a traditional conference. It’s a free, community-driven global event organized by the Global AI Community together with Microsoft partners and ecosystem leaders. Simply put: it’s for the community, by the community. Across cities worldwide, developers, consultants, architects, and Microsoft partners come together to share practical experiences building with AI agents, Copilot, and the Microsoft platform. The focus isn’t theory — it’s implementation: What worked What didn’t What partners can apply immediately with customers This peer learning model reflects how many of us actually grow in the Microsoft ecosystem: by learning from other partners solving real problems. Why this matters for Microsoft partners The opportunity for partners is evolving quickly. Customers aren’t just asking about AI tools — they’re asking how to redesign processes, automate work, and unlock productivity using AI-powered solutions. The Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program emphasizes partner skilling and helping customers realize value from AI investments. Community events like AgentCon accelerate that learning by bringing partners together to exchange proven approaches and practical insights. When partners upskill faster, customers succeed faster. Why attend AgentCon is designed to help partners move from AI awareness to AI delivery. As an attendee, you can expect: Practical sessions and demos from practitioners Real-world AI and agent scenarios Direct conversations with builders and peers New collaboration and co-sell opportunities You’ll leave with ideas and approaches you can bring directly into customer engagements. Why speak AgentCon thrives because partners share openly with one another. If you’ve implemented Copilot, explored AI agents, or learned lessons from customer deployments, your experience can help others accelerate their journey. Speaking at AgentCon allows you to: Share your expertise with the global partner community Build credibility within the Microsoft ecosystem Create new partnerships and opportunities Contribute to collective partner success You don’t need a perfect story — just an honest one others can learn from. Join the global AgentCon community AgentCon 2026 events takes place around the world including these upcoming events: March 9 - New York: https://aka.ms/AgentconNYC2026 April 11 - Hong Kong: https://aka.ms/AgentconHongKong2026 April 16 - Seoul: https://aka.ms/agentconLondon2026 April 22 - London: https://aka.ms/agentconSeoul2026 Each event is locally organized, community-led, and free to attend. Help shape the next phase of AI adoption AI transformation is happening now — and Microsoft partners play a critical role in guiding customers forward. AgentCon is an opportunity to learn together, share experiences, and strengthen the partner ecosystem driving AI innovation. 👉 Register or apply to speak: https://aka.ms/agentcon2026 We hope you’ll join us — and be part of the community helping customers turn AI potential into real impact.Partner Case study | Insight
As organizations and leaders race to embrace the potential of AI, sometimes, the hardest part of the transformation isn’t choosing the right technology—it’s getting people to use it. Employees may hesitate to modify established workflows, feel resistant to new technology, or simply not know how or where to start. This can stall even the most ambitious AI strategies. Insight Enterprises—a Fortune 500 solutions integrator and longtime Microsoft partner—deeply understands this challenge. The company helps clients modernize their operations and embrace innovative technologies to accelerate growth. Their expertise and close partnerships with customers has earned them global recognition, and they were named a 2024 Microsoft Americas AI and Copilot Innovation Partner of the Year. As a trusted advisor to thousands of organizations, Insight knew they needed to lead by example. While the company was helping clients accelerate their AI journeys, they also wanted to accelerate their own internal AI adoption. To accomplish that goal, Insight launched Flight Academy, a gamified program designed to make AI usage practical, measurable, and rewarding for every teammate. Leading from within to stay on the frontier of AI innovation Insight has built their reputation by supporting AI adoption, modernization, and future-readiness for organizations around the world. But they wanted to apply that same philosophy internally, setting the standard for the AI innovation they bring to customers. To remain on the frontier of AI innovation, they committed to becoming an AI-first organization. That meant empowering 16,000 teammates worldwide to embrace AI tools and integrate them into daily workflows. “We think of each of our teammates as this force multiplier, this little snowball on top of a mountain,” said Stan Lequin, CTO, AI Transformation at Insight. “If we give it a push from an AI perspective, what kind of momentum and force of nature could we create with 16,000 snowballs, fully AI-enabled, rolling down the hill?” To realize that vision and become an AI-first organization, Insight wanted every teammate to feel confident using AI tools, not just for isolated tasks but as an integral part of daily work. “We had really good conversations with our teammates that AI is just going to make them more powerful,” said Lequin. “They shouldn’t fear it; they should embrace it.” Initially, AI adoption remained lower than the team hoped. But they quickly came up with an idea that changed the AI landscape, inspiring employees to adopt AI and experiment with solutions at a fast and ambitious rate. They built an environment where AI curiosity was encouraged, success was celebrated, and use cases were visible across the business. Essentially, they gamified AI adoption, incentivizing AI use through light competition and rewards—and in the process, they turned initial interest into sustained engagement. 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!Upcoming IT Management and Security in the AI Era events on Tech community!
We’re excited to invite you to IT Management and Security in the AI Era, on Thursday, February 26th, from 8:00AM to 10:30 AM Pacific. This digital event is designed to help IT and security professionals answer questions with clarity and confidence, grounded in the latest Microsoft 365 Copilot capabilities and controls. What to expect IT Management and Security in the AI Era brings together insights, demos, and deep dives from Microsoft experts, giving you a practical understanding of how to prepare your environments for Copilot and agents while managing risks responsibly. Topics covered include: Built-in protections in the Copilot platform that help proactively safeguard your organization Practical ways to reduce exposure to common attack vectors in an increasingly AI-driven digital workplace Technical guidance for protecting sensitive data while maintaining productivity Best practices for managing AI agents and controlling costs Measurement, analytics, and usage insights to understand adoption and business impact Guidance on enabling users and assessing the value of Microsoft 365 Copilot and agents across your organization Continue reading and register here!Learn to maximize your productivity at the proMX Project Operations + AI Summit 2026
As organizations accelerate AI adoption across business applications, mastering how Microsoft Dynamics 365 solutions, Copilot, and agents work together is becoming a strategic priority. Fortunately, businesses no longer need to rely on speculation — they can gain practical insights with fellow industry professionals during a unique two-day event: On April 21-22, 2026, Microsoft and proMX will jointly host the fourth edition of proMX Project Operations Summit at the Microsoft office in Munich, but this time with an AI edge. The summit brings together Dynamics 365 customers and Microsoft and proMX experts to explore how AI is reshaping project delivery, resource management, and operational decision‑making across industries. On day one, participants will discover how Dynamics 365 Project Operations, Copilot, Project Online, proMX 365 PPM, and Contact Center can strategically transform business processes and drive organizational growth. On day two, they can explore the technical side of these solutions. Secure your spot! What to expect from the summit Expert-led, actionable insights Join interactive sessions led by Microsoft and proMX experts to learn practical AI and Dynamics 365 skills you can use right away. Inspiring keynotes Gain future-focused perspectives on Dynamics 365, Copilot, and AI to prepare your organization for what’s next. In between our special guests we have Microsoft's Rupa Mantravadi, Chief Product Officer, Dynamics 365 Project Operations, Rob Nehrbas, Head of AI Business Solutions, Archana Prasad, Worldwide FastTrack Leader for Project Operations, and Mathias Klaas, Partner Development Manager. Hands-on AI workshops Take part in workshops where Sebastian Sieber, Global Technology Director (proMX) and Microsoft MVP will show the newest AI features in Dynamics 365, giving you real-world experience with innovative tools. Connect with industry leaders Engage with experts through Q&A sessions, round tables, and personalized Connect Meetings for tailored guidance on your business needs. Real customer success stories Hear case studies from proMX customers who are already using Dynamics 365 solutions and learn proven strategies for successful digital transformation. Who should attend? This summit is tailored for business and IT decision-makers that are using Dynamics 365 solutions and want to drive more business impact with AI, but also for those who might be planning to move away from other project management solutions such as Project Online and need practical guidance grounded in real-life implementations. Date: Apr 21 & 22, 2026 | 2 -Days event Location: Microsoft Munich, Walter-Gropius Straße 5, Munich, Bavaria, DE, 80807 Ready to maximize your productivity? Register here.Partner Blog | Introducing Partner Marketing Center Pro
Across the ecosystem, partners are moving quickly to support customers on their frontier transformation journey. You’re building AI solutions, strengthening security, and modernizing data estates—and you need messaging that can keep pace with your delivery. To support your go-to-market efforts and make campaign execution more efficient and impactful, we are introducing a new partner marketing experience: Partner Marketing Center Pro. Partner Marketing Center Pro is an AI-driven hub that brings key marketing tools into one convenient, intuitive platform. Now, you can run end-to-end marketing campaigns powered by AI, with key features including asset customization, intelligent translation, comprehensive campaign reporting, and an AI assistant that supports you through each step. Partner Marketing Center Pro is developed with modern, AI-powered marketing capabilities designed for you to generate targeted demand, personalize outreach at scale, and move faster from launch to measurable results. Over the coming months, we will continue adding new features that strengthen targeting, streamline execution, and improve performance insights across your campaigns. Continue reading herePartner Blog | Cloud & AI Platforms, Part 5: Innovating with Azure AI apps and agents.
As we wrap up this Cloud & AI Platforms series, I want to focus on where many partners are investing next: building AI apps and agents that move beyond experiments and into production, at scale, with trust built in. Across industries, AI is reshaping how applications are designed, built, and delivered. We are witnessing the shift from point solutions to systems, with Copilots and agents that can reason, act, and collaborate across workflows. That shift is creating both urgency and opportunity for partners. According to IDC research, 68% of global enterprises surveyed are already using generative AI, and another 26% plan to adopt it in the next 12 months. At the same time, organizations are rapidly moving from prebuilt generative AI apps toward customized or custom-built solutions, with IDC projecting that shift from 40% today to 70% in the next 24 months. 1 This is exactly where Azure AI apps and agents come in, empowering customers to operationalize AI faster while keeping security, governance, and oversight front and center. Continue reading here
Driving Global SMB Impact Through AI Powered, Partner Led Digital Sales
Join Siew Hoon Goh, General Manager of Microsoft’s Global Vendor Digital Sales (VDS) organization, as she shares how VDS is transforming SMB engagement through digitally‑scaled, partner‑centric sales motions that deliver impact worldwide. Under her leadership, VDS has become a core engine in Microsoft’s SMB strategy—driving significant YoY revenue growth, pioneering AI‑forward sales capabilities, and strengthening global alignment across Americas, EMEA, and Asia. In this session, Siew Hoon Goh will explore: How VDS empowers thousands of SMB customers by combining digital signals, AI innovation, and partner collaboration at scale. The evolving “digitally initiated, partner closed” model that accelerates customer acquisition, migration, and growth across global markets. FY26 priorities—including AI transformation, CSP growth acceleration, and deeper global‑regional orchestration—that strengthen partner execution and unlock new revenue opportunities. Attendees will gain insight into Microsoft’s fastest‑scaling SMB sales engine and learn how partners can amplify their impact by aligning with VDS’ global motion and leveraging shared best practices, joint planning frameworks, and AI‑powered customer engagement strategies. Register for this IAMCP Enlighten session here Driving Global SMB Impact Through AI Powered, Partner Led Digital Sales
Unleashing New Business Opportunities for Microsoft Partners with PostgreSQL & MySQL on Azure
The latest innovations announced at Microsoft Ignite 2025 for PostgreSQL and MySQL running on Azure are more than just technical upgrades—they’re a launchpad for new business growth, deeper customer engagement, and accelerated digital transformation. Here’s how these advancements can help you deliver greater value and unlock new opportunities for your clients. 1. Introducing Azure HorizonDB: Built for Performance and AI Workloads We’re excited to unveil Azure HorizonDB in private preview—a new, fully managed PostgreSQL service engineered for business and developers alike. HorizonDB is designed for ultra-low latency, high read scale, and built-in AI capabilities, offering seamless scaling up to 192 virtual cores and 128 TB of storage. Deep integration with developer tools, including GitHub Copilot, delivers performance, resilience, and simplicity at any scale. With HorizonDB, teams can: Build AI apps at scale using advanced DiskANN vector indexing, pre-provisioned AI models, semantic search, and unified support for both relational and graph data. Accelerate app development with built-in extensions, including the PostgreSQL extension for Visual Studio Code integrated with GitHub Copilot. Copilot in VS Code is context-aware for PostgreSQL and enables one-click performance debugging. Unlock data insights through deep integrations with Microsoft Fabric and Microsoft Foundry. Expect reliability with enterprise-ready features from day one, including Entra ID integration, Private Link networking, and Azure Defender for Cloud. Business Opportunity: Position your practice as an early adopter and expert in next-generation database solutions. Position your practice as an early adopter and expert in next-generation database solutions by introducing customers to Azure HorizonDB. Use this conversation to offer migration, modernization, and AI-powered application development services leveraging Azure Database for PostgreSQL with future migrations to HorizonDB. Help clients build resilient, high-performance, and intelligent data platforms—driving new revenue streams and deeper customer engagement. 2. Modernize Data Infrastructure with Limitless Scale and Performance Azure’s new Elastic Clusters in Azure Database for PostgreSQL enable organizations to scale their databases horizontally across multiple nodes, supporting virtually unlimited throughput and storage. This means you can help clients build and grow multi-tenant SaaS applications and large-scale analytics solutions without the complexity of manual sharding or the limitations of legacy infrastructure. Azure’s managed service automates shard management, tenant isolation, and cross-node query coordination, freeing up your teams to focus on innovation instead of administration. Business Opportunity: Position your practice as the go-to partner for scalable, future-proof data platforms. Offer migration services, architecture consulting, and managed solutions that leverage Azure’s unique scale-out capabilities. 3. Accelerate Innovation with AI-Ready Databases Azure is leading the way in AI integration for open-source databases. With the PostgreSQL extension for Visual Studio Code and native Microsoft Foundry support, developers can build smarter apps and AI agents leveraging advanced AI capabilities directly in the database. Features like natural language querying, vector search, and seamless Copilot integration mean your clients can unlock new insights and automate processes faster than ever. Business Opportunity: Expand your offerings to include AI-powered analytics, intelligent agent development, and custom Copilot solutions. Help organizations harness their data for real-time decision-making and enhanced customer experiences. 4. Simplify and Accelerate Migrations from Legacy Systems The new AI-assisted Oracle to PostgreSQL migration tool dramatically reduces the effort and risk of moving off expensive, proprietary databases. Integrated into the PostgreSQL extension for VS Code, it automates schema and code conversion, provides inline AI explanations, and ensures secure, context-aware migrations. Business Opportunity: Lead migration projects that deliver rapid ROI. Offer assessment, planning, and execution services to help clients escape legacy costs and embrace open-source flexibility on Azure. 5. Enable Seamless Analytics and Real-Time Insights With support for Parquet in the Azure storage extension for PostgreSQL and Fabric zero-ETL mirroring for Azure Database for MySQL and Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Azure is bridging operational databases and analytics platforms. Business Opportunity: Build solutions that unify data estates, streamline analytics workflows, and deliver actionable intelligence. Position your team as experts in data integration and real-time analytics. 6. Drive Industry-Specific Transformation Ignite 2025 showcases real-world success stories from industries like healthcare (Apollo Hospitals), automotive (GM), and finance (Nasdaq), demonstrating how Azure’s open-source databases power resilient, scalable, and AI-driven solutions. Business Opportunity: Use these case studies to inspire clients in regulated or complex sectors. Offer tailored solutions that meet strict compliance, security, and performance requirements. Why Partners Win with Azure’s Latest Innovations Faster time-to-value: Help clients adopt the latest tech with minimal downtime and risk. Expanded service portfolio: From migration to AI, analytics to managed services, the new capabilities open doors to new revenue streams. Trusted platform: Azure’s enterprise-grade security, compliance, and high availability mean you can deliver solutions with confidence. Ready to help your customers achieve more? Dive deeper into the Ignite 2025 announcements and start building the next generation of intelligent, scalable, and AI-powered solutions on Microsoft Azure. Learn more here: https://ignite.microsoft.com/en-US/homePartner Case Study | University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago) is one of the nation’s most prestigious research institutions, serving more than 35,000 students, faculty, and staff. As interest in generative AI surged across campus, the university faced a challenge familiar to many: third-party tools were being used without institutional oversight, creating security, privacy, and governance risks. To address this, the university partnered with Royal Cyber—recognized for secure, enterprise-grade AI platforms for higher education. Working closely with Microsoft and UChicago’s IT Services team, Royal Cyber helped design and deploy PhoenixAI—a secure, scalable generative AI assistant powered entirely by Azure. Advancing progress without slowing momentum Faculty and students wanted access to generative AI. But without a centralized solution, the university risked both fragmented adoption and shadow IT usage. Unapproved tools lacked basic data protection and compliance controls, which put institutional data at risk. Royal Cyber worked with the university to co-develop a framework that met security and governance standards while preserving flexibility for academic exploration. The goal: deliver an institutionally managed AI solution built on trusted Azure infrastructure, deployable before the semester’s start, customizable by department or course, and capable of serving tens of thousands of users without adding operational overhead. PhoenixAI was built entirely on Azure using a modular, container-based architecture designed for performance, observability, and scalability. The system architecture was deployed fully within UChicago’s Azure tenant, ensuring that the university retained ownership of its data, infrastructure, and access policies. PhoenixAI integrates a wide array of Azure technologies to deliver secure, scalable performance, including: Azure OpenAI Service: Powers the generative assistant with GPT-4.1, GPT-5, and GPT-o3 models.Azure AI Foundry: Supports modular agent orchestration and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) using Azure Agents API.Azure Cosmos DB: Stores chat history, logs, and structured and unstructured user session data.Azure App Service and Azure Container Apps: Provide scalable, secure deployment of frontend and backend services.Azure Functions App: Automates event processing and tracks token usage in real time.Azure API Management: Creates secure access gateways for researchers, faculty, and custom agents.Azure Monitor and Log Analytics: Deliver real-time diagnostics, usage metrics, and system insights.Microsoft identity platform: Integrates with UChicago’s single sign-on (SSO) and role-based access controls to ensure secure authentication and fine-grained permissions. Additional Azure tools, including Azure Key Vault and Azure Application Gateway, manage certificate security, traffic routing, and endpoint access. 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!
