Key Insights from Ultimate Partner Live
Ultimate Partner LIVE - Executive Summit '24, a Microsoft sponsored event, recently took place in Dallas Texas on October 22-23 rd . The two-day event was filled with relationship-building, business growth opportunities, and learning, exceeding many attendees’ expectations in content, quality, and connections. Microsoft’s support of Ultimate Partner as an Official Community this year, along with its presence, highlighted the strength of ecosystem-led growth. A special thank you to all the Microsoft leaders who worked behind the scenes to make this event a success. Industry-leading speakers and award-winning partners shared insights that will shape the future of cloud go-to-market strategies. Over 34 leaders graced the stage brimming with world-class learning, demonstrating what thought leadership is all about. They included: Greg Sarafin, Global Vice Chair - Partner Ecosystem, EY John Jahnke, CEO, Tackle.io Sandy Gupta, VP Ecosystems of Gobal Software Companies, Microsoft Mayank Singh Bawa, CEO and founder, WorkSpan Mike Reinhart, CEO, Quisitive Regina Manfredi, Executive VP, General Manager, Crayon Dux Raymond Sy, Chief Brand Officer, AvePoint Ultimate Partner LIVE featured keynotes, panels and sessions across a range of topics including: The current tectonic shifts in the tech ecosystem State of the Ecosystem Growth opportunities with Microsoft marketplaces and AI developments Selling and co-selling with Microsoft Winning marketing tactics and effective partnering tools From broad insights into the ecosystem and market trends to award-winning partner case studies and hands-on technical workshops, the event provided valuable and energizing guidance for Microsoft partners on aligning with Microsoft’s FY objectives. If you were unable to attend this event, here are some key takeaways: 7 Principles Framework for Successful Partnerships Ultimate Partner has a unique point of view and understanding of partnerships grounded in experience and represented in our 7 Principles Framework for Successful Partnerships. A key tenant to the Framework, is understanding that Hyperscalers, such as Microsoft, are a critical component to the ecosystem transformation. Customers and their needs are central to the 7 principles framework. Canalys research shows that complex IT purchases involve up to 7 partners, known as the “7 seats at the decision table.” Hyperscalers, marketplace, and co-selling all influence the customer in the decision-making process. The Rise of the Chief Partner Officer Partnerships are no longer confined to sales functions; they are now recognized as a key business pillar. The emergence of the Chief Partner Officer role underscores this evolution, with responsibilities encompassing financial decisions, strategic alignment, and client value creation. AI is set to play a significant role, potentially replacing traditional systems of record and reshaping the SaaS landscape. During the State of the Ecoystem session, Greg Sarafin discussed the need for partner leaders to lead at a Chief Partner Officer level. CPOs need to engage the C-suite on strategy, finance at a P&L level, and GTM leadership to communicate and coordinate how businesses should engage the ecosystem opportunity. State of the Ecosystem The current partner landscape is focused on capital efficiency, driven by a need for AI integration, productivity, and operational leverage. The shift from traditional alliances to broader multi-leader alignments is reshaping how companies go to market. The marketplace is now a primary consideration, affecting how systems integrators (SIs) engage with customers. Efficiency and Innovation were central, with innovations that used to take 18 months now scaling in just 6 months. This accelerated pace necessitates a new level of financial acumen and a focus on partnerships that directly impact the P&L. Microsoft Company Priorities Microsoft's main priorities are Copilot, AI, and Marketplaces. If you are a partner in the Microsoft ecosystem and are not aligned with these three priorities, it's time to reconsider your focus to ensure alignment, especially as Microsoft is now a $3+ trillion market cap company—larger than some of the world's biggest economies. Microsoft's massive network of 17M people in their ecosystem, creates enormous scale and opportunities. Go-to-Market Priorities Microsoft sellers are incentivized not only for consumption and marketplace revenue but also for Copilot and AI design wins. Take advantage of these opportunities to strengthen your relationship with Microsoft, which may require involving your product teams to meet these priorities. For any partner manager new to managing Microsoft relationships, it's essential to learn the jargon and acronyms, understand existing programs, build relationships at various organizational levels, internalize seller incentives and metrics, navigate cultural nuances (especially if you've previously managed partnerships with Google, Amazon, or Oracle), and follow the Microsoft Customer Engagement Methodology (MCEM) process. Partner Opportunity Microsoft's biggest challenge is providing enough technical resources for partners who want to co-build customized AI and Copilot solutions. This creates a significant opportunity for partners to step in and fill this gap. A very common theme during the event is that companies must ensure their data is clean and more importantly that their tenant is secure, before rolling out. All the experts suggest going through Assessment and Governance exercises to make sure your "house is in order" before implementing new AI solutions. The Ultimate Partner Event showcased a world where adaptability, efficiency, and collaboration are crucial. The future is about leveraging partnerships to drive success and embracing the changes brought on by technology, AI, and shifting market dynamics. The Ultimate Partner Event showcased the alliance landscape evolving at a rapid pace, and those who stay agile and partner-driven will be the ones who thrive. The call to action was clear: continue to invest in partnerships, refine business strategies, and use technology to support mutual growth. Key Themes and Strategies for Success The event highlighted Seven Principles to Unlock Success, all centered on creating effective partnerships: Growth Mindset: Embrace change and see opportunities where others see challenges. Executive Commitment: Partnerships require executive-level buy-in to drive success. Vision and Value: Establish a bold mission with a long-term vision, accompanied by a well-defined strategy. Maniacal Focus: Measure what matters, set clear key results, and hold accountability. Brand and Storytelling: Clearly articulate your unique strengths and how you differentiate from competitors. Delivering Results: Focus on building a flywheel of success that amplifies your brand. Agility: Adapt swiftly to changing conditions to ensure long-term success. Partners are hungrier than ever to learn, network, and get in front of their peers. We are committed to our mission, even more than ever. If you missed Dallas, clear your calendars for 2025. You don’t want to miss what’s coming next—we are just getting started, and the best is yet to come. Join the Ultimate Partner Experience Community - it is in its early days, and we are building a community of leaders in the hyperscaler space. DM John Menzione to learn more or visit our website. We are looking for future chapter leaders as we expand in 2025.How to strengthen identity security by integrating ITDR with Microsoft Copilot for Security
In this guest blog post, Curtis Johnstone, Distinguished Engineer and Microsoft Office Apps & Services MVP at Quest, examines Active Directory security and methods to enhance it. In today’s cyber landscape, securing Active Directory (AD) and Microsoft Entra ID has never been more crucial. The days when organizations only had to worry about phishing attacks or unauthorized firewall breaches are behind us. Now, administrators face a barrage of sophisticated threats that target their directory services platforms. These include privilege escalation attacks, token replay attacks, and password-based assaults on AD domains. As attackers continue to find new ways to exploit vulnerabilities, having rock-solid security measures in place is no longer optional; it’s a necessity. This ongoing escalation highlights the importance of comprehensive Active Directory security and effective cybersecurity risk management. Whether the threats are deliberate or accidental, organizations must be prepared for the worst to protect the core of their identity infrastructure: Active Directory. What is Active Directory security? Active Directory is often described as the key to your IT castle, controlling who can access your network and what resources they can unlock. While this metaphor is effective, it’s also limited. Unlike the static nature of a castle, an IT environment is dynamic. Employees come and go, change roles, and applications are frequently added or retired. As a result, Active Directory security cannot be treated as a “set it and forget it” initiative — it must be continuously managed and updated. Securing your AD environment is a balancing act. While IT professionals must enforce stringent security measures, they must also ensure these measures don't impede business operations. Excessively strict controls can slow down critical processes and frustrate users, prompting them to seek workarounds that undermine security efforts. For example, requiring overly complex passwords may lead employees to leave them on sticky notes, creating additional vulnerabilities. Why is Active Directory a top attack target? Identity data has emerged as the new security perimeter in today's digital landscape, with 80% of breaches involving compromised identities. Active Directory remains a top target because it is the gateway to many organizations' most sensitive data and systems. Losing control of AD is akin to losing control of the entire enterprise. With cybercriminals growing more sophisticated, they are relentlessly attacking AD systems, leveraging vulnerabilities to escalate privileges and gain unauthorized access. Every day, there are an estimated 95 million attempted AD attacks globally. The average downtime from a successful ransomware attack is 23 days — time in which organizations are vulnerable to losing both financial resources and reputational trust. What is ITDR, and why does it matter? Identity threat detection and response (ITDR) was coined by Gartner and focuses on addressing identity as a primary attack vector. It’s a security discipline that includes tools, processes, threat intelligence, and best practices to protect identity systems. ITDR – which can be further defined with core pillars of prevention, detection, and response – works by implementing mechanisms to identify anomalous activities, detect posture changes, and responding to attacks to restore identity infrastructure integrity. ITDR emerged because identity systems have become too complex and important to leave to traditional security disciplines like network or endpoint detection. Just as network detection and response (NDR) protects the network perimeter and endpoint detection and response (EDR) focuses on securing individual devices, ITDR has become necessary to protect the identity layer, and therefore, AD. Mapping ITDR to the NIST Cybersecurity Framework The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework is a widely adopted set of guidelines designed to help organizations manage and mitigate AD security threats. It outlines six key pillars that provide a structured approach to improving AD security and cyber resilience: • Identify: Understand and assess existing identity security policies. • Protect: Implement controls to limit exposure to risk. • Detect: Monitor identity systems for security issues and anomalies. • Respond: Take immediate action to contain and mitigate detected threats. • Recover: Restore identity systems to a secure state after an attack. • Govern: Ensure a holistic cybersecurity approach. ITDR’s core functions — prevention, detection, and response — complement these stages effectively. Prevention enhances both the Identify and Protect areas by helping organizations assess vulnerabilities and implement safeguards that minimize the risk of identity-based threats. Detection supports the Detect stage by providing continuous monitoring and early identification of suspicious behavior. Finally, response strengthens both the Respond and Recover stages, enabling quick action to contain threats and restore identity infrastructure. By complementing the NIST framework, ITDR empowers organizations to create a comprehensive and adaptive security strategy. This ensures not only stronger protection but also faster detection and response, reducing the impact of identity-related attacks and maintaining operational continuity. How can you enhance ITDR and AD security with Microsoft AI? By integrating AI-powered solutions such as Microsoft Copilot for Security with ITDR and AD security solutions, this enhances your ability to detect, respond to, and mitigate security threats with clarity, speed, and expertise. • Clarity: Simplify complex security by transforming intricate security alerts into clear, actionable summaries, enabling faster, more informed decisions across your hybrid AD environment. • Speed: Accelerate your threat response through AI-driven insights. Rapidly detect, investigate, and mitigate AD threats, ensuring your team stays ahead of adversaries by using guided responses and automated task optimization. • Expertise: Enhance your team's proficiency by automating routine tasks and providing step-by-step guidance, allowing experts to focus on the most critical security challenges. Securing identities with Microsoft and Quest Understanding why ITDR and AD security is critical is one thing; acting on this information and establishing a strong security posture is another. At Quest, we understand that having access to the right ITDR solutions is key to staying ahead of threats and ensuring in-depth cyber resilience. Quest Security Guardian is a unified ITDR and hybrid AD security solution that meets these challenges, helping organizations protect and defend both Active Directory (AD) and Entra ID. By leveraging advanced Azure AI, Security Guardian reduces your attack surface and simplifies identity threat detection and response by spotlighting what happened, if you’re exposed, and how to fix the problem. Security Guardian empowers security teams by benchmarking your AD configurations against industry best practices and continuously monitoring for anomalous behaviors and hacker tactics. Its integration with Microsoft Copilot for Security enhances your security strategy by providing AI insights that help accelerate responses and protect tier-zero assets like group policy objects (GPOs) from compromise. Moreover, Security Guardian is available in the Azure Marketplace, making procurement seamless and efficient. Organizations can also apply their Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC) toward Security Guardian, streamlining the purchasing process while utilizing existing budget allocations. Learn more about how Security Guardian can help reduce your attack surface with simplicity and speed. Further reading: White paper: A journey to Zero Trust Mitigating Active Directory threats before, during and after disaster White paper: Mitigating the top 5 modern Active Directory threatsNew on Microsoft AppSource: October 10-21, 2024
We continue to expand the Microsoft AppSource ecosystem. For this volume, 254 new offers successfully met the onboarding criteria and went live. See details of the new offers below: Get it now in our marketplace 1Page: 1Page is a productivity tool integrated with Microsoft Teams, Outlook, and Microsoft 365. It provides real-time insights, one-page summaries, and personalized engagement to streamline sales processes. Addlly AI: Addlly AI offers enterprises custom AI tools for seamless content creation, combining multiple LLMs, first-party data, and social listening. It supports ideation, content pillars, and LLM selection, producing tailored content with built-in SEO, image creation, and hashtag suggestions. Apex Enterprise IT Copilot: The Apex Enterprise IT Copilot is a unified platform offering virtual assistants with generative AI and predictive capabilities. It enhances efficiency, productivity, experiences, and decision-making for enterprise users by connecting to enterprise systems, providing a universal interface for accessing information and services. Banking CRM Unified Customer View: Schwettmann Technologies' Unified Banking CRM centralizes customer data for banks, integrating sales, service, and marketing processes. It enhances customer engagement, operational efficiency, and personalized services. Features include lead management, case management, automated onboarding, and process automation. CBAM Compliance and Competitiveness Consultancy Service: CBAM Compliance and Competitiveness Consultancy assists non-European companies in navigating the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Services include carbon footprint reduction, cost optimization, supply chain management, risk mitigation, and employee training for sustainable growth. ClarifyGo Compliant Call Recording for Teams: ClarifyGo is a cloud call recording and analytics platform for Microsoft Teams that captures voice, video, and screen-sharing for compliance and performance improvement. It supports compliance with regulations like GDPR and HIPAA and offers secure AES 256 encryption, indefinite storage, and voice analytics. CogVoice FrontDesk: Norwood Systems offers AI-powered voice solutions for mobile operators, enhancing customer experience and engagement. CogVoice solutions include the CogVoice FrontDesk, an AI assistant for SMBs, replacing human receptionists. Key features include AI-powered IVR for natural conversations, intelligent memory for continuity, real-time responses, and multi-lingual capabilities. Cohort Analysis by Office Solution: Office Solution's Cohort Analysis tool visualizes user behavior over time, using color-coded retention and churn rates. It features dynamic data handling, resizable charts, and tooltips. Premium options include logo removal, data selection, alerts, and CSV export. Heap Product Analytics: Heap by Contentsquare is an analytics solution for product managers, automating data capture and insights generation. It helps identify user struggles in digital journeys, enabling meaningful improvements. Built on Autocapture, it democratizes data access, driving continuous experimentation and innovation and providing a complete view of customer behavior across digital platforms. DataSnipper: DataSnipper is an intelligent automation platform that securely extracts, cross-references, and validates source documents for audit and finance procedures in Microsoft Excel. Device Migration with Cloudiway: Perform complete Microsoft 365 cross-tenant migrations, including user devices and Microsoft Intune settings. Features include central management, automatic agent deployment, migration planning, and batch processing. Digital Wallet: Extra360 is an all-in-one platform enhancing customer loyalty, driving revenue, and streamlining marketing operations. It offers loyalty-enabled payment solutions, omni-channel marketing tools, digital wallet integration, and advanced analytics. Trusted by hundreds of businesses, Extra360 supports various industries. Dimdata Platform for Education: The Dimdata Platform for Education offers tools for educational institutions, including Dimdata Search for quick data retrieval, Dimdata Library Manager for managing physical and digital resources, Dimdata Publisher for efficient digital content delivery, and Dimdata CMS for easy website management. It enhances efficiency, innovation, and resource management for universities, schools, and libraries. DocuSign for Business Central: Integrate DocuSign with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central for seamless document management and electronic signatures. Streamline workflows, automate processes, and enhance collaboration with features like envelope management, multi-recipient support, and real-time tracking. Save time, reduce errors, and boost productivity. EZExpense by Geoson: This app simplifies tracking and managing business expenses with an easy-to-use interface. Users can quickly log details like date, amount, and type as well as see organized overviews. Ideal for small business owners, freelancers, and professionals, it addresses the pain of manual tracking and helps maintain accurate, up-to-date records. Generative AI-powered Customer Sentiment Analysis: This solution uses advanced NLP to provide real-time insights into customer sentiment across social media. It processes vast unstructured data to detect emotions, feedback, and trends, offering comprehensive dashboards and reports. Customizable models help businesses enhance engagement, improve strategies, and protect brand reputation. Google Chat to Teams Migration: Cloudiway provides a streamlined solution for migrating workloads from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365. It ensures a swift and secure transfer of Google Chat messages, Google Spaces, members, messages and replies, metadata, @mentions, emojis, and files to Teams. Google Sites Migration to SharePoint Online: Cloudiway offers an automated solution for migrating Google Sites to SharePoint Online, preserving site structure, content, metadata, and permissions. It supports both Classic and New Google Sites, allows bulk migrations, and provides delta migration for incremental updates. The tool includes site mapping, detailed reporting, and error handling for a smooth transition. High Definition Map Service: HDMS is a cloud-based system ensuring network and data security, high availability, and high concurrency. It provides online map data updates and service endpoints for OEMs and third-party providers. The API SDK supports various application scenarios, ensuring devices and service endpoints stay updated with OTA updates. I-ConTrackS Contract Management & Performance Tracking, Lifecycle Monitoring & Management: ImbaliCS I-ConTrackS is a Microsoft AI and cloud-powered contract management solution that automates and centralizes contract processes, enhancing decision-making, administrative response, and compliance. It reduces financial and legal risks, prevents document loss, and modernizes contract lifecycle stages for legal, procurement, finance, and executive departments across various industries. IBS Autonumbering: Streamline records with the IBS Autonumbering solution for Microsoft Dynamics 365. Automatically assign sequential numbers to entities like Opportunities, Contacts, and Invoices. Features include custom formats, date integration, business unit data, configurable prefixes/suffixes, yearly resets, and workflow integration. Image by CloudScope: Image enhances Microsoft Power BI reports by integrating image data like logos and photos. It supports various formats (.jpg, .png, .svg) and offers formatting options such as borders and clickable links. Licensing is available per user via AppSource or through CloudScope for larger environments. inFlow Agent Assist: AI Agent Assist is an AI-powered solution that enhances agent productivity and customer satisfaction by automating tasks, providing real-time support, and offering actionable insights. It features unified conversation history, robust analytics, PII data masking, real-time summarization, sentiment analysis, and multilingual support, helping businesses scale operations and improve efficiency while reducing costs. Insights and Analytics: Extra360’s Insights and Analytics platform helps businesses make data-driven decisions by understanding customer behaviors and trends. It offers real-time data insights, advanced customer segmentation, predictive analytics, and Power BI integration. Adhering to ISO standards, it ensures data protection and has proven to boost sales and campaign effectiveness. Klaxoon Platform: Klaxoon enhances team collaboration and productivity through powerful workshops integrated into Microsoft Teams. It offers tools like Session, Board, Question, Quiz, Survey, Memo, Network, and Journal to streamline ideation, feedback, and decision-making. Klaxoon's analytics and templates drive efficiency and engagement, supporting hybrid work and continuous improvement. MatrixApproval: MatrixApproval revolutionizes approval workflows by offering dynamic, customizable flows tailored to your organization's needs. It enhances efficiency, ensures data security, and provides cloud-based access for productivity on the go. With an intuitive interface, it speeds up approvals, maintains compliance, and fosters collaboration, ultimately saving time and reducing costs. Meridian Datadiscover: Meridian Datadiscover is an AI-powered platform that extracts insights from business data and documents with 95 percent accuracy. It integrates with platforms like Microsoft Teams, processes multiple documents simultaneously, and provides precise query results. Key features include comprehensive data mining, seamless integration, adaptability, and automated insights generation. Meridian Edulearn: Meridian Edulearn offers personalized learning experiences, optimizing study techniques and enhancing academic performance. It provides tailored learning paths, AI-driven assessments, automated grading, and performance insights. The platform supports students, teachers, and parents with intelligent analytics and AI-powered exam monitoring, fostering skill development and academic success. Observation Deck for Human Resources Executive Reporting: Observation Deck is an interactive framework for executive analytics, designed for large touchscreens and boardroom settings. It centralizes BI and analytics, integrates with existing tech stacks, and is fully customizable. Key features include a unified data portal, Power BI dashboards, KPI-focused insights, seamless collaboration, and Azure OpenAI integration. Ovation Solutions: Ovation Employee Benefits platform enhances employer and employee engagement with AI-driven insights for real-time decision-making, improved visibility, and cost management. It features VivaScore for personalized health engagement and offers centralized benefit processing and reporting. PowerBuddy: PowerBuddy, an AI-powered assistant by PowerSchool, is designed for students, families, teachers, and administrators. It provides personalized insights, enhances engagement, and supports everyone throughout their educational journey. Presence: Presence is a hybrid work management tool that integrates with Microsoft Teams and Outlook. It offers features like work location registration, visibility of employee locations, vacation planning and approval, and data-driven decision-making. Presence streamlines processes, enhances flexibility, and improves workforce coordination, making it ideal for HR managers and team leaders. PRODUCER - Maker Machina, All-in-One content Production Workflow and Management: PRODUCER is an all-in-one content production app designed for media professionals. It streamlines workflows from concept to completion, integrating storyboards, schedules, and crew management. It boosts efficiency, enhances collaboration, and offers robust security. Key features include project overview, moodboards, shot lists, and large file transfer. Promo Engine: Extra360’s Promo Engine enables businesses to create personalized promotional campaigns using real-time triggers and customer data. It offers discounts, points, and coupons and supports segmentation and API integration. The platform ensures security and has proven results, including increased customer enrollment and high campaign response rates. Purchasing Restrictions: The Purchasing Restrictions app helps businesses manage their buying process by defining permitted items and setting quantity limits. It enforces restrictions during purchasing, ensuring orders align with company strategy. Key features include vendor restrictions and release prevention. Resilio Active Everywhere Migration: Resilio Active Everywhere Migration offers high-performance data transfer with peer-to-peer architecture, enabling fast, secure, and scalable file synchronization across various networks and storage types. It supports on-premises and cloud environments, providing ultra-fast, low-latency transfers with built-in security and around-the-clock global support. SMARTsync: Effortlessly sync data across multiple tenants, streamline workflows, and eliminate manual data tasks. Tailored for accountants, financial managers, and auditors, SMARTsync supports Dynamics 365 Essentials and Premium Editions in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Greenland, and Iceland and is available in Danish and English. Super App: The Extra360 Super App integrates loyalty, payments, bookings, and more into one platform, offering a seamless, personalized user experience across devices. It enhances customer engagement through gamification and integrated promotions while ensuring data security. Synack's Security Testing Bundle for AI/LLM Chatbots: Synack offers AI/LLM pentesting to identify vulnerabilities like prompt injection, insecure output handling, and training data poisoning. Their vetted researchers test eight of the OWASP AI/LLM Top 10 vulnerabilities. Synack also audits for content accuracy, violations, and bias, providing real-time results through its PTaaS platform. Teamcenter X: Teamcenter X is a cloud-based product lifecycle management (PLM) solution by Siemens offering comprehensive features. Delivered on Azure, it ensures quick setup, reduced ownership costs, and managed updates. It scales with your needs and provides a secure, energy-efficient, and globally distributed infrastructure. Text (SMS) Messaging for Dynamics 365 Field Service: Text Messaging for Dynamics 365 Field Service enhances field operations by enabling real-time SMS and MMS communication with field engineers and customers. Using Power Textor within Power Automate, it automates SMS workflows, reducing manual tasks and improving efficiency. Features include automated updates, direct and bulk messaging, case timelines, and compliance with security standards. Timeneye Time Tracking: Timeneye offers seamless project and task tracking across Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365, and Outlook Calendar. It ensures accurate timesheets, tracks billable hours, and generates insightful productivity reports. Easy onboarding, real-time tracking, and integration with Microsoft tools enhance project management and decision-making. Timesheet Pro 365Ignatiuz: Timesheet Pro 365 is a time-tracking app for teams and managers. Integrated with SharePoint, it simplifies logging work hours and managing timesheets, addresses manual tracking issues, improves project management, and enhances productivity with detailed reporting and streamlined approvals. Tubemap: Tubemap visualizes supply chain or route data into network diagrams, helping analysts and logistics managers identify bottlenecks. It offers extensive formatting options for paths, nodes, labels, and interactivity. Tubemap highlights paths on hover or click and allows customization of tooltips and node names. Tweelin Digital Serendipity: Tweelin integrates into collaboration tools to streamline communication by connecting coworkers at optimal times, reducing unnecessary meetings, and enhancing productivity. It helps organizations with cluttered calendars, slow decision-making, and remote work challenges. VIVACOM Offering with Microsoft Teams Direct Routing (DRaaS) and Enterprise CCaaS Solutions: VIVACOM offers Microsoft Teams Direct Routing services, enabling global telephony integration in Microsoft Teams. Key benefits include cost savings, compliance, customizable plans, and a single app for calls. The service ensures quick setup and migration and is fully managed, providing scalable and cost-effective communication solutions worldwide. Wildmoka - The Digital Media Factory: Wildmoka is a digital media factory that helps broadcasters, sports leagues, and event producers create, distribute, and monetize video content across multiple platforms. It offers tools like Clip Studio for video editing, Live Studio for live event management, and Auto ReZone for mobile-first content transformation, ensuring optimized audience engagement and new revenue streams. Workstation Assessment Solution: The Workstation Assessment App helps businesses comply with Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations 1992 by ensuring ergonomic workstation setups. It streamlines assessments and reporting, supporting HR managers, health, and safety officers, and facilities teams in mitigating risks of musculoskeletal issues and eye strain. YakChat: YakChat is a feature-rich SMS/MMS application for Microsoft Teams, allowing users to send and receive texts from desktop or mobile. It supports personal and shared inboxes, MMS, and MFA codes. Users can manage contacts from Outlook, Active Directory, and SharePoint. YakChat is available in the US, Canada, UK, and Australia. Go further with workshops, proofs of concept, and implementations ALFA Managed SOC with Microsoft Defender XDR and Microsoft Sentinel: ALFA Managed Security Operations Center (SOC) uses Microsoft Defender XDR and Microsoft Sentinel to provide around-the-clock threat detection, response, and prevention. It integrates seamlessly with existing infrastructure, offering enhanced security, cost efficiency, expert support, scalability, and compliance. Business Transparency Services: Business Transparency Services offers a Microsoft Power BI dashboard suite integrated with Dynamics 365 Business Central and Dynamics NAV. It provides real-time data access, interactive dashboards, and advanced AI tools for forecasting, churn prediction, and customer segmentation. Benefits include quick data access, informed decision-making, increased efficiency, and improved customer retention. Clean Email: Telefonica Group's Clean Email is a managed service providing continuous monitoring, threat intelligence, and forensic analysis to protect users from email-based attacks. It integrates with Microsoft 365 and social networks, ensuring email continuity during server interruptions. Features include proactive threat prevention, risk visibility, and automated remediation. Copilot Augmented Sales Proof of Concept: Dynamics 365 Sales with Copilot for Sales and Copilot Studio enhances sales through AI. Javista's process involves identifying key challenges, gathering use cases, and validating them via proof of concept. The engagement includes sessions for user insights, evaluating benefits, and prioritizing cases. Solution design involves brainstorming and prototyping, concluding with a final report and roadmap. Microsoft 365 Copilot Readiness Workshop: Performance Technologies offers a Microsoft 365 Copilot Readiness Workshop to prepare businesses for deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot. The workshop includes comprehensive preparation, technical prerequisites assessment, data mapping, and seamless integration. With over 30 years of IT expertise and a customer-centric approach, Performance Technologies ensure businesses can fully leverage AI-powered productivity tools. Microsoft 365 Copilot: 8- to 10-Week Implementation: Support Solutions' specialized services for adopting Microsoft 365 Copilot include weekly activities, 90 days of post-adoption support, user training, and continuous improvement. Benefits include expert guidance, accelerated adoption, consistent governance, improved ROI, and enhanced user experience through feedback and service refinement. COSMO Quality Assurance: 6-HourWorkshop: COSMO enhances quality control in Dynamics 365 Business Central, streamlining processes with material management and production. The system enhances compliance with quality standards, minimizes planning effort, and integrates with batch and serial number management. COSMO Workflow 1-Day Workshop: The COSMO Workflow training focuses on improving and simplifying business processes using the module. It covers workflow functionalities, document control, approval permissions, and automatic field filling in Dynamics 365 Business Central. The practical training includes numerous exercises in a demo environment to streamline and reduce errors in workflows. Digital Transformation Copilot: Available from Sahara Watira for Digital Transformation, the Digital Transformation Copilot helps organizations in digital transformation using Microsoft Teams and Power Platform. It enhances collaboration, automates processes, and optimizes workflows, acting as a virtual assistant to empower employees and improve business outcomes. DIGITALL Workplace for NGOs: 30-Day Implementation: DIGITALL's Workplace Solution enhances collaboration, productivity, and engagement with tools like Microsoft Teams, SharePoint, and Viva. It streamlines workflows, automates tasks, and reduces IT costs. Tailored for NGOs, it offers fast implementation, training, and support. Elevate Customer Experience with Microsoft Copilot: Microsoft's role-based copilots leverage generative AI to enhance customer and employee experiences across various sectors like sales, service, marketing, and commerce. Capgemini provides guidance from assessment to adoption, ensuring proficient use and maximizing value. Custom integration and generative AI capabilities are also available. Enterprise Deployment in a Box for Microsoft Copilot: Cloudshift's Copilot in a Box is a tailored AI solution for enterprises, integrating Microsoft Copilot AI with advanced security and customization. It boosts productivity by automating tasks, enhances collaboration with AI-driven insights and reduces costs by streamlining operations. This solution ensures your enterprise stays competitive with the latest AI advancements. Microsoft 365 Copilot Deployment for 10 Users: Microsoft 365 Copilot optimizes business processes with built-in AI. ATX's plan includes preparation, setup and hands-on training, all remotely. As a Microsoft Partner, ATX ensures efficient and productive adoption of Copilot, improving your organization's efficiency and productivity. JAMF to Microsoft Intune Migration: 4-Week Implementation: Mobile Mentor's JAMF to Microsoft Intune migration planning service includes workshops to create a detailed roadmap, timeline, and best practices for a smooth migration. The company will assess your current environment, review use cases, perform a gap analysis, draft a migration plan, and finalize it through collaborative workshops. Learn to Build the Profit Density Dashboard: Fresh BI's Profit Density Dashboard, powered by Power BI, optimizes warehouse efficiency by visualizing performance in real-time. Key features include an Occupancy Heat Map, profit per square foot analysis, inventory turnover tracking, and occupancy rate monitoring. It enables data-driven decisions to maximize revenue and operational efficiency with around-the-clock cloud-based access. MDS Copilot Empower & Achieve: 2-Week Evaluation: The Maureen Data Systems' Copilot Empower & Achieve Evaluation helps customers quickly evaluate Microsoft 365 Copilot scenarios. It includes planning, business case discovery, and adoption elaboration. An experienced engineer guides users, providing a technical roadmap and validating solutions to ensure successful deployment, adoption, and enablement of Microsoft 365 Copilot. MDS Copilot Inspire & Design: 1-Day Workshop: The Maureen Data Systems' Copilot Inspire & Design Workshop helps businesses explore generative AI's value, identify high-impact scenarios, and create a Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption roadmap. It includes pre-engagement planning, ideation, and envisioning stages, resulting in actionable insights, ROI analysis, and strategies for increased revenue, reduced costs, and improved productivity. MDS Copilot Realize Value: 4-Week Proof of Value: Maureen Data Systems' Copilot Realize Value Proof of Value helps organizations deploy, adopt, and enable Microsoft 365 Copilot. An experienced engineer leads the process, establishing a technical strategy, validating business cases, and ensuring successful deployment. The engagement includes planning, assessment, design, enablement, and optimization stages. MDS Copilot Studio for Financial Services: Maureen Data Systems' Copilot Studio for Financial Services offers a proof of concept to validate generative AI business cases. It includes creating Microsoft 365 Copilot enhancements, identifying high-value AI scenarios, and developing a roadmap. The engagement aims to increase revenue, reduce costs, and improve productivity through a minimum viable product. MDS Copilot Studio for Government: 4-Week Proof of Value: Maureen Data Systems' Copilot Studio for Government offers a proof of concept to validate generative AI business cases. It includes building a minimum viable product, enhancing Microsoft 365 Copilot, and creating custom experiences. The engagement aims to increase revenue, reduce costs, and improve productivity through structured milestone stages. Microsoft 365 Copilot: 10-Day Implementation: Devoteam offers comprehensive support for Microsoft 365 Copilot implementation, ensuring secure, accurate data handling and human supervision. They assist in defining use cases, prototyping, and understanding the solution's scope and limitations. Their approach focuses on pragmatic, user-centric use cases to generate interest and ensure successful deployment. Microsoft 365 Copilot Readiness and Deployment: Silicon Reef offers a Microsoft 365 Copilot Readiness and Deployment service in three phases: Discovery, Delivery, and Adoption. They assess needs, prepare the IT environment, deploy and configure the software, and provide training and support. This ensures seamless transition, user adoption, and enhanced productivity and collaboration within the organization. Microsoft 365 Copilot Workshop: Microsoft Copilot integrates with Microsoft 365 apps to enhance creativity, productivity, and skills in real time. Red Dot Distribution offers services for adopting and implementing Microsoft 365 Copilot, including evaluation, configuration, deployment, user engagement, training, and performance assessment to ensure effective utilization and benefits. Microsoft Copilot in a Week: 5-Day Proof of Concept: Copilot Studio by Microsoft offers seamless integration into existing workflows, leveraging familiar tools. Macaw's workshop series covers setup, management, and migration, ensuring efficient use of AI-powered applications. Benefits include reduced operational costs, tailored applications, and improved user satisfaction, culminating in a proof of concept to convince stakeholders. Microsoft Copilot Strategy Workshop: Netox's Microsoft Copilot Strategy Workshop equips leaders with tools to integrate Microsoft Copilot into operations, enhancing productivity through AI-driven automation and insights. Participants will learn to tailor Copilot to their objectives, driving efficiency and innovation. The workshop provides a roadmap for data-driven decisions and supports digital transformation goals. Microsoft Defender Production Pilot Implementation: Ravanty Tech Consulting will implement Microsoft Defender to provides comprehensive AI-driven protection against advanced threats like zero-day attacks and ransomware, ensuring secure cloud access, data loss prevention, and advanced email protection. The suite simplifies security management, enhances compliance, and integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 tools. Microsoft Fabric: Integrated Comprehensive Corporate Data Analytics Platform Implementation: Awara IT uses Microsoft Fabric to offer a comprehensive Data Analytics as a Service (SaaS) platform. This solution integrates data management, analytics, and business intelligence, enhancing decision-making, cost savings, and real-time data processing. It ensures secure, compliant data handling and seamless Azure ecosystem integration, tailored to meet unique customer needs. Microsoft Intune Workshop: Microsoft Intune integrates advanced endpoint management and security capabilities, including endpoint privilege management, enterprise app management, advanced analytics, remote help, VPN gateway, and cloud PKI. It supports specialized devices and offers consulting services for design, deployment, and optimization. CompuNet's workshop deliverables include design, configuration, test, and operations guides, along with knowledge transfer. Microsoft Teams Copilot Development: 4-Week Implementation: DataArt offers custom Microsoft Teams Copilot solutions to automate tasks, enhance communication, and boost productivity. Their services include tailored bot development, data integration, and seamless deployment. Benefits include improved efficiency, better communication, real-time insights, and cost savings. DataArt leverages over 20 years of experience to deliver high-value, customized solutions. Modern Security Operations: Many small and medium-sized enterprises struggle with managing IT security due to limited resources and skills. fernao somnitec's Modern Security Operations Service offers an integrated solution using Microsoft products, ensuring quick threat identification and resolution. Power BI Production Fulfillment: MHP's olution enables real-time data visualization and performance analysis of your production processes. You can identify bottlenecks, minimize production bottlenecks, and optimize resource utilization. With custom reports and cost optimization tools, the solution supports informed business decisions and increases the overall efficiency of your manufacturing. Power Platform Center of Success: Microsoft Power Platform is a unified suite of business applications requiring strategic implementation and governance. Success depends on a well-planned transition, robust governance, and understanding organizational needs. SHI's service includes assessment, governance framework creation, deployment, and training to ensure security, compliance, and efficiency, maximizing investment and fostering innovation. PowerWorker for Energy and Resources: Velrada's PowerWorker for Energy & Resources accelerates customer value and delivery by integrating Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Copilot. It optimizes workforce integration, enhances functionality, and supports industries like energy, oil and gas, and mining. The solution leverages IoT for real-time equipment monitoring and integrates seamlessly with inventory and procurement processes. PowerWorker for Frontline Workers: Velrada's PowerWorker for Frontline Workers enhances customer value and delivery by integrating Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Apps. It optimizes workforce integration, supports emergency and maintenance services, and ensures real-time updates. The solution is readily deployable and follows industry standards. Preventive Maintenance: 5-Week Implementation: Exult Global's Preventive Maintenance Application, built with Microsoft Power Platform, offers an intuitive interface, automated workflows, centralized data management, insightful reporting, and efficient document management. It reduces downtime, increases efficiency, enhances decision-making, and ensures compliance by automating and streamlining maintenance tasks for machines and fixed assets. Microsoft Teams Room: Small Room Deployment: Absolut Technologies transforms small conference rooms (up to 5 people) using Microsoft Teams Room systems, ensuring excellent user experiences. They define room archetypes, recommend product packages, and manage integration, installation, and adoption. Microsoft Places Introductory Workshop: Symity's workshop introduces participants to how Microsoft Places, part of the Teams Premium license, enhances office collaboration by offering tools for desk and meeting room booking, floorplans, flexible work coordination, and space optimization. It helps facilities teams monitor office utilization and make informed decisions. Microsoft 365 Copilot Expeditionary Package: 8- to 12-Week Implementation: Virteva offers a comprehensive program to implement Microsoft 365 Copilot, including workshops, readiness assessments, and training. The engagement covers phases from initial education to full-scale deployment, with a focus on best practices, user training, and feedback collection to ensure successful integration and use of Microsoft 365 Copilot. Windows 11 Proof of Concept (Canada): CDW's Windows 11 Proof of Concept highlights the benefits of modernizing endpoints, simplifying management, and enhancing protection using modern devices, Windows 11, and Microsoft 365. It includes device readiness for upgrade, zero touch deployment with Microsoft Intune and Autopilot, deployment across devices, and application compatibility evaluation. Windows 365 Cloud PC: 2-Day Proof of Concept: Xpertas' offering is designed to help organizations understand and get the most from Windows 365. It covers the fundamentals, best practices, hands-on demos, and strategic planning for implementation. By the end, participants will have a comprehensive understanding and a roadmap for integrating Windows 365 into their business. Contact our partners Addend’s Unified Data Solutions with Microsoft Fabric Advania Quick Sales AgriERP: A Complete ERP Suite for Farm Management Agriware 365 Advanced Area Planning Agriware 365 Advanced Area Planning Connector AI-Based Onboarding Process AI Sales Call Agent by Implement AI AI Superpower Assessment AMODIT AODocs: Document Management for Azure Storage Apex Inventory Management Apport Cloud WMS Asset & Structural Health Monitoring Asset Optimizer 10 Auzilium Payroll Azumuta BemiraOne BIT Cost Management Blink View Directory Transforming Supply Chain Planning: 1-Hour Workshop bossGo Connector braendz - Preview Business Enablement Offering CanDeal Real-Time Spreadsheet CAP Vignes - Grape Contributions Chef Jobs Near Me Cloudback Cobase Bank Connector IT Cogny COLLAB 2.0 Comsol WUP COSMO Assembly-to-Order Device Health Management System DevicePulse.Ai DigiOffice as a Service DIIT Inventory Flows Direct Banking IT Donut Chart by JTA DOQdrive for Outlook Dynamica MMS for Customer Insights and Journeys DynamicForm by Fincon Reply E-Invoice EFRAG Compliant ESG Disclosure for SME EMS Product Energy Aspects Fast ROI RH fastEDIT Fileread FilesAnywhere for.CARE Gate PTW - Permit-to-Work Solution Gemspay Payment and Collection Solution Generait Cash Capacitor Cash Runway Wizard Cash to the Future Cash-Cash-Dash Inventory Optimizer Build Inventory Turnover Tightener Profit Density Dashboard Pocket Financials Dashboard Gooey.AI for Frontline and the Trades Google Workspace to Microsoft 365 Migration Dynamics GP Migration Assessment Green Project Technologies - Supplier Engagement and Renewable Energy Solution Green Project Technologies - Click to Decarbonize HCLTech's Microsoft Sentinel Bridge Solution Helm Insights Hero-WebPart HeyGPT Hotel Chatbot Solution Powered by Microsoft Copilot and GPT IAM Health Cloud ioMoVo Add-in for Microsoft Excel ioMoVo Add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint JusticeVision Keka HRKeka Konzierge KubeSlice Label Ninja BarTender Label Ninja NiceLabel LevPro CRM Magento to Power BI Metrixs Analytics Suite Microsoft 365 Copilot Security and Compliance Assessment Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance: 10-Hour Readiness Assessment mobilityONE - Fleet Management SaaS Muvi Connect myBC3 myPRL Navitec Contract Management Czech Localization NB Credits Nuqleous Analytics for PowerPoint Octane11 with Dynamics CRM Okta to Power BI OnLoop Open Banking Optima P2P Passive Temperature Data PDF Parser Payroll by Sylogist API PMBOK Project Portfolio Management by OnePlan Portal Application for Power BI Embedded Powerblox Production Presight Barrier Management PrestaShop to Power BI PROCON ProGrant - Grant Program & Project Management for NGOs & Public Organizations Project Tracker ProSpace for Outlook Pyn Quick Quantities Enhanced Item Inquiry QuoSII Rauda AIRauda AI Rhythm Assistant for Outlook ROI365 Cowculator Role Center Salesforce Data Integration with SQL Server Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager to Microsoft Intune Migration Plan: 2-Week Assessment SCREENCOM ePortier SDX – Unified Sales, Distribution & Logistics Platform for CPG Seamless AI Send to OneDrive SendGrid to Power BI ServiceNow Platform Integration by adenin SK Fiscal Printers Integration SMS Calendar Reminders Sonrai SSIS Data Flow Components for ActiveCampaign by Devart SSIS Data Flow Components for Adobe Commerce by Devart SSIS Data Flow Components for Asana by Devart SSIS Data Flow Components for BigCommerce by Devart SSIS Data Flow Components for Cin7 Core by Devart SSIS Data Flow Components for DB2 by Devart SSIS Data Flow Components for Redshift by Devart SSIS Data Flow Components from Azure Synapse Analytics Stancer T6 Planning Tableau to Power BI Migration Utility and Migration Assessment Taiwan GUI tegossuite NA - VPAY TelemetryDeck App Analytics The Journey Platform Tiki-Taka PAY Analytics by ELVA TraceCotton Triomics Truvio - Healthcare Cost Management UAB-Online UrbanLogiq AI-Powered Data Analytics Platform VisionCatering VisionSecurity VisionSecurity for Payment Management VISTAS Bulk Copy Open Purchase Invoices VISTAS Bulk Copy Open Purchase Orders Vocean Wellbees Windows 10 EOL to Windows 11 Foundations: 1-Week Quick-Start Assessment Wise Connector for Financial Reports and Bond Wise Gateway Wise Municipality Icelandic Localization WITWAY Enterprise Verification Service Work 365 Xetabase Cloud XML Export from Dynamics 365 Project Operations to Project Desktop Zendesk to Power BI Zenpo Clocks Web Part Zig365 Digital Signing This content was generated by Microsoft Azure OpenAI and then revised by human editors.Partner Spotlight: Driving efficiency for medical researchers with Copilot agents
In our Partner Spotlight series, we tell the unique stories of partners innovating on the commercial marketplace. These partners have inspiring stories to tell on leveraging AI in app development, building across the Microsoft cloud, publishing transactable solutions on the marketplace, and maximizing marketplace selling opportunities. In this article, I sat down with Witivio's Nicolas Humann to learn more about their story and partner journey. About Nicolas: Nicolas Humann leads Witivio, an AI-driven company dedicated to enhancing employee experiences through Microsoft Teams solutions, such as GPT Pro, TeamsPro, and Copilot Factory. Under his leadership, Witivio has grown internationally, delivering products that simplify collaboration and support hybrid workplaces. With nearly two decades of experience in AI, cloud solutions, and software development, Nicolas Humann is committed to driving workplace transformation through accessible, high-impact technology. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ [JR]: Tell us about your organization. What inspired the founding? What products/services do you offer? [NH]: AtWitivio, we specialize in AI-driven solutions for Microsoft Teams, focused on enhancing employee experiences and streamlining workplace tasks. Our offerings include GPT Pro, a no-code AI Agent builder; Teams Pro, a suite of applications like Calendar Pro and KeePass Pro; and Copilot Factory, which supports clients in creating custom conversational AI solutions. An example of this is Copilot for Researcher, developed in collaboration with Institut Curie. Since our founding, we’ve benefited from support through the Microsoft for Startups program, which has helped fuel our growth and innovation through resources and guidance. We've been recognized as Microsoft's Startup of the Year (France, 2020), and our innovations with AI Copilot plugins have received endorsements from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during the AI Tour in Paris. Every day, our solutions support over 590,000 employees in Microsoft Teams, and we’re continually expanding with Copilot extensions to make Teams even more insightful and powerful for developers and users alike. We’ve also been among the first partners to publish declarative agents in the Microsoft commercial marketplace, positioning Witivio as an industry leader in adapting to Microsoft’s newest technologies. [JR]:Can you tell us a bit about the application(s) you have available on the marketplace? How does it work? [NH]: GPT Pro:An advanced AI assistant fully integrated into Microsoft Teams. GPT Pro enhances team productivity by facilitating intelligent, context-aware interactions and automating tasks within the enterprise environment. Pro for Teams: A suite of applications designed to customize Microsoft Teams and boost collaboration and productivity. It includes various tools like Calendar Pro, KeePass Pro, and others to enhance the Teams experience. KeePass Pro: A secure password management tool within Microsoft Teams. KeePass Pro allows users to store, share, and generate passwords safely in their SharePoint, ensuring team-wide security and accessibility. Booking Room Pro: An application that helps organize and manage office and seating occupancy. It streamlines the process of booking rooms and workspaces, enhancing office resource management. Booking Room Pro was one of the first Copilot Agents available on the Microsoft Marketplace. Calendar Pro: A shared calendar solution within Microsoft Teams. It allows teams to manage projects, PTO, HR actions, and campaigns collaboratively, ensuring everyone stays informed and organized. Today, these solutions support over 590,000 employees daily, streamlining workflows, automating tasks, and enhancing collaboration in Microsoft Teams. [JR]: What Microsoft cloud products did you use in your app development? What value is this enabling with your customers? [NH]: In developing our solutions, we leverage a cross-cloud approach by integratingAzure and Microsoft Teams. Azure provides a robust, scalable foundation for our AI-driven solutions, enabling us to deploy powerful machine learning models, manage data securely, and maintain high availability. Using Azure's capabilities, we can incorporate advanced features like natural language processing and real-time data analytics, ensuring that our solutions meet the unique needs of diverse organizations. Microsoft Teams serves as the collaborative hub where our solutions, such as GPT Pro and Calendar Pro, seamlessly integrate. This integration enables our customers to access tools directly within their workflow, facilitating improved communication, task automation, and collaboration. For example, by using Teams as the interface, employees can engage with AI Agent, manage schedules, and share information effortlessly — all in one place. This cross-cloud architecture — combining Azure’s AI capabilities with the accessibility of Teams — empowers our customers to enhance productivity, streamline workflows, and foster a connected hybrid workplace. [JR]: How has Microsoft supported you along your journey? [NH]: Microsoft has been an invaluable partner throughout our journey, providing us with the tools, support, and connections needed to scale our solutions and reach new customers. Through Microsoft for Startups, we gained access to essential resources that have fueled our growth. A dedicated Partner Development Manager supports us directly, guiding our actions and helping us align with Microsoft’s ecosystem. This personalized support has enabled us to refine our solutions, access new market opportunities, and leverage Microsoft’s best practices for app development. In addition, our close collaboration with the Microsoft 365 Customer and Partner Ecosystem (CAPE) Team has strengthened our integration with Microsoft 365 and Teams. The CAPE Team has been instrumental in helping us optimize our solutions for Teams, ensuring a seamless experience for our users and enabling us to reach the right audiences. Our experience publishing to the Microsoft commercial marketplacehas also been highly positive, giving us a platform to showcase our apps to a global audience and simplify distribution. Through these collaborative efforts, Microsoft has supported us at every stage, helping us build scalable, impactful solutions for our customers. With Microsoft’s support, including guidance from the CAPE Team and Microsoft for Startups, we’ve expanded our reach to support over 590,000 employees daily in Microsoft Teams, providing solutions that transform the way they work. [JR]: How does your org align its business to enabling positive impact for your customers and communities? [NH]: At Witivio, we are committed to creating positive impacts for our customers and communities by developing AI-driven solutions that enhance productivity and streamline operations. Our collaboration with Institut Curie, a leading French cancer research center, exemplifies this commitment. Together with Microsoft, we developed "Copilot for Researcher," a Copilot Agent to help them to focus on research instead of administrative tasks. Additionally, we offer a 20% discount on our products to educational institutions and non-profit organizations, recognizing their unique financial needs. This initiative aims to make our solutions more accessible, enabling these organizations to benefit from advanced technologies that can improve their operations and services. [JR]: Have you collaborated with other partners in the Microsoft ecosystem? How has this collaboration been beneficial? [NH]: Yes, we actively collaborate with other partners within the Microsoft ecosystem, includingCloud Solution Providers (CSPs). Partnering with CSPs has allowed us to broaden our reach and offer more comprehensive solutions to our clients. Through these collaborations, we can better integrate our AI-driven applications within existing Microsoft environments, ensuring a seamless experience for end-users. Working alongside CSPs also allows us to share insights, stay updated on the latest Microsoft innovations, and continuously improve our solutions. This collaborative approach has been mutually beneficial, enabling us to meet a wider range of customer needs, provide additional support, and strengthen our presence within the Microsoft ecosystem. [JR]: How are you leveraging or planning to leverage AI in app development? [NH]: At Witivio, we are actively integrating AI into our app development process to deliver intelligent, responsive solutions that enhance productivity and support specialized workflows. We leverage Azure OpenAI Services to access advanced language models like GPT-4o, enabling us to build solutions with sophisticated natural language processing and data analysis capabilities. For instance, in projects like Copilot for Researcher, these models are key to providing advanced reasoning and streamlining workflows for researchers. Azure AI Studio plays a crucial role in our development, offering a collaborative environment for testing and deploying AI models. This platform allows us to rapidly iterate and adapt models to meet specific client needs, enhancing our ability to create personalized, high-quality solutions with responsible AI practices. In addition, GitHub Copilot has become a valuable tool for our developers, speeding up the coding process by suggesting code snippets and helping with routine programming tasks. This AI-powered coding assistant allows our team to focus more on complex problem-solving and innovation, reducing time spent on repetitive coding. GitHub Copilot also assists in maintaining high code quality and consistency across projects, supporting faster prototyping and implementation of new ideas. Together, these AI tools enable us to create applications that are both technically robust and highly relevant to the unique needs of our customers, helping us deliver solutions that make a meaningful impact. [JR]: What business outcomes have you experienced as a result of using AI? [NH]: At Witivio, AI has been a core part of our business since 2017, when we first began developing chatbots and exploring machine learning capabilities. This foundation allowed us to refine our expertise and stay ahead of industry trends. Over the years, advancements like Azure OpenAI Services, AI Studio, and GitHub Copilot have enabled us to expand beyond traditional chatbot solutions, creating increasingly sophisticated, responsive, and specialized solutions for our clients. With these new AI capabilities, we've seen: Increased efficiency: GitHub Copilot has sped up development timelines and enhanced productivity by automating routine code suggestions, freeing developers to focus on more complex problem-solving. Enhanced product quality: Azure OpenAI Services allow us to deliver more accurate, contextually relevant solutions, driving greater client satisfaction and stronger customer relationships. New opportunities for specialized solutions: With Copilot for Researcher, we’ve been able to apply our AI experience in new sectors, such as life sciences, allowing us to enter niche markets with a unique, AI-driven offering that resonates with specialized needs. Our long-standing experience with AI has not only delivered measurable business outcomes but has also solidified Witivio’s position as an industry leader in AI-driven solutions. [JR]: Can you tell us more about Witivio’s recent Copilot agent development? [NH]:Copilot for Researcher is a specialized application of Microsoft's broader Copilot technology tailored to the needs of life sciences researchers. Developed by Witivio in partnership with Microsoft, it leverages Copilot's core capabilities in natural language processing, search, and summarization to streamline time-consuming research tasks. The initial release of Copilot for Researcher is scheduled for December 2024. In the same way that Microsoft Copilot assists users across different fields by integrating with data sources and automating routine tasks, Copilot for Researcher draws on vast scientific databases—like PubMed and The Human Protein Atlas—and organizes that information into easily navigable, interactive research cards. By automating data collection, citation management, and summarization, it gives researchers more time for direct scientific exploration, accelerating productivity and innovation in crucial areas like cancer research at institutions such as Institut Curie. This relationship with Copilot ensures that Copilot for Researcher benefits from Microsoft’s robust AI technology, adapted specifically to serve life sciences, providing researchers with relevant, up-to-date scientific insights on demand. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Resources: Join ISV Success Join themarketplace community Learn more about Copilot for Researcher: A new Copilot tool will give Insitut Curie researchers more time to focus on cancerPartner Spotlight: Meeting customers where they are, with Aran Khanna
About Aran: Born and raised in Seattle, Aran Khanna studied computer science & mathematics at Harvard. Before founding Archera, Aran was an engineer at Microsoft and Amazon Web Services and founded Glia Intelligence, a machine learning consultancy focused on the Retail industry. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ [JR]: Tell us about Archera and your mission. What inspired the founding? [AK]: The idea for Archera came from my experience launching a machine learning service on a major cloud hyperscaler in 2016, where cost was a major issue for deep learning workloads. For many customers experimenting with AI and machine learning, it’s not easy to predict what their workloads will look like in production, so they end up either running up their bill while they consume at list price, or not getting started in the first place after seeing what it would cost. I wanted to make it easier to experiment with intelligent apps by making costs more predictable and giving customers the flexibility to change their architecture as they discovered more about the needs of their business. I also didn’t want to tax customers on a percentage of total spend or savings like other cost management solutions do, because many of these calculations include optimization work the customer has achieved by themselves. So, we launched a platform that is totally free when it comes to cost modeling and booking native cloud commitments, and enables customers to purchase insurance for their commitments to give them that extra flexibility and confidence. [JR]: Can you tell us a bit about the application(s) you have available on the marketplace? How does it work? [AK]:Archera is a free cloud management platform offering the first insurance product for Azure savings plans, reservations, and private pricing. We help customers commit more confidently to Azure services by eliminating the financial risks of unused commitments. That confidence helps Azure customers using Archera accelerate their Azure migration and modernization projects. Customers tend to commit more, commit faster, and commit for longer when they know they can cover commitments with our insurance and get the best rates from Microsoft. Archera fills the gaps between existing Azure reservations and savings plans, which require one-year or three-year commitments. We enable flexible commitment tools: like 30-day commitments where Archera covers any commitment losses for up to 35 additional months. [JR]: AI is top of mind for all of us. How is Archera leveraging or planning to leverage AI in app development? [AK]: AI is central to our platform in two ways. For our end customers, cost is a major issue for deep learning workloads. Even compared to other cloud services, it’s harder to predict what you’ll spend on AI services, so calculating ROI can be a real mess. We make ROI easier to predict with our free forecasting and cost analysis platform. But, even when you’re in Production and you’ve bought your Azure OpenAI PTUs (provisioned throughput units), and you have a sophisticated FinOps practice in place, nothing is 100% certain, so our insurance is there to hedge the remaining risk. Within the platform itself, we use machine learning to help customers forecast and optimize their cloud spend across the hundreds of services available on Azure. We also use statistical models to calculate the premiums for the commitment insurance at the core of our solution. [JR]: What Microsoft cloud products did you use in your app development? What value is this enabling with your customers? [AK]: We leverage Azure Kubernetes Service to run our SaaS app, which helps us optimize our own use of cloud resources and keep the platform free for our customers. [JR]: How has Microsoft supported you along your journey? [AK]: Microsoft Founders Hub has been a great resource to us. We leveraged the Azure credits for our development on the Azure platform and are starting to use the OpenAI benefits to improve our prediction engine on the back end. It’s always helpful to get 1:1 access to Microsoft business and technical experts. [JR]: How does Archera align its business to enabling positive impact for your customers and communities? [AK]: Giving customers the ability to increase their commitment coverage makes their Azure workloads much more sustainable. Our customer-aligned model contrasts with commitment arbitrage products, offering better control for customers and no requirement to relinquish ownership of their billing accounts. We provide a secure financial model for our customers to launch their next great intelligent app. [JR]: Have you collaborated with other partners in the Microsoft ecosystem? How has this collaboration been beneficial? [AK]: We fully support Multiparty Private Offers (MPO) and ISV to CSP Private Offers. That keeps the paperwork simple for our channel and makes it easy for customers to buy from their preferred Microsoft partner. We partner with other ISVs too. Not only do we help ISVs keep their COGS in check, when customers purchase third party solutions from other publishers in the marketplace and run those solutions on their own Azure infrastructure, they can buy reservations and savings plans for that infrastructure too. That reduces the TCO for the end customer without impacting the publisher’s margins, so it’s a win-win. [JR]: What motivated you to publish a transactable offer on the commercial marketplace? [AK]: We wanted to meet customers where they are. Since our customers buy Azure reservations and savings plans in the Azure portal, we knew from the start that our product should be available on the same platform and on the same bill. So it was an obvious choice for us — It’s the closest we can get to being a truly native offering. [JR]: How has the ability to transact directly on the marketplace influenced your sales strategy and customer interactions? [AK]: We work with Azure customers of all sizes, from startups to enterprises, across industries like Healthcare, Media and Entertainment, Digital Natives, and Financial Services. All our customers buy us through a cloud marketplace, so being transactable is part and parcel of the Archera experience. The platform itself is free, and when customers purchase commitment insurance through the platform, that transaction flows through the marketplace and appears on their Azure bill, so it’s transparent and easy to understand. Our pricing model includes both pay-as-you-go and upfront options, which mirrors Microsoft’s purchase options for the underlying Azure reservations and savings plans. We wanted to introduce as little friction as possible to how customers buy from Microsoft. [JR]: Congrats on launching Archera on the Azure Marketplace! What excites you about having this offer on the marketplace, and how do you see yourself growing? [AK]: We are very excited to offer our customers the first ever Azure commitment insurance, exclusively available from Azure Marketplace. For our customers, deploying the platform and purchasing reservations through Marketplace is a seamless experience. For us, it represents a significant growth opportunity, with Microsoft customers around the world now able to leverage flexible-term commitment instruments for the first time. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Resources: Join ISV Success Join themarketplace communityMarketplace at Microsoft Ignite 2024!
We're less than 2 weeks away from Microsoft Ignite 2024, happening the week of November 18!Whether you’re joining us virtually or in Chicago, we have more content than ever to help software companies, partners, and customers find success through the Microsoft commercial marketplace. The marketplace is the most partner-focused business platform, and our breakout sessions cover the latest marketplace capabilities, benefits, and tips to enable your growth. With “How to capture the marketplace opportunity” (BRK343), learn how the marketplace helps you reach more customers, simplify sales, and unlock growth. This session includes information about changes to Microsoft’s agency fee, how to identify MACC accounts in Partner Center, and how to sell through Microsoft sales channels. In “Activating the channel through the marketplace” (BRK344), explore a variety of dealmaking scenarios and get guidance on additional ways to monetize with features like multiparty private offers and professional services. With “What’s new in ISV Success – AI benefits for software companies and more” (BRK350), you’ll hear about new benefits and cash incentives available now through ISV Success, as well as learn how your AI applications can qualify you for accelerated rewards. To better understand the value of marketplace for customers, don’t miss “More than a storefront, unlocking value through the marketplace” (BRK125). This session will explain how the marketplace makes it easier for organizations to discover, try, purchase, and manage cloud and AI solutions so they can spend smarter and move faster. There will be a demo on how to build a custom copilot using a model-as-a-service and ISV solution from the marketplace. If you’re joining us in Chicago, marketplace experts will be available for questions in the MAICPP area onthe Hub floor of the convention center. Our two in-person theater sessions will go even deeper on many of the ideas discussed in breakout sessions: “10 tips for marketplace success” (THR679) “Step-by-step instructions to activate multiparty private offers” (THR681) It’s not too late to join us virtually! Register for Microsoft Ignite today.
