Becoming frontier: How partners are powering the next wave of AI innovation

Partner Audience: #AllPartners #PartnersMakeMorePossible
Relevant to: #Becomingfrontier #AI #MicrosoftCopilot

There’s a new class of organization emerging—Frontier Firms. These industry leaders are using AI to enrich employee experiences, reinvent customer engagement, reshape business processes, and imagine the next big leap in innovation. They’re moving faster, adapting quicker, and achieving more—all while setting the standard for what’s possible in the era of AI.

At Microsoft, we know that Frontier Firms combine world-class technology and human ambition. That means pairing the power of Microsoft AI technologies like Microsoft Copilot and Azure AI Foundry with the creativity, curiosity, and collaboration of people. It’s this combination that transforms ideas into impact, driving growth and scale.

Adopting a Customer Zero mindset to lead by example

At Microsoft, we believe in being the first and best customers of own products—or “Customer Zero.” That basic tenet has guided our approach to Copilot, with profound results. Put simply, one of the best ways to demonstrate the power of AI is to experience it.

My team and I have fully embraced the Customer Zero mindset, using and experimenting with the very technology we recommend to our customers. AI has become a daily part of our workstream, with team members using it for important tasks like creating agents in Copilot Studio, leveraging M365 Copilot across our workflows, and sharing best practices openly.

Being Customer Zero delivers a plethora of benefits for our customers, including:

• Proven ROI through lived experience: By using our own technology, we can track tangible results, from cost savings and increased productivity to stronger employee engagement and share those insights directly with customers. Our own data becomes the proof points, making us living case studies.
• Skilling and building experience: Our first-hand use of our own tools means we deepen our own AI skills and can guide customers with extensive, practical knowledge across various use cases.
• Sparking innovation: By experimenting internally, we uncover new ideas and surface potential challenges early, helping customers move faster with confidence.

Microsoft + partners: Accelerating the frontier

The time is now for AI leadership. Microsoft’s 2025 Work Trend Index confirms what many of us already feel: 2025 is the year AI sparks our potential.

• 82% of leaders say now is the time to rethink strategy and operations.
• 81% expect AI agents to be embedded in their strategies within the next 12–18 months.

Frontier Firms are pulling ahead. Among their knowledge workers:

• 71% say their company is thriving.
• 55% report doing more meaningful work.
• 93% feel optimistic about the future.

So how do we fuel the spark?

Scalable AI capacity fused with human ingenuity is no longer optional. It’s the new baseline for competitive advantage.

Partners driving frontier outcomes

One of the best perks of my job is seeing the incredible innovation happening across the Americas, and how our partners are helping organizations across the region and the globe turn AI potential into measurable results with Microsoft technologies.

Here are just a handful of examples:

Accenture (through the deployment of the Azure AI Foundry):

• Achieved a 50% reduction in time to build AI applications.
• Delivered a 30% efficiency boost and 20% cost reduction.
• Deployed more than 75 generative AI use cases, with 16 in full production.

EY (using Microsoft Copilot in Power Platform):

• Increased cleared automatic payments by 50%.
• Saved 230,000 hours annually from more efficient processes.
• Reduced training time from two weeks to just two days.

LTIMindtree (using Microsoft Security Copilot):

• Reduced mean time to detect and respond by 20%.
• Enhanced team efficiency and productivity.
• Strengthened team expertise, focus, and accuracy.

These stories aren’t just impressive stats. They are proof that Frontier Firms are not a distant vision. They are here today.

Partners’ role in building Frontier Firms

As a Microsoft partner, you are the essential spark that helps customers assess their AI readiness, explore high-impact use cases, and establish centers of excellence. It’s through your leadership that organizations move from early adopters to true Frontier Firms, delivering breakthrough impact and growth for all of us.

Now is the time to move from ideas to impact. Here’s how you can lead the way:

• Be your own best case study: act as Customer Zero by utilizing the solutions you recommend, building your own agents, and embedding AI across your operations. Your metric-backed journey becomes a powerful story you can share.
• Level up through the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program (MAICP): by investing in your skilling, attaining designations, deepening specializations, and maximizing benefits and incentives, you not only accelerate your own transformation, you also model what Frontier Firms look like in practice.

We’re standing at a turning point. Frontier Firms are already proving what’s possible. Together, we can help prepare our customers to lead their industries into the future.