The Access Group scales AI with trust built in, using Azure API Management

Balancing speed and responsibility in the age of AI

Across every industry, software companies are racing to embed AI into their products, but few have managed to do it responsibly at scale. The faster organizations move, the greater the risk of fragmented governance, uneven quality, and eroded trust.

For The Access Group, one of the world’s largest business management software providers, with a United Kingdom headquarters, that tension came to a head. With more than 20 software companies serving 160,000-plus customers, ranging from healthcare organizations to financial institutions, the company clearly saw the transformative potential of generative AI, but it refused to trade control for speed.

“We wanted to deliver the benefits of AI at scale,” says Michael Pye, Technical Director at Access. “But software innovation only delivers real value when it’s built on customer trust. Governance had to enable innovation, not constrain it.”

Building a platform for trusted scale

That principle shaped Access Evo, the company’s next-generation platform, designed to deliver unified, AI-powered experiences across every product line. Instead of layering AI into individual applications, Access built Access Evo as a governed architecture that brings all products, users, and data together under one secure, consistent framework.

At the center of Access Evo’s architecture is Microsoft Azure API Management, which powers Access Evo’s GenAI Gateway, the control layer for every AI model interaction. Each request is routed through API Management, where policies enforce latency, cost, and security. Semantic caching improves response efficiency, and built-in telemetry provides real-time observability across the organization. The gateway layer also enables precise usage tracking and chargeback at the token level, giving teams complete visibility into performance and spend across all 20 - plus product suites.

“API Management gave us the structure we needed,” says Pye. “Every AI call, no matter where it originates from, enters through the same controlled gate. It means we can innovate quickly without introducing risk or inconsistency.”

Supporting services like Semantic Kernel handle orchestration, allowing Access Evo's AI experiences to reason and retrieve trusted data through Azure AI Search, with secure, compliant access to context and permissions.

Governance as a growth engine

What makes the Access Evo platform distinctive is that its governance framework did not slow the company down—it accelerated it. With the GenAI Gateway standardizing routing, observability, cost controls, and access enforcement, engineers no longer needed to reinvent these mechanisms for each product. They could build once and deploy across the entire portfolio.

The gateway initially served as a safeguard, but it quickly evolved into a developer productivity engine. Teams gained a shared model for designing, monitoring, and optimizing AI features across products, divisions, and markets. Every project benefited from the same foundation: predictable performance, clear cost profiles, consistent policies, and transparent telemetry. This repeatable model became the engine for scalable innovation.

Within its first year, Access launched more than 50 AI-enhanced products and achieved ISO 42001 accreditation, the first global standard for AI management systems. Access Evo now supports more than 2.2 million users, with plans to reach 5 million worldwide.

“We decided to embed governance, not bolt it on,” says Pye. “Once that framework was in place, the pace of delivery took off.”

From concept to customer: Responsible AI in action

Two of the most impactful experiences built on Access Evo illustrate how trust and accessibility work together: Analytics Copilot (Evo Analytics) and the Document and Policy Copilot (Evo Docs). Together, they demonstrate how governance and accessibility can work in harmony, transforming AI from a back-end feature into a trusted business partner.

Each agent, from Document and Policy Copilot to Analytics Copilot, runs through the AI Gateway in API Management, which enforces the same governance and performance standards across the entire Access Evo ecosystem.

Evo Docs transforms how employees find and use company information. Built on Access secure document storage, it enables HR and operations teams to instantly locate policies or procedures that previously required several minutes of manual searching.

Before using Docs and Policy Search, finding policies meant combing through shared drives and nested folders.

“Sometimes it was easier for colleagues to email the People Team than look for the file,” says Kim Canterford, People Operations Manager at Saffron Building Society, an Access customer. “Now people find answers themselves. Our conversations have shifted from explaining policies to helping colleagues apply them.” For managers, that means faster answers, more confidence, and fewer bottlenecks.

Evo Analytics brings the same simplicity to business data. Users can ask, “Show me a bar chart of revenue by product for last quarter,” and the agent instantly creates it, pulling structured data from HR, finance, and sales systems stored in Azure SQL Database. Follow-up questions, such as “Break that down by month” or “What about this quarter so far?” continue naturally, helping teams see trends and act more quickly.

“Employees who never used BI tools before are now engaging with data,” says Pye. “A store manager can ask about daily sales and an HR leader can explore attrition trends, all without any training.”

Together, these agents make AI approachable, secure, and impactful. Every interaction flows through API Management, governed by the same policies that drive the broader Access Evo ecosystem. These experiences demonstrate that when AI is governed well, it becomes not just powerful but practical, intuitive, and trusted.

A framework for trustworthy AI

For Access, a unified governance approach delivers real-time visibility into cost, latency, performance, and compliance, ensuring every AI interaction is highly secure and consistent. By centralizing controls, Access eliminated the need for teams to reinvent governance from scratch, accelerating innovation and enabling rapid deployment across more than 50 AI-powered products. That consistency made ISO 42001 certification not just attainable, but a powerful proof point: responsible AI can fuel growth and developer velocity.

“Achieving ISO 42001 validated what we already believed,” says Pye. “Governance isn’t a barrier to growth; it’s the foundation for it.”

For customers, this foundation translates into confidence. Every AI-driven experience they touch is backed by rigorous standards and transparent governance, reducing risk and building trust. Instead of worrying about compliance or security gaps, customers can focus on what matters most: scaling their business, adapting to change, and innovating faster.

Access didn’t just streamline compliance; it redefined the developer experience. Teams now launch new features in days instead of weeks, knowing that governance is embedded from the start. That speed and assurance ripple outward: customers gain reliable, secure AI solutions that help them move boldly in a market where agility is everything.

Setting the standard for responsible innovation

With Access Evo, Access has created more than a platform. It has built a repeatable blueprint for AI-driven software at scale. By combining innovation with governance, the company has turned a complex challenge into a competitive advantage.

Chris Bayne, Chief Executive Officer at Access, says, “Access Evo is a unique AI-enabled software experience that will change how small and medium-sized businesses experience business software. Over the next year, we will release more than 50 products enhanced by responsible AI, the most that Access has ever launched in one fiscal year. With Access Evo, we’ve built more than a platform; we’ve built a foundation for the next generation of business software.”

Today, Access Evo connects thousands of small and medium-sized businesses through intelligent, trustworthy AI. Every new feature built on the platform inherits the same controls, delivering speed, safety, and scale in equal measure.

The Access journey demonstrates that with the right foundation, AI can move quickly and remain responsible. What started as governance became velocity.

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