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Microsoft shares insights from SI artificial intelligence initiative
Vendor has been working with a selection of partners over the past few months to support wider cloud and AI adoption
Microsoft has shared the progress of a programme that has been running with its SI partners to increase the use of artificial intelligence (AI).
The vendor has been working with a number of SIs over the past few months to encourage greater use of AI and cloud tools that can improve the support they provide customers.
Those involved include NTT Data, Tata Consultancy Services, Kyndryl, Capgemini and Cognizant.
Dan Stevenson, partner director of product management for Copilot extensibility ecosystem at Microsoft, penned a blog to provide an update on the progress of the SI initiative.
“This year, a select group of specialised SIs participated in a six-month initiative in which they explored the full range of Copilot extensibility from declarative agents to custom engine agents, across both low-code and pro-code environments,” he stated.
“Across industries, SIs are introducing intelligent agents that streamline operations, boost productivity and create entirely new customer experiences,” said Stevenson.
“These aren’t experiments; they’re high-impact solutions delivering measurable results,” he added. “And behind many of them are Microsoft 365 Copilot, agentic AI and a deep partnership with Microsoft.”
Enhancing customer support
Stevenson said the six-month process had seen SIs use AI tools to improve internal training and streamline processes to enhance customer support.
“We are using key learnings from this initiative to make our extensive library of resources even more impactful. For SIs just beginning their journey,” he said.
“Agentic AI is here,” added Stevenson. “As it continues to transform our work, accelerate decision-making and enhance collaboration, our SI partners are proving just how impactful it can be. Microsoft is proud to support their vision, speed their progress and celebrate their results. I look forward to seeing how these and other SI partners continue to use what they’ve learned to embrace agents and create innovative, customer-centric solutions.”
Although the latest pilot was confined to SI partners, he pointed out the vendor is also encouraging its wider channel base through the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Programme.
Elsewhere in the channel, the advice to those looking to help small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) customers adopt AI tools is to make sure the foundations are in place before deploying the technology.
“The AI hype cycle has created huge urgency for SMEs to adopt, but simply buying a tool in isolation does not constitute a strategy,” said Mark Appleton, group lead of vendor ecosystem development at Also Cloud UK. “Instead, it’s a gamble, as merely adopting the AI tools doesn’t mean it is working.
“While its potential for business transformation is high … AI tools are only as effective as their level of integration within your overall network,” he added. “Currently, organisations are willingly embracing security and data privacy risks by overlooking its use within their operations.”
Taking the right approach
Appleton advised those looking to deliver AI tools to customers to ensure they took the right approach, with a similar mindset to other important areas.
“AI usage cannot exist in isolation,” he said. “Similar to your organisation’s cyber security and internal governance frameworks, it needs to have secure integration across your organisation to maximise its effectiveness. This means building your internal AI policy step by step, learning how the technology interacts with your data in a controlled environment, before rolling it out across operations.
“Security, governance and education must be the pillars of AI onboarding, guiding employees and business leaders from the outset, rather than as an afterthought,” he added.
