Microsoft Build 2024 centered on the transformative impact our AI technology has on organizations that are leveraging it to boost efficiency, elevate customer experiences, and achieve groundbreaking innovations. This year, we had more than 60 announcements at our annual flagship developer event, ranging from the latest AI features for Windows to the expanded capabilities of Microsoft Copilot, new tools for developers, and cost-efficient, accessible cloud solutions. For partners, these new and enhanced technologies present unparalleled opportunities for innovation, efficiency, and growth.
Watch the Microsoft Build opening keynote
In this fast-changing digital landscape, understanding and leveraging the latest developments from events like Microsoft Build is essential for partners to stay competitive and drive meaningful business outcomes. Let’s take a closer look at the AI and cloud innovations unveiled at the event that partners can use immediately to enhance their offerings, drive efficiency, and deliver superior customer experiences.
The AI opportunity for every partner
As a company, we prioritize developers' needs by empowering them to work quickly and efficiently with familiar tools, streamlining access to essential AI and data platform services for creating transformative experiences, and embedding responsibility, safety, security, and reliability features directly into the platform to enable developers to concentrate on building exceptional applications.
We announced Copilot+ PCs -a new generation of Windows PCs specifically designed for AI. This technological innovation offers tremendous opportunities for our partners to create advanced hardware with embedded capability, allowing customers to take advantage of AI software, tools and experiences running both locally and in the cloud.
At Microsoft Build, we announced further enhancements to Microsoft Copilot and introduced new Azure AI services. Our Copilot stack takes everything we’ve learned to date in building our own Copilot offerings and puts it in the hands of developers so they can build their own copilots.
We introduced three innovations: Team Copilot, which expands Copilot beyond a personal assistant to act as a valuable new member of the team; custom copilots with agent capabilities to enable customers to orchestrate and automate business processes; and new capabilities for developers to customize Microsoft Copilot including Copilot extensions and Copilot connectors.
Azure AI services advance with the addition of new models in the Phi-3 family, designed to boost the performance and versatility of AI applications. The introduction of Azure AI Studio enables developers to build generative AI apps responsibly and efficiently.
The event also highlighted new capabilities like Microsoft Fabric's Real-Time Intelligence, which enables efficient data ingestion and decision-making, crucial for businesses to act on high-volume, time-sensitive data.
These are just a few of the advances showcased at Build 2024 that present partners with new opportunities to integrate advanced AI into their products and services, driving efficiency and delivering superior customer experiences through more intelligent and responsive applications. To learn more, be sure to read the Microsoft 365 blog post by Jared Spataro, CVP, AI at Work, and the Microsoft Power Platform blog post by Charles Lamanna, CVP, Business Applications and Platforms.
Focus on security
The event was also an opportunity for us to emphasize our commitment to security and compliance in our AI and cloud solutions, ensuring partners can effectively protect their customers' data.
The new security features integrated into Microsoft Copilot and Azure AI services now include advanced data encryption, automatic sensitivity labeling, and comprehensive threat detection capabilities. These enhancements allow organizations to configure stringent controls for sensitive information, ensuring data privacy and compliance with regulatory standards.
Microsoft Purview now offers integrated compliance controls to govern AI usage, capturing detailed records of user interactions for transparency and accountability. Additionally, Microsoft Intune and Defender for Cloud Apps provide robust security across devices and applications, protecting against unauthorized access and potential threats.
This strong focus on security helps build trust, fostering long-term relationships by providing a secure environment for deploying advanced AI technologies, thereby driving efficiency, and enhancing customer experiences.
Partnering for long-term profitability
By partnering with Microsoft, businesses can achieve sustained growth and profitability through several strategic opportunities. Our robust platforms, such as Microsoft Power Platform and Azure, enable partners to create, manage, and deploy innovative solutions efficiently. These tools help partners enhance their offerings, streamline operations, and provide comprehensive services to their clients.
Partners can further expand their reach by leveraging the Microsoft commercial marketplace. This platform allows partners to showcase and sell their solutions directly to a global audience, simplifying sales processes and unlocking new revenue streams. Through the marketplace, partners can take advantage of features like co-selling opportunities and private offers, which enhance visibility and market penetration.
Additionally, the benefits of Microsoft's extensive ecosystem, powered by the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program provides partners with the resources needed to drive success in the market. This ecosystem fosters collaboration, enhances productivity, and supports the development of tailored solutions that meet the evolving needs of customers.
Overall, Microsoft's comprehensive support and resources ensure that partners are well-equipped to grow their businesses, reach new customers, and maintain profitability in a competitive landscape.
Next steps
The innovations announced at Microsoft Build 2024 reflect our ongoing commitment to helping partners leverage AI to transform both business operations and personal productivity by ensuring our tools are accessible and effective for a wide range of applications.
We encourage you to leverage the latest tools and knowledge gained from the event to drive digital transformation and achieve significant business outcomes.
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