Last month, we introduced the Cloud & AI Platforms blog series with a blog outlining how partners can lead customers into the AI era with a secure, agile foundation. This installment builds on that discussion, focusing on the pivotal role of migration and application modernization in helping organizations reduce costs, increase agility, and prepare their environments for AI-powered innovation.
Building the foundation for AI-powered growth
Today, partners are uniquely positioned at the forefront of one of the most significant opportunities in technology. As customers accelerate their shift from AI pilots to embedding intelligence across every layer of their operations, they’re also navigating rising costs, contract renewals, and security demands. In this landscape, customers need trusted advisors who can reduce complexity, deliver savings, and help build a secure foundation for sustained AI innovation. As a Microsoft partner, you play a pivotal role in driving this cloud transformation.
By moving core workloads to Azure, organizations gain a scalable, secure cloud foundation that reduces cost and complexity while unlocking new opportunities for growth. IDC research shows that, for every dollar invested in generative AI, companies are realizing a 3.7x return on investment1—an increase from 3.5x the year before.
When partners guide customers through migration and modernization with Azure, their customers unlock measurable business outcomes across three key pillars:
- Maximize business agility: Execute business changes up to 78% faster2.
- Unlock AI with unified data: Reduce admin time by up to 60% with fully managed Azure databases and establish a secure, open foundation for enterprise AI.
- Realize best-in-class cost and performance: Achieve up to 76% savings3 running Windows Server and SQL Server on Azure compared to leading competitors. One study found a 298% ROI over three years4 with Azure VMware Solution (AVS).
Migration: From bottlenecks to breakthroughs
Cloud migration is more than shifting workloads. It removes constraints and creates conditions for transformation. Customers that migrate Windows Server and SQL Server to Azure can realize up to 76% cost savings compared to leading competitors. PostgreSQL can provide total cost of ownership savings up to 58%, while Linux environments such as Ubuntu deploy 63% faster with up to 306% ROI5 over three years.
When customers migrate and modernize with Azure, they see measurable gains in agility, cost efficiency, performance, and resilience:
- BMW Group accelerated planning cycles and unlocked 10x more efficient data delivery after moving SAP to Azure, while also enabling new AI integration with SAP Joule, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and Azure OpenAI.
- Medigold Health improved clinician retention by 58% by migrating applications to Azure App Service and automating reporting with Azure SQL Database and Azure OpenAI.
- Hastings Direct achieved 1.6x better performance and 4–5x faster policy quotes by migrating Guidewire to AVS.
- A global financial services firm consolidated VMware environments on Azure with minimal disruption, benefiting from the broadest hyperscaler availability for VMware Cloud.
Modernization multiplies impact
Migration is only the first step. Modernization amplifies the value of migration by optimizing performance and enabling customers to take advantage of new capabilities. For partners, guiding customers through modernization helps create ongoing engagement opportunities, expands your services portfolio, and builds long-term client relationships.
Security built for the AI era
For partners, security is more than a technical requirement; it’s a strategic opportunity to build trust, demonstrate expertise, and create lasting customer relationships. By embedding security at every stage of modernization, partners position themselves as trusted advisors, empowering customers to confidently and securely embrace new technologies.
Azure’s advanced security capabilities—including processing 84 trillion daily security signals—enable partners to deliver industry-leading protection. Microsoft Defender for Cloud helped customers investigate and remediate threats 30% faster and achieved a 117% ROI over three years with a payback period under six months.
As AI adoption grows, new risks like prompt injection and credential theft require proactive governance. Partners can leverage Azure AI Content Safety, integrated with Microsoft’s broader governance stack, to protect customers from code to cloud.
Make security a central part of your modernization strategy to build trust, drive ongoing engagement, and differentiate your services.
Important updates for partners
Broadcom VMware licensing changes: What partners need to know
The VMware ecosystem is experiencing a major shift. Broadcom has announced changes to VMware licensing that affect every hyperscaler environment, including Azure. Under the new policy, customers must bring their own portable VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) subscriptions when running workloads on any hyperscaler platform. After October 15, 2025, these licenses must be purchased directly from Broadcom or its partner network.
For partners, this change is more than a licensing update; it’s a significant market opportunity. Many customers are evaluating their VMware strategy and looking for the most cost-effective, low-disruption path forward. With AVS, you can offer exactly that. AVS is ready today with a bring-your-own-license (BYOL) option for VCF subscriptions, available in 35 regions worldwide. This gives customers flexibility to purchase VCF licenses directly from Broadcom while still running their VMware workloads on Azure. It also lowers costs compared to bundled models and accelerates time to value. If you have an existing AVS customer, reach out to them now to discuss their licensing options moving forward.
For Microsoft partners, the advantage is clear: AVS is the fastest, most familiar path to the cloud for VMware workloads, and now it positions you to capture migration projects, deepen customer trust, and differentiate your services in a moment of market disruption. Learn more here.
Preview new AI-powered tooling for migration and modernization
On September 23-24, Microsoft is hosting the Migrate and Modernize Summit, a digital event to help you and your customers accelerate cloud migrations to Azure and simplify modernization. This event is appropriate for both partners and customers.
As a partner, you will hear important product announcements that will enable you to leverage AI to accelerate migrations to Azure and simplify modernization, unlocking new projects and revenue. Register for this important event and invite your customers, using this email.
Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program resources
Migration and modernization represent one of the largest growth opportunities in FY26. To support you, Microsoft has invested in a variety of resources:
- Explore FY26 cloud solution area partner playbooks and campaigns in a box like migrate and modernize your estate ENT and SMB.
- Review the latest what’s new in Azure for partners community newsletter.
- Azure Accelerate with pre-sales, deployment, and funding support, including AI-assisted tools like Dr Migrate and Cloud Accelerate Factory services.
- Access skilling resources and offers like AVS Bootcamps, AVS self-assessments, 30-day proofs of concept, reserved instance (RI) discounts through December 2025, and the Partner Skilling Hub to accelerate your execution.
- ISV Incentives: ISV Success Advanced Package with incentives for building AI solutions and migrating customers to Azure. See the ISV Engagements tab in the incentive guide for details.
- New specializations and designations in SAP on Azure, AVS, Linux, Windows Server, SQL Server, and Oracle Database@Azure. Earn the SAP on Azure specialization and take advantage of the SAP Cloud ERP Incentives & Offers.
- SAP Business Suite: Unlock midmarket growth with Microsoft and SAP.
Now is the time to lean in
By guiding customers through migration and modernization, you’re not only addressing today’s challenges but also shaping their AI future.
Next in this series: how to unify the data platform with Microsoft Fabric and Azure Databricks to activate real-time insights and accelerate AI-driven decision-making.
References
1 IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by Microsoft, 2024 Business Opportunity of AI, IDC #US52699124, November 2024.
2 IDC White Paper, sponsored by Microsoft, The Business Value of Migrating and Modernizing IT Estate with Microsoft Azure, IDC #US53301225, April 2025.
3 “Windows virtual machines,” Microsoft, September 15, 2025.
4 Forrester Consulting, The Total Economic Impact™ of Microsoft Azure VMware Solution, a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft, 2024. Results are for a composite organization based on interviewed customers.
5 IDC White Paper, sponsored by Microsoft, The Business Value of Ubuntu on Microsoft Azure, doc # US52857024,
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