Every organization is looking for quicker insights, stronger security, and new ways to drive innovation with AI. The real challenge lies in connecting and preparing the data that makes those outcomes possible. Across industries, customers are realizing that data sprawl and disconnected systems limit what AI can do. To unlock the potential of their data and deliver real-time impact, they need a modern data foundation that’s integrated, governed, secure, and ready for AI.
This post is part three of our Cloud and AI Platforms blog series, detailing how partners can accelerate customer transformation across the Microsoft Cloud. In part one, we looked at the market opportunity created by AI and cloud innovation. Part two focused on migration and modernization as the foundation for AI-powered growth. Now we turn to the next phase of that journey: building a unified data platform that connects every source, fuels intelligent applications, and drives measurable outcomes.
Microsoft partners are at the center of this opportunity. By enabling customers to unify their data estate with solutions like Microsoft Fabric, Azure Databricks, and Microsoft Purview, partners are critical in helping organizations turn information into action and insight into innovation.
Unify the data estate
Bringing all data together across on-premises, cloud, and industry-specific sources is the first step toward intelligence at scale. With Microsoft Fabric and Azure Databricks, partners can create an open, lake-centric foundation that simplifies analytics and operational data for AI.
Recent innovations in OneLake make this even more powerful. The latest OneLake Shortcuts and Mirroring updates expand interoperability across the data estate, introducing new preview capabilities for Oracle and Google BigQuery mirroring. These enhancements give partners more flexibility and scope to unify diverse data sources and optimize customers’ existing investments, creating a seamless path to a single, governed platform.
Members 1st Credit Union and partner 3Cloud show just what’s possible. They unified 15 data sources and 20 terabytes of information into a single data lakehouse on Azure. Reports that once ran monthly now refresh daily, and machine-learning jobs that took 36 hours to finish now finish in four hours. That agility proves how a unified data estate can accelerate business outcomes.
Activate data for AI
A unified platform also unlocks advanced capabilities that turn data into differentiated AI solutions. With AI-optimized databases offering built-in vector search, retrieval augmented generation (RAG) support, and other AI-ready features, customers can deploy AI solutions faster and more effectively.
Azure services deliver Copilot experiences, autonomous provisioning, secure-by-default infrastructure, automated machine learning, drag-and-drop design tools, and flexible code-first notebooks while end-to-end CI/CD support empowers developers to deliver code changes more frequently, reliably, and automatically. These features allow organizations to move quickly, reduce complexity, and focus on delivering innovation.
Empower every role with analytics and insights
Organizations often struggle to change the way they operate. A unified data platform can shift that.
Partners can guide customers forward by showing how Microsoft Fabric and Azure Databricks enable AI-powered self-service analytics through tools such as data agents and Copilot in Power BI. With a single platform that supports role-specific workloads, customers can streamline analytics and empower teams across functions to generate business insights. This democratization of data creates opportunities for every employee to contribute to smarter decision-making. Powering it all is deep integration with Azure AI Foundry.
At Alltech, partner Sonata integrated data from multiple ERPs and expense systems into Fabric. Employees can now query data and create dashboards on their own, freeing IT teams and driving faster, data-driven decisions. When everyone can act on insights, transformation scales naturally.
Seamlessly secure, govern, and protect data
Trust and security are essential to any data or AI strategy. Microsoft Purview and OneLake Security (in public preview) allow consistent classification and protection policies across the data estate. They simplify compliance by unifying discovery, investigations, and assessments across regional frameworks.
ECE Group in Germany illustrates this well. Facing an aging on-premises warehouse with more than 40 source systems, they turned to partner adesso SE and Microsoft Fabric and Azure Data Factory to unify their data into a secure, modern platform. Now processing over two terabytes daily, ECE delivers faster reporting, improved compliance, and reduced IT burden, all while giving business users greater access to insights.
The partner opportunity
Across industries, customers are prioritizing data modernization as the foundation for AI transformation. They’re looking for scalable platforms that can unify diverse sources, support AI-driven insights, and reduce operational costs. This shift is creating significant economic opportunities for partners who lead with Microsoft Fabric, Azure Databricks, and Purview.
This momentum is fueled by the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, which brings together all go-to-market resources, incentives, and skilling under one framework. Through the program, partners can differentiate with Solutions Partner designations and specializations, tap into Azure Accelerate funding, and simplify customer engagement with integrated sales and marketing campaigns.
We’re already seeing strong market momentum. Fabric is helping partners win new customers from competitors as organizations consolidate data platforms to prepare for AI. There’s also growing demand to migrate from third-party data warehouse solutions to Azure Databricks, and potential to bring SAP data to Azure through the SAP Business Data Cloud Connect with Azure Databricks now generally available. These motions unlock new revenue streams across migration, integration, and managed services.
Modern analytics is another growth driver. Customers are rethinking their analytics stack, moving from legacy BI tools to Power BI or from SQL Data Warehouse to Fabric, to gain Copilot-powered insights and lower total cost of ownership. Each transition represents recurring consulting, skilling, and managed service opportunities for partners.
At the same time, the rise of AI applications is driving demand for modern databases that support both structured and unstructured data. Azure’s comprehensive database portfolio, spanning SQL and NoSQL services, gives partners flexibility to design high-value AI solutions that scale from pilot to production. Services and software partners can even integrate directly into Fabric with the Fabric Extensibility Toolkit, monetizing their IP or building their customer apps on Fabric.
Across our partner ecosystem, we’re seeing clear results from AI adoption—higher win rates, stronger margins, and expanded solution opportunities. With Fabric, Databricks, and Purview, partners can expand those gains by delivering data modernization, analytics, and AI solutions that scale with customer demand.
Whether partners unify customer data with Fabric, lead with Azure Databricks, or govern data with Purview, they build lasting customer relationships while growing their own revenue. From migration incentives and co-sell opportunities to packaged accelerators and repeatable IP, the financial upside is clear: data modernization is the fastest path to AI-driven growth.
Next steps
Through the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program, partners can leverage the most popular development tools and an enterprise-ready AI app and agent platform trusted by Fortune 500 innovators to build, run, and manage powerful AI solutions securely and cost-effectively at scale.
The opportunity is clear: organizations that unify and govern their data can move faster, make better decisions, and unlock new scenarios powered by AI. With Microsoft and our partner ecosystem, customers can dive deeper into their data for new insights that drive innovation.
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