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Articles and insights on Microsoft cloud strategy, Azure, AI, and partner growth.

Latest Posts

  1. The Chief Agent Officer Question

    Every C-suite role we now take for granted started as someone else's side hustle. Operations gave us the COO. People management gave us the CHRO. Information security gave us the CISO. Data gave us the CDO. The agentic workforce is next: which work agents do, how they're hired and retired, what they cost. It's a distinct discipline from AI strategy, and I think it needs its own C-suite role: a Chief Agent Officer.

  2. The Meta Work: why most agent projects fail before a line of code is written

    95% of enterprise generative AI pilots deliver zero measurable return. The research is clear about why, and it isn't the technology. It's the governance, planning, and continuous improvement work that sits around the build — the meta work — and the uncomfortable question of who in the channel actually owns it.

  3. Building Partner Services for the Agent Era

    Your customers are already deploying AI agents without you. Here's how Microsoft Partners can turn agent governance and operations into a services staircase — from repeatable discovery engagements to outcome-based managed services — starting this week.

  4. How I Use 20 AI Agents to Manage My Working Week

    I built 20 AI agents with GitHub Copilot CLI and an Obsidian vault to manage 25 meetings a week across three Microsoft partners. Here's what the system looks like, what genuinely helped, where I over-engineered, and what I'd recommend if you're thinking of doing something similar.

  5. Microsoft 365 E7: What Partners Need to Know, and Do, Right Now

    Microsoft 365 E7 is a new enterprise licence launching May 1, 2026 at $99/user/month. It bundles Copilot, Agent 365, the full Entra Suite, and advanced Defender, Intune, and Purview capabilities into a single SKU on top of everything in E5. Here's what it means for Microsoft Partners building advisory, professional, and managed service practices around AI agent governance.

  6. 10 AI Agent Ideas for Frontier Distributors

    Cloud distributors face margin compression and operational complexity. Here are 10 AI agent implementations, from lead enrichment to network orchestration, that can transform front-line operations and reposition distributors as Frontier Firms.

  7. Understanding Partner Center Identity & Entra ID

    Associating your primary corporate Entra ID with Microsoft Partner Center is a common architectural error that is surprisingly difficult to reverse. Here is why it happens and the reality of your options in 2026.

  8. Copilot Chat vs Microsoft 365 Copilot: Using Chat as a First Step to Address Shadow AI

    Copilot Chat offers a quick, governed way to reduce shadow AI in your organisation. Learn how it differs from Microsoft 365 Copilot, why it’s an effective first step, and how to deploy it safely.

  9. Microsoft Ignite 2025: Key Announcements, AI Innovations, and Opportunities for Microsoft Partners

    Microsoft Ignite 2025 highlights a major shift to AI agents, opening new opportunities for partners to build productised solutions and managed services.