Microsoft 2024 Partners Of The Year: Solution Providers Advancing AI, Copilot, Security
WinWire, Valorem Reply, PwC, Accenture and EY were among the solution providers named as a 2024 Microsoft Partner of the Year.
A transformed legal eDiscovery tool. An OpenAI sentiment analysis application for emergency preparedness. And an app built in 90 days that solved a complex SAP use case.
These projects by WinWire Technologies, Valorem Reply and PwC, respectively, helped them win 2024 Microsoft Partner of the Year awards in a variety of categories.
Named as Microsoft closes out its fiscal year, these partners of the Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant received the annual awards for demonstrating “amazing agility and creativity in building solutions on Microsoft Cloud, with the goal of exceeding customer expectations by bringing technology to life in meaningful ways.”
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2024 Microsoft Partners Of The Year
Other solution providers that made the grade as a 2024 Microsoft Partner of the Year include:
- BDO Digital
- EY
- Accenture
- Avanade
For this list, CRN focused on the Partner of the Year award winners based in the U.S. or with significant presences in the U.S.
Read on for why Microsoft named these solution providers the best of the best.
WinWire Technologies
Microsoft named WinWire Technologies its Azure Partner of the Year in the category of Modernizing Applications.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company—No. 255 on CRN’s 2024 Solution Provider 500— received the award for its work transforming “a legacy eDiscovery app into a revolutionary tool for the legal sector, saving 150 percent on IT costs, scaling data to 19 PB and driving an ACR of $60 million annually.”
“By leveraging Azure App Services, Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS), GitHub, SQL and Azure Data Lakes (ADL), WinWire enabled a streamlined customer experience with search capabilities that were five times faster, enhanced DevOps and improved security,” according to Microsoft.
WinWire was also a finalist in the Migration to Azure category.
Accenture And Avanade
Accenture and Avanade jointly received multiple Microsoft Partner of the Year awards, including ones for GSI of the Year, Copilot, SAP Rise on Microsoft Cloud and Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer Insights.
Ireland-based Accenture and Seattle-based Avanade were named the GSI category winners for Partner Innovation for their ability to “leverage Microsoft’s latest technologies across industries, solutions, emerging tech and Generative AI so they can invest early, adopt early, and lead the market in business and industry reinvention,” according to Microsoft.
The two solution providers also were named Microsoft’s Copilot Partner of the Year for work helping customers integrate the generative AI tool “in a secure and responsible way,” according to Microsoft.
In addition, they received the SAP Rise on Microsoft Cloud Partner of the Year award in part for their work with “a large customer in Singapore” that leveraged “Microsoft’s Extend and Innovate capabilities built on Microsoft Teams and Azure OpenAI.”
“Customer impact included improved collaboration and financial reporting, enhanced response time and improved decision-making,” according to Microsoft.
With Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer Insights, Accenture and Avanade offer “end-to-end services for multicontinent projects” that are “backed by industry-aligned experts.” The solution providers have also worked “collaboratively and tactically with Microsoft” to pilot “Microsoft Copilot for Sales … actively taking this capability to clients.”
The solution providers also were the industry winners for Mobility, Media and Telecommunications, and Retail and Consumer Goods.
The Mobility win came in part for “their work to transform a major car manufacturer’s design-make-and-use value chain through generative AI,” according to Microsoft. “This kind of progress is helping the firm make the next generation of vehicles faster and at a high level of quality with less waste, while delivering exceptional customer experiences.”
In Media and Telecommunications, Accenture and Avanade have helped customers “harness the full potential of AI, scaling transformative effects to new heights and fostering a new era of growth and innovation,” according to Microsoft.
In Retail and Consumer Goods, the two solution providers worked with “one of the largest home improvement chains in Europe” and Azure OpenAI Service “to deliver a game-changing, generative AI-powered shopping experience for its customers.”
The solution providers were finalists in a number of categories as well, including Dynamics 365 Finance and Low-Code Application Development.
Accenture is No. 1 on CRN’s 2024 Solution Provider 500 and Avanade is No. 37.
PwC
Global systems integrator PwC received multiple Partner of the Year awards.
In the Building with AI category, the London-based global systems integrator was recognized for delivering and building in 90 days “an AI app solution to solve a complex SAP use case where existing systems had a time-consuming series of approvals and audits,” according to Microsoft.
The app can “aggregate data, request resubmission of incomplete tickets, create log summaries and perform audits,” according to Microsoft. “PwC won client trust and further engagements to assess other GenAI use cases with PwC’s Responsible AI Framework, which spurred the creation of POCs and Azure OpenAI-enabled Copilots with this same customer to help employees query data and find operational reports.”
PwC’s win in the Government Industry category came from its team of 1,500-plus specialists focusing “on innovation, trust and efficiency through projects that leverage AI and cloud transformation to help all levels of government around the world,” according to Microsoft.
Microsoft named PWC’s Middle East division a Country/Region winner for its work with “a government entity in Saudi Arabia” that “renewed a multimillion-dollar agreement with PwC Middle East to further automate investment procedures and back-office operations.”
“The same entity in Saudi Arabia also entrusted PwC Middle East with another multimillion- dollar project to develop a platform to manage their investment portfolio companies using Microsoft Dynamics 365,” according to Microsoft. “PwC Middle East’s collaboration with Microsoft has been pivotal in delivering these key projects across Saudi Arabia, leading to the planned on-boarding of over 2,000 users and generating license revenue for Microsoft.”
PwC was also a finalist in multiple categories, including Copilot and SAP Rise on Microsoft Cloud.
EPAM Systems
Microsoft named EPAM its Gaming Industry Partner of the Year, citing its role as “a leading business and experience consulting partner for global enterprises and ambitious startups.”
EPAM’s gaming business includes 1,000-plus dedicated game tech engineers, consultants and designers and 1 billion-plus players supported, according to the company.
Its gaming services include managing competitive online events, building player engagement tools, content moderation, leveraging GenAI for character development, player data safeguarding and penetration testing.
The Newtown, Pa.-based company—No. 22 on CRN’s 2024 Solution Provider 500—was also a finalist as Retail and Consumer Goods industry Partner of the Year.
Valorem Reply
Microsoft named Valorem Reply its industry Partner of the Year for Nonprofits, citing in particular a project for an organization focused on defeating poverty and achieving social justice.
For this organization, Kansas City, Mo.-based Valorem Reply “built an OpenAI sentiment analysis application to better inform emergency preparedness decisions,” according to Microsoft.
Valorem Reply—No. 367 on CRN’s 2024 Solution Provider 500—has achieved all six solutions partner designations in the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program, according to the company.
HCLTech
Microsoft’s Business Application Partner of the Year winner for Dynamics 365 Service was HCLTech.
The India-based GSI “has consistently deployed AI and automation in contact centers and customer service scenarios and is actively educating customers on Microsoft Copilot for Service capabilities,” according to Microsoft. “HCL America is also assessing Microsoft Copilot Studio for its unique customer needs.”
HCLTech was also a finalist in the category of Dynamics 365 Sales and Customer Insights. According to the company, it has more than 80,000 trained Microsoft engineers, six solution partner designations, 21 Microsoft specializations and 26,000-plus Microsoft certified professionals.
EY
EY received Partner of the Year awards in areas including Global Advisory and Intelligent Automation.
Microsoft named EY its Partner Innovation Partner of the Year in the Global Advisory category for its EY.ai platform.
The platform is “powered by Microsoft, driving innovation with the latest Microsoft products and resulting in 53.6 percent [year-over-year] Azure Consumed Revenue and production-ready AI client outcomes,” according to Microsoft. “Their impact is shaping the future of AI and society through shared collaborations and strategic initiatives.”
EY was named Partner of the Year in Intelligent Automation for growing that part of its business “by 76 percent year over year based on its ability to integrate AI, Copilots and Power Platform into its industry and domain solution portfolios,” according to Microsoft.
“EY’s dedicated Microsoft business group seamlessly collaborates and innovates with customers to enable transformational objectives, leading to increased adoption at speed and scale,” according to Microsoft.
For Dynamics 365 Finance, the London-based global systems integrator was named Partner of the Year for its “scalable, transformational solutions, with a focus on making the global-to-local journey, understanding complex regulatory standards and automating processes,” according to Microsoft.
In social impact, EY reached the top spot as Sustainability Changemaker for its work helping more than “100 clients accelerate their decarbonization journey, creating sustainable value and helping them deliver on their ESG goals.”
BDO Digital
A Modern Work Partner of the Year award went to BDO Digital in the category of secure productivity.
The Chicago-based consulting giant received the award based on a “portfolio of fast assessments and world-class system integration services,” which “represent a substantial business growth commitment across Microsoft solution plays,” according to Microsoft.
BDO won in the category of SMC-SI Empowering Customer Innovation for its ability “to promote growth within the small, medium and corporate (SMC) Solution Integrator accounts that span the Microsoft ecosystem.”
The company was also the Country/Region winner for Canada for its “cross-disciplinary team of more than 600 professionals” who “work together to solve business problems and inspire impactful transformation,” according to Microsoft.
Cognizant
Cognizant—No. 8 on CRN’s 2024 Solution Provider 500—was Microsoft’s GSI Growth Champion for 2024.
The Teaneck, N.J.-based company received the award for its “industry-leading, end-to-end Microsoft-centric cloud solutions,” plus a commitment “to driving innovation and maximizing business outcomes for its clients,” according to Microsoft.
Cognizant was also a finalist across a number of categories, including GSI Partner Innovation, Intelligent Automation, and Media and Telecommunications.
In January, Cognizant released its Innovation Assistant GenAI-powered tool built on Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to help assimilate enterprise knowledge and enable greater creativity and innovation among Cognizant employees, according to the solution provider.
JourneyTeam
JourneyTeam took home the award for Dynamics 365 Business Central Partner of the Year for its “Business Central Sherpa program to shepherd companies through Business Central implementation, employing a unique one-to-many delivery model.”
The Draper, Utah-based company’s “approach blends workshops, prebuilt templates and personalized coaching to implement at scale, while reducing costs and risk for customers,” according to Microsoft.
JourneyTeam’s services include data architecture, adoption and change management, and Microsoft licensing, according to the company. Industry specialties include financial services, manufacturing, health care, and media and communications.
Quisitive
Microsoft’s Analytics Partner of the Year was Quisitive.
The Irving, Texas-based company received the award in part for implementing “a Microsoft Fabric for Healthcare solution for an initiative that provides care for injured workers,” according to Microsoft.
“The solution enabled the organization to access and analyze patient data from previously disconnected sources, leading to improved patient outcomes, a 90 percent reduction in wait times and lower costs,” according to Microsoft. “Quisitive has deep expertise in Microsoft analytics solutions, including advanced specializations in Analytics and AI, and is applying Fabric to other organizations.”
Cyclotron
Micorosft’s Security Partner of the Year winner in the Compliance category was Cyclotron.
The San Francisco-based solution provider “has demonstrated expertise in deploying Microsoft Purview, which enables organizations to confidently manage risks, protect and govern sensitive data and comply with regulations and compliance standards,” according to Microsoft.
“Cyclotron’s expertise spans the entire Microsoft ecosystem, including security and compliance, Azure Cloud Solutions, modern work and collaboration and advisory services,” according to the tech giant.
The provider’s services include identity and device management, cloud security and project management, according to the company.
Innovative-e
Innovative-e was named Microsoft Partner of the Year in the Project and Portfolio Management category.
The Merritt Island, Fla.-based MSP “helps customers modernize and consolidate data with their Teams4PM solution,” which “provides project and portfolio management with real-time insights, advanced analytics and automation of Teams channel creation; and enables collaboration by unifying Microsoft’s new and legacy solutions including Planner, Project Online, and Project for the Web in Teams,” according to Microsoft.
The company also won the award last year. Innovative-e works with customers through project planning, implementations and go-lives, managing and sustaining success and application lifecycle managed services, according to the company.
Hitachi Solutions
“Skills across Microsoft business apps” helped systems integrator Hitachi Solutions land a 2024 Microsoft Partner of the Year award for Low-Code Application Development.
“These capabilities allow Hitachi Solutions to guide customers through low-code development and transformation to create impactful change and sustainable business outcomes,” according to Microsoft. “Hitachi Solutions’ primary goal is to advise and accelerate its customers’ data, business system and AI modernization journeys to achieve the greatest value from their Microsoft technology investments.”
Irvine, Calif.-based Hitachi Solutions’ rapid solution development (RSD) practice saw 25 percent year-over-year growth, according to the integrator. It said it also has more Power Platform Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) than any other Microsoft partner.
The integrator’s industry expertise includes construction, retail, financial services, health care and insurance, according to the company.
HSO
Netherlands-based solution provider HSO was Microsoft’s 2024 Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Partner of the Year for its work pioneering “groundbreaking solutions with innovative methodology to transform the way companies serve their customers.”
HSO’s capabilities include lift and shift of SAP environments to Azure Cloud, Azure managed services, building and securing business-critical infrastructure and low-code services, according to its website.
Industry specialties include manufacturing, financial services, public sector and nonprofits, according to HSO.