The Microsoft partnership
Microsoft Solutions Partner for Digital & App Innovation.
Twenty years of building on Microsoft technologies across every major platform shift, from .NET Framework and SQL Server through to modern .NET, Azure, and Microsoft Fabric.
Also a Cloud Solution Provider (CSP), and ECIF-approved for incentive funding.
Frontier Transformation
The estate underneath every Frontier Firm.
Microsoft's Frontier Firm vision puts AI and agents in the flow of real work, from Copilot in every hand to agents running business processes. Getting there depends on something less visible: a modernized, consolidated, governed estate underneath. Fragmented data, brittle applications, and pilot-stage AI do not become a Frontier Firm on their own.
That is the work Assembly does on Microsoft. We modernize and consolidate the estate on Azure, build the data foundation AI can run on, and put the security and governance in place so Copilot, agents, and production AI have somewhere solid to stand.
Microsoft credentials
How our Microsoft partnership helps us support you.
Three designations, and what each one lets us do inside your Microsoft estate.
Solutions Partner Designation
Digital & App Innovation (Azure)
Recognizes proven capability in delivering modern, cloud-native applications on Azure. Earned through verified customer success metrics, certified specialists on staff, and skill validation across Azure development and modernization.
Cloud Reseller Program
Cloud Solution Provider (CSP)
Authorized to sell, provision, and bill Microsoft cloud services directly. Means we can manage your Azure tenant, license, and billing under one engagement. No separate Microsoft procurement workstream required.
Funding Program Eligibility
ECIF-approved Microsoft partner
Eligible to access Microsoft's End Customer Investment Fund and other partner incentive programs. For qualifying engagements, this can offset assessment, migration, or modernization costs. Funding flows from Microsoft directly toward the work.
Four domains on Microsoft
The Microsoft stack across our four domains.
The Microsoft partnership runs through every domain Assembly works in, not as a separate practice but as the platform underneath. Web applications, digital experience platforms, cloud infrastructure, and data and AI all run on Microsoft technology in the engagements where Microsoft is the right fit.
01
Web Applications on Microsoft
Custom .NET, modern .NET, and ASP.NET applications. Functional products that execute business logic and run critical workflows: tax software, configurators, regulatory applications, workflow portals, and custom business tools. Twenty years of continuous Microsoft application engineering, from .NET Framework through to modern .NET on Azure.
.NET · ASP.NET · Azure App Service · Azure SQL
02
Digital Experience Platforms on Microsoft
Customer-facing web and content platforms hosted and operated on Azure. Digital experience platforms running on Azure App Service and Azure SQL, with the security, performance, and integration baseline that Microsoft-anchored estates require.
Sitecore on Azure · Azure App Service · Azure CDN
03
Cloud Infrastructure on Microsoft
Architecture, migration, and operations on Microsoft Azure. The foundation beneath the applications, deployed, secured, and engineered to run under production load and regulatory scrutiny. Microsoft is the formal cloud partnership; Azure is where the cloud foundation work happens.
Microsoft Azure · Landing Zones · Defender · Azure DevOps
04
Data and AI on Microsoft
Data platforms, analytics, and AI integration across the estate. The intelligence layer that turns operational systems into a trusted System of Insight, with AI layered on top once the data foundation is in place. Microsoft Fabric, Azure SQL, and Azure AI are where most of this work runs.
Microsoft Fabric · Azure SQL · Azure AI · Azure OpenAI
Three disciplines
Modernize. Consolidate. Operate. On Microsoft.
Three disciplines we bring to every Microsoft engagement, across every domain.
01 / MODERNIZE
Modernize
Evolve legacy Microsoft applications while they keep running. Refactoring monoliths into services, replatforming onto managed Azure services, and re-architecting where the constraints justify it. Lift-and-shift where it earns the move; modernization where the value of being on Azure is realized through actual modernization.
02 / CONSOLIDATE
Consolidate
Unify fragmented Microsoft estates accumulated through acquisitions, vendor changes, and decentralized decisions. Bring multiple Azure tenants, overlapping subscriptions, and parallel platforms into coherent environments with the governance and identity foundation the rest of the estate depends on.
03 / OPERATE
Operate
Managed services covering Azure platforms and the infrastructure beneath them. Done-for-you or done-with-you. Retain us for ongoing support, blend us into your team, or take the platform in-house whenever the business is ready.
Procurement Q&A
Common questions, real answers.
The questions that come up most often during procurement, vendor evaluation, and partnership reviews.
Can you help us take advantage of Microsoft incentive programs?
Yes. As a Microsoft Solutions Partner and ECIF-approved vendor, we work with our Microsoft partner representative on every engagement to identify whether incentive funding applies. For qualifying programs (assessments, modernization, migrations), Microsoft funding can offset a meaningful portion of the engagement cost. We'll surface what's available before scoping.
Are you focused more on lift-and-shift Azure migrations or modernization with cloud-native applications?
Modernization is the primary focus. The value of moving to Azure is rarely realized by lift-and-shift alone. Most legacy applications need optimization to become cost-effective on cloud infrastructure. That said, lift-and-shift is the right call in narrow circumstances: data centre contract deadlines, software license expirations, or when the application has no business case for further investment. We help with both, but with modernization as the default path.
Can we engage Assembly for managed services only?
Yes. We offer Azure managed services and application support for platforms, applications, and infrastructure, including platforms we did not originally build, when the situation warrants. That said, the strongest version of our managed services is on platforms we built ourselves. The team that built the software supports it with confidence, knows where the edges are, and can evolve the platform alongside the business rather than just keeping it running.
Can you help us get started with Azure?
Yes. Most Azure adoption at scale starts with a structured assessment that answers the foundational questions: which application to migrate first, how to demonstrate value early, whether to start with greenfield or modernization, how the in-house team upskills, how operations work after cutover, and how to structure tenants and subscriptions for the long term. Assembly runs that assessment in two to four weeks.
Will you help us operate Azure once we're in?
Yes. We support clients in two operating models. The first is ongoing. Assembly operates the Azure platform end-to-end as a managed service, with our engineering team accountable for incidents, performance, and evolution. The second is transitional. We operate the platform temporarily while transferring operational ownership to the client team on an agreed timeline. The choice depends on whether you want long-term operational accountability outsourced or whether you want to internalize it after a runway.
Can you automate infrastructure with Infrastructure-as-Code?
Yes. Infrastructure-as-Code is a default rather than an option. Our engagements include automated CI/CD pipelines on Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions, environment provisioning through Terraform or Bicep, and the broader DevOps practices that make automated software delivery work in regulated environments. The platforms we build are automatable from day one.
Where Microsoft work fits
Most of our work runs on Microsoft.
The Microsoft partnership is not a separate practice at Assembly. It's the foundation underneath most of our engagements. Cloud infrastructure runs on Azure. Application development runs on .NET. Data runs on Microsoft Fabric and Azure SQL. Digital experience platforms run on Azure App Service. The partnership shows up in how we design, build, and operate across every domain.
Complex digital estates don't respect domain boundaries. Microsoft is often the connective tissue that holds an estate together: identity, security, integration, and the platform layer that the four domains all depend on. When the work spans applications, data, digital experience platforms, and infrastructure together, the engagement belongs inside our flagship Digital Estate Modernization work, with Microsoft as the platform layer across the domains.
Talk to a Microsoft practitioner
A 30-minute conversation usually clarifies whether the right starting point is an Azure assessment, a software engagement, or a working conversation about scope.