ANS has been awarded the Microsoft Frontier Partner designation, recognising its proven capability to help organisations move from AI readiness into AI realisation through secure, governed and scalable adoption of Copilot and agentic AI.
ANS has also been awarded the Microsoft Support Services designation for commitment to delivering robust, reliable end-to-end-assistance for customers across Microsoft solutions – making ANS the first Microsoft UK partner to receive both designations.
This recognition builds on ANS’ Frontier Firm strategy, which positions the company as a trusted partner for organisations navigating the shift towards human‑led, AI‑enabled operating models.
To achieve Frontier Partner designation, ANS undertook a sustained programme of investment and validation across people, platforms and governance to drive customer AI outcomes and adoption. This included becoming its own Customer Zero by deploying Microsoft Copilot and agentic capabilities internally, allowing the organisation to scale impact without increasing headcount.
The designations were achieved via a rigorous evaluation process by Microsoft, which included evidencing repeatable delivery models for AI at scale and producing customer references to evidence delivery aligned to Microsoft’s Frontier Firm framework:
- A total of 111 exams have been successfully passed, covering Solution Partner designations and advanced Specialisations.
- 133 net new deployments have been completed across qualifying Solution Partner designations and advanced Specialisations.
- 65 net new customers have been added within qualifying Solution Partner designations and advanced Specialisations.
- Achieving 15 Specialisations across Modern Work, Business Applications, Data & AI, Digital & App Innovation, Infrastructure, and Security.
- All Solution Partner designations, along with the required minimum three specified advanced Specialisations: Data Security, Copilot, and AI Applications.
Kyle Hill, Chief Technology Officer at ANS, said: “Being awarded Microsoft Frontier Partner designation is a powerful validation of the journey we’ve been on as an organisation. We chose to go first – becoming a Frontier Firm ourselves – so we could learn what it really takes to move from AI readiness into AI realisation at scale.
“For ANS, this recognition reflects the depth of capability we’ve built across governance, security and real‑world AI delivery. For our customers, it provides confidence that we can help them adopt AI in a way that is controlled, responsible and genuinely transformative – empowering their people, eliminating the mundane, and unlocking sustainable productivity.”
Richard Thompson, Chief Executive Officer at ANS, said: “For customers, the Frontier Partner designation provides assurance that we can support AI adoption safely and at pace, without introducing unmanaged risk. It signals the ability to move beyond isolated use cases and into organisation‑wide impact, with governance, security and control embedded from day one.
“This is a seal of approval from Microsoft that we can help customers unlock productivity and growth without burnout or overhead inflation, and build the foundations for resilient, always‑on digital operations. It means we can support organisations across the full Frontier Firm journey, from AI readiness through to the agentic future.”
Download the Co‑managed Copilot Brochure to see how Agent 365, Copilot, and agentic AI come together in a governed, scalable model. Your frontier first journey with ANS starts with foundations – and becomes real with agents.
