Azure Migration & Modernization in the Agentic Era for Partners

Azure Migrate & Modernize helps partners move beyond lift and shift by automating discovery, assessment, and application modernization on Azure.

In this video, a partner shares how tools like Azure Migrate and Azure Code Assessment accelerate early assessments, while enabling broader modernization outcomes—AI enablement, analytics with Microsoft Fabric, hyper automation with Power Platform, and security with Microsoft Defender.

The discussion highlights trusted platform governance, agentic AI driven code transformation, faster and more predictable delivery, and real business impact for both customers and partners. The message is clear: don’t delay. The tools, support, and ecosystem are ready to help partners accelerate migration and modernization on Azure.

The Agentic Era Meets Cloud Transformation

In the Agentic Era, AI agents don’t just assist—they reason, plan, orchestrate, and execute. Microsoft has embedded this paradigm directly into Azure migration and modernization, transforming what was once a months- or years-long, high-risk project into a continuous, intelligent, human-led motion.

For partners, this shift represents one of the largest growth opportunities in the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program: faster deal velocity, higher win rates, deeper customer relationships, and access to substantial FY26 incentives.

Legacy modernization has always been the $85+ billion elephant in the room. Over 37% of application portfolios still require significant work before they can support AI workloads. Traditional approaches—manual discovery, siloed assessments, fragmented code refactoring—create bottlenecks that delay AI adoption and leave technical debt accumulating faster than it can be retired.

Agentic AI changes the equation. Specialized agents now operate in parallel across discovery, assessment, planning, migration, code transformation, and post-migration optimization. They draw on real-time telemetry, customer environment context, and enterprise-grade reasoning models to deliver outcomes that are faster, safer, and more consistent. Humans remain firmly in control—setting direction, validating plans, and approving actions—while agents handle the toil.

The result: modernization timelines shrink from months to days or hours, collaboration between IT and development teams becomes seamless, and migration evolves from a one-time event into an always-on capability.

AI agents bridging GitHub Copilot and Azure Copilot to power end-to-end code-to-cloud modernization.

Microsoft’s Agentic Modernization Stack: Tools Partners Can Sell Today

Microsoft has released a connected, multi-agent system purpose-built for partners and customers:

• Azure Migrate with Agentic AI (public preview features): AI-powered discovery and assessment now deliver application-aware visibility, automated dependency mapping, and intelligent workload prioritization out of the box. Expanded support covers PostgreSQL, MySQL, additional Linux distributions (RHEL 9.5, Rocky Linux 9.5, Ubuntu 24.04, Alma Linux 9.5), and VMware rehosting. Connected workflows with GitHub Copilot eliminate the traditional handoff gap between infrastructure and applications.
• Azure Copilot Migration Agent (public preview): This is the new orchestrator for the entire estate. It automates discovery (inventory, dependencies, costs), generates data-driven business cases with ROI projections, recommends modernization targets, provisions landing zones aligned to the Cloud Adoption Framework, and drives structured migration waves with built-in validation and rollback. It works across mission-critical servers, VMs, databases, and applications—turning one-time projects into continuous modernization.

Azure Copilot’s agentic architecture orchestrating tools, agents, and knowledge for migration and operations.

• GitHub Copilot Modernization & Migration Agents (public preview / GA): Embedded directly in developers’ IDEs and GitHub, these agents assess codebases, detect breaking changes, upgrade .NET and Java applications (frameworks, runtimes, dependencies, security fixes), containerize, and generate Azure deployment artifacts. Java modernization is generally available; .NET is in public preview. Real-world results include Microsoft Teams completing upgrades to .NET 8 in hours and Ford China reducing effort by 70%.
• Modernization Agent (public preview): Acts as the scale orchestrator—running parallel code assessments, generating per-application modernization plans, and executing automated upgrades. It closes the loop between Azure Copilot’s infrastructure insights and GitHub Copilot’s code-level execution.
• Azure Accelerate: Combines expert Microsoft guidance with investment support and the Cloud Accelerate Factory (zero-cost deployment assistance for 30+ services). Partners can leverage this to de-risk large engagements and accelerate time-to-value.

These capabilities are further powered by the Microsoft Agent Framework (public preview)—the unified successor to Semantic Kernel and AutoGen—enabling partners to build custom, production-grade multi-agent systems on Azure AI Foundry that integrate with Copilot Studio, Fabric data agents, and customer-specific workflows.

High-level architecture for building and orchestrating AI apps and agents on Azure—foundational for custom modernization agents.

Partner Playbook: Turning Agentic Modernization into Revenue and Differentiation

Microsoft has aligned FY26 incentives, designations, and skilling to reward exactly this motion:

• Incentives: Certified partners (Azure, Security, or Industry AI designations) can earn up to $175,000 per qualifying Migrate & Modernize engagement. Azure credits for Copilot Studio and expanded customer investment funds make co-sell motions more attractive than ever.
• New Partner Designations: Streamlined into Cloud & AI Platforms and AI Business Solutions—explicitly rewarding agentic AI expertise, modernization scale, and business outcome delivery.
• Events & Skilling: Register for the Microsoft Azure Summit: Migrate and Modernize with Agentic AI (March 12, 2026 for Asia/Europe; April 23, 2026 for Americas) and the partner pre-brief webinar. These sessions deliver live demos, customer stories, and go-to-market playbooks.

Best practices for partners delivering wins:

1. Start every engagement with the Azure Copilot Migration Agent for instant inventory, dependency mapping, and ROI business cases—dramatically shortening sales cycles.
2. Use GitHub Copilot agents in workshops to prove modernization velocity in hours, not weeks.
3. Position data modernization to Azure managed services (PostgreSQL, Cosmos DB, Fabric) as the foundation for future agentic AI applications.
4. Adopt a “continuous modernization” delivery model: quarterly waves instead of big-bang projects.
5. Co-deliver with Microsoft experts via Azure Accelerate to reduce risk and increase margins.
6. Build IP: Custom agents using Microsoft Agent Framework for industry-specific modernization patterns (e.g., regulated industries, retail, manufacturing).

Organizations such as Ahold Delhaize have already demonstrated the power of this connected agentic workflow, reducing complexity and accelerating delivery across applications and data.

The Road Ahead: Continuous Modernization as the New Competitive Moat

The Agentic Era does not end with the initial migration. Once workloads land on Azure, the same agents continuously monitor, optimize, remediate, and prepare applications for the next wave of AI innovation. Partners who master this motion become indispensable strategic advisors—not just migration vendors.

The window is open. Customers are actively seeking partners who can deliver Azure migration and agentic modernization at speed. Those who invest now in the tools, certifications, and delivery frameworks will capture disproportionate share in the AI-driven cloud market.

Action steps for partners today:

• Register for the Azure Summit and partner webinar.
• Activate Azure Copilot Migration Agent and GitHub Copilot modernization capabilities in your practice.
• Engage your Microsoft account team on FY26 Migrate & Modernize incentives and Azure Accelerate.
• Begin piloting Microsoft Agent Framework for differentiated, repeatable IP.

The future of modernization is agentic, connected, and human-led. Partners who embrace it will not only accelerate their customers’ AI journeys—they will accelerate their own growth in the Microsoft ecosystem.

Ready to lead? The agentic tools are here. The incentives are live. The customers are waiting.