A1 Technologies gains Microsoft Azure migration badge

A1 Technologies has earned Microsoft's Infrastructure and Database Migration to Azure specialisation, adding to the five Microsoft partner designations already held by the Australian managed services provider.

The specialisation followed an independent audit of migration work delivered for clients in financial services, construction and scientific research. Unlike Microsoft's core partner designations, specialisations require external assessment of completed projects rather than relying only on certifications and sales measures.

The audit covered a large Azure migration for an 800-seat financial services organisation, an Azure Landing Zone and Well-Architected Framework deployment for a 300-seat construction business, and an Azure build for a scientific research organisation that combined landing zones with Azure AI Foundry for modelling work.

The review also required evidence across several workload types, including virtual server and SQL database migration, database modernisation, governance, automation and cloud architecture. The auditor found no follow-up actions were required.

That places A1 in a relatively small group in Australia. Few managed service providers in the country hold five of the six Microsoft Solutions Partner designations, spanning Modern Work, Security, Azure Infrastructure, Digital and App Innovation on Azure, and Data and AI on Azure.

Director Rob Rattray linked the new credential to the company's focus on Microsoft's cloud platform.

"Very few MSPs in Australia hold five of the six Microsoft Solutions Partner designations. Adding the Azure specialisation reflects a deliberate choice to go deep on Microsoft Azure, and it is what enables us to effectively deliver the larger, more complex projects our mid-market and enterprise customers bring us," Rattray said.

Audit focus

The assessment examined not just customer projects, but also the methods behind them. A1 standardises migration work using Azure Landing Zones and the Microsoft Well-Architected Framework, which sets benchmarks for areas such as reliability, security, cost and performance in cloud environments.

The company has also developed an internal tool using Azure AI Foundry and a custom Model Context Protocol setup to run Well-Architected reviews against customer environments. The system can produce a report in about a quarter of the time needed for a manual review.

In one eight-subscription environment, the tool identified annual cost savings worth tens of thousands of dollars. A1 is developing the tool into a standalone service for customers.

Technical Director Clint Shiels said the specialisation depended on evidence of delivery rather than a simple certification exercise.

"This is a continuation of our efforts to dive deeply into Microsoft 365 and Azure with an ongoing improvement mentality. As part of the audit process, we showcased recent projects and examples of automation and standardisation across GitHub deployments for onboarding and delivery of projects including Azure Landing Zones, alerting and Well-Architected Framework reporting, improving compliance and reducing delivery time for our clients," Shiels said.

Customer proof

The new credential comes as organisations in Australia and New Zealand continue to invest in cloud migration, governance and AI-related work. For customers, third-party review of completed projects can provide added reassurance when moving important systems and data to public cloud platforms.

Rattray said external validation matters most when migration work is complex or business-critical.

"When a customer is moving critical systems to Azure, an independent sign-off matters. It means someone outside A1 has reviewed the work we have actually delivered, so clients are not relying on our word alone," he said.

A1 said the specialisation required additional certifications and investment beyond the Microsoft designations it already held. Its engineers complete Microsoft certifications each quarter as the company expands its work in Azure, security and AI across mid-market and enterprise organisations in Australia and New Zealand.