A Funding Masterclass: Microsoft Funding — Reducing Risk, Accelerating Delivery

Microsoft funding can remove upfront cost, speed up delivery, and help you prove value fast. That was the focus of this masterclass packed with practical guidance, live examples, and clear next steps for organisations ready to unlock Microsoft‑backed support for data, AI, security, and cloud projects.

Hosted by Emma Portlock (Head of New Business) and Reece Gohil (Microsoft Vendor Alliance Manager), the session calls on businesses to use funding to de‑risk initiatives and move from intent to impact.

Why Microsoft Funding Matters Now

Microsoft has shifted from rewarding licence sales to rewarding adoption and usage, opening structured funding routes that help organisations explore new solutions without heavy CapEx. Typical engagements run 4–6 weeks, end with a PoC/POV you can see and touch, and are delivered by audited, specialist partners. In short: lower barriers, faster time‑to‑value.

Meet the Experts Behind the Insights

• Emma Portlock – helps organisations translate strategy into funded, outcome‑driven programmes.
• Reece Gohil – aligns the right Microsoft programme to each use case and handles eligibility, nomination, and claims.

Together, they demystify what’s available, who qualifies, and how to get started.

Tackling Today’s Challenges

With stretched teams and rising expectations, funding is a pragmatic way to do more with less. From modernising infrastructure to building AI‑ready data foundations and strengthening security. The masterclass breaks it down into partner‑ready programmes you can tap into quickly.

What We Covered (and What You Can Access)

• Copilot & Power Platform Envisioning/Deployment: for organisations 500+ users—typically $5k–$50k to validate use cases and support rollout, including adoption & change.
• Azure Migrate & Modernize (AMM): assessment + deployment funding, typically $2k–$75k based on expected Azure consumption—covering discovery, landing zone, and workload migration.
• Data Platform (Microsoft Fabric) PoC + Deployment: $15k PoC plus $2k–$75k deployment funding to ingest priority data sources, model, and visualise value fast.
• Security Workshops (fully funded):
  • Threat Protection Envisioning ($8k) – Defender XDR, Sentinel and identity controls.
  • Data Security & Compliance ($8k) – Purview, DLP, labelling, insider risk.

Bonus: Many programmes can be used multiple times across different workloads or use cases—compounding value across your roadmap.

Real‑World Examples

Legacy to Fabric, risk‑free: A client moving from Lotus Notes/Domino used $15k Data (Fabric) PoC + $15k Azure to prove migration and visualise outcomes in Power BI—at no cost for the PoC phase.

Stacking for transformation: An industrial client combined initial assessments and successive migrations, unlocking tens of thousands of dollars across phases to modernise critical systems.

Your Next Steps

Watch the recording to see funding paths, eligibility, and examples in action.

Identify one use case (e.g., a manual process for Power Platform, a pilot for Copilot, a workload to move to Azure, or a priority dataset for Fabric).

Contact us to check eligibility. As a leading Microsoft Partner we will guide the process and handle the claims