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As digital transformation takes root in South Africa, technology vendors, distributors and resellers have an opportunity to help businesses become frontier first – tapping data as a strategic asset, using the intelligence of technologies like AI and cloud to modernise their operations and do so securely, at scale. The frontier-first approach is something that Microsoft and its distribution partner First Distribution have fully embraced. The partners continue to collaborate to ensure that emerging tech forces like AI, agentic AI, quantum computing and cloud are at the forefront of future workplace environments.

The software company envisages a future in which organisations leverage AI to improve decision-making and automate tasks to become more operationally agile.

Business leaders are acutely aware of the need to do more with less, to drive down costs, and align technology with processes and people to streamline operations.

It’s a future in which humans co-exist with machines in the workplace to ensure secure, sustainable and profitable outcomes. It takes into account the development of datacentres, edge computing, quantum computing, advanced hardware, and server infrastructure.

This was a key theme at the First Distribution Microsoft Experience Day hosted recently in Johannesburg, which attracted several local and international Microsoft partners that make up the company’s channel partner ecosystem.

Speaking at the event, Elaine van der Plank, Microsoft Senior Partner Business Manager at Microsoft South Africa, spoke about how Microsoft is evolving into a frontier-first organisation with the mandate to help the channel follow suit.

In her presentation about future-ready partnerships and driving shared success, Van der Plank said being frontier-first means using intelligence-on-demand to help achieve more for organisations and customers.

This intelligence “on tap” is really Microsoft’s “secret sauce”, the glue that bonds every aspect of the company’s offering. The Microsoft executive said AI must be used to enrich the employee experience and enable them to bolster service delivery to customers and end-users.

“We want to reinvent customer engagements, using AI to ensure a much richer, more dynamic and valuable exchange. This technology can also reshape business processes, allowing us to be more efficient and use automation to benefit many organisational processes.”

Van der Plank pointed to a key component of the Microsoft frontier-first strategy, which is to bend the curve on innovation. “This means faster time to market, faster time to value, creating, innovating, testing, iterating and checking. AI can help do some of that. You don’t have to spend months in the pre-production phase, and you can ensure getting value in a quicker timeframe.”

The software giant has provided an update on activity within its MCAPS (Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions) division and its objective to have copilots on every device, across every role in business.

Microsoft’s AI assistant Copilot Chat is an example of how the company continues to add value, of the extent to which it has infused AI into every layer of operation and technology offering. The company’s premium version Microsoft 365 Core is about differentiation, about the tools to help secure market share, a platform to help customers innovate and migrate to ensure that the revenue line is at the highest it can be.

Its R&D investment is driven by strategic investment objectives, including the intention to optimise all-sized businesses (SME, SMB, and enterprise) across a spectrum of market segments. There is also emphasis on the role of the Microsoft Customer Engagement Strategy, with foundation components including an omnichannel experience, proactive engagement, a unified platform, as well as proactive and self-service support.

The intention is to ensure customer retention and bolster customer growth through personalised interactions, actionable feedback and enhanced customer case management.

Cybersecurity and the protection of data and digital assets is front-of-mind for First Distribution and Microsoft. It is central to the companies’ channel and customer engagement strategy. Both companies are adamant that the need for proactive, unified and streamlined security cannot be overstated.

This is because cyber attacks are increasing in frequency and complexity, said Diketso Molefe, Partner Solutions Manager, Microsoft, who is tasked with prioritising security as part of the company’s solution stack.

According to Molefe, in the 2025 financial year, one in every three SME customers fell victim to a cyber attack. She said resellers are helping customers secure their future, and AI is at the coalface of efforts to supercharge security. The technology is instrumental in helping companies detect threats quicker and take decisive action to mitigate further risk. “Our job is to assist frontier workers, especially in key sectors like healthcare, education, and transportation.”

Molefe stressed that for AI to elevate human potential, security has to be at the forefront. This is because businesses face an unprecedented threat landscape with bad actors more than willing and able to exploit emerging technology.

It’s no surprise that vendors are concentrating their efforts on the security market, positioning to help customers deal with the increasing volume and sophistication of attacks. Organisations are also overwhelmed by complexity, which only exacerbates the situation.

On average, 60 different tools are used by large organisations to combat cyber attacks, and with an approximate global shortage of 4.8 million cybersecurity personnel and the increasing threat of BYOD, organisations have an uphill battle.

“Without trust, people cannot fully embrace AI – trust cements the opportunity to build on AI, play around, prompt, use it effectively, and the only way to do that is to integrate AI into security,” she said. “However, AI is the destination and security is the journey.”

In November 2023, the Microsoft Secure First initiative was introduced, according to which all products are secure by design, by default (enabling default as part of the design process) and by operation (continued monitoring of security a cross all products).

Molefe said the company has invested $80 billion over the past year to strengthen security within its products. Other measures taken include Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) on all devices, as well as stricter identity and access management. 

In addition to its cloud security services, the company’s product stack includes Microsoft Defender suite (including Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence), Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Security Copilot.

An important consideration for Microsoft and First Distribution is to support resellers in helping to ensure customers are more secure, and to consolidate multi-vendor offerings within the Microsoft partner ecosystem.

Microsoft and First Distribution are under no illusion as to the magnitude of the task ahead to help digitally transform South African businesses and ensure reliable security.

IT executive and digital evangelist Rodney de Koch reminded the audience of South Africa’s wins, including that the country boasts the fifth fastest smartphone penetration growth globally, and its average internet speed is 78.4mps, close to the global average.

However, De Koch added that while South Africa was 18% above the global average on embracing the AI curve – only 2% of corporates are developing their AI use strategy and application.

Looking to 2026, Microsoft is focused on threat priorities that are aligned with specific areas: AI business solutions (copilots on every device across every role); cloud & AI platforms.

First Distribution and Microsoft plan to work far closer with channel partners to instil a well-refined, multi-vendor strategy and ensure effective skills allocation, resources, solutions, security and support.

In addition to having a well-thought-out strategy to manage AI, businesses have to establish an enterprise-wide view of their environments to better understand what they need to manage, govern and develop. 

The alliance between First Distribution and Microsoft is ideally positioned to help customers initiate AI and cloud strategies, leverage data resources and strengthen operations.

Contact us for more information: 011 540 2640 | microsoft.leads@firstdistribution.com