SHIFT Achieves Three Microsoft Azure Solutions Partner Designations in the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program
Earns designations across three key areas:
“Infrastructure,” “Data & AI,” and “Digital & App Innovation”

SHIFT Inc. (“SHIFT,” headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan; Masaru Tange, CEO and Representative Director), a provider of business transformation services rooted in quality, hereby announces that it has achieved three designations under the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program (MCPP) provided by Microsoft Corporation (hereinafter “Microsoft”): Solutions Partner for Infrastructure (Azure), Solutions Partner for Data & AI (Azure), and Solutions Partner for Digital & App Innovation (Azure).

All three designations specialize in Microsoft’s cloud platform, “Microsoft Azure” (hereinafter “Azure”). These recognitions were awarded in acknowledgment of SHIFT’s advanced technical capabilities, proven track record, and substantial contributions to customer success across system architecture/migration, data utilization/AI implementation, and application development leveraging Azure.

[Overview of Designations Achieved]
Solutions Partner for Infrastructure (Azure)
The Solutions Partner for Infrastructure (Azure) designation certifies partner organizations with proven technical capability and experience in migrating and building IT infrastructure on Azure. Eligible partners demonstrate ongoing technical upskilling and certification acquisition, delivering solutions that drive business success for clients.

Scope of Capabilities:
・Design, Operations & Optimization: Architectural design, implementation, and operation of Azure environments, alongside cost and security optimization.
・Migration & Modernization: Migration and modernization of virtualized workloads (including SAP environments) and virtual desktop environments to Azure.
・Multi-Cloud Support: Migrating applications from other cloud platforms to Azure and advancing multi-cloud strategies.
・HPC Implementation: Deployment and management of High-Performance Computing (HPC) workloads on Azure.
・Hybrid / Multi-Cloud Management: Utilizing Azure Arc for governance, unified security, management, and DevOps across on-premises and multi-cloud environments.

Solutions Partner for Data & AI (Azure)
The Solutions Partner for Data & AI (Azure) designation validates a partner’s capability to govern data dispersed across multiple systems and build advanced analytics and AI solutions. It recognizes organizations dedicated to structured talent development, technical verification, and establishing scalable data analytics and AI foundation platforms for customers.

Scope of Capabilities:
・Data Migration & Analytics Platform Setup: Cloud-based data warehousing and analytics environment setup via legacy data assessment, model architecture, and ETL pipelines (extraction, transformation, and loading).
・Tailored Analytics Solutions: Designing and delivering optimized data analytics environments powered by Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Data Lake, Azure Data Factory, Azure Databricks, and related tools.
・AI Implementation & Machine Learning (ML): End-to-end AI deployment support and Azure solution implementation for developing and operating AI-powered applications and machine learning models (MLOps).

Solutions Partner for Digital & App Innovation (Azure)
The Solutions Partner for Digital & App Innovation (Azure) designation demonstrates advanced proficiency in building, running, and managing applications using tools and frameworks of their choice across diverse environments, including multi-cloud, on-premises, and edge. It is granted to partners systematically fostering cloud-native engineering capabilities and helping clients modernize systems through web application development and DevOps integration.

Scope of Capabilities:
・Web App Migration, Operations & DevOps: Migrating and deploying production-grade web applications to Azure, implementing DevOps practices, and managing services such as Azure App Service.
・Containers & Kubernetes: Managing production workloads using container technologies and architecting/operating managed Kubernetes environments on Azure.
・Secure DevOps Implementation: Establishing secure DevOps pipelines using Azure and GitHub, and driving organizational adoption and enablement of DevOps practices.

[Endorsement from Microsoft Japan]
“Microsoft Japan warmly congratulates SHIFT Inc. on achieving three designations within the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program: Solutions Partner for Infrastructure (Azure), Solutions Partner for Data & AI (Azure), and Solutions Partner for Digital & App Innovation (Azure).

SHIFT has demonstrated a persistent commitment to nurturing highly skilled Azure engineers while providing comprehensive cloud support—ranging from architectural consulting and design reviews using the Azure Well-Architected Framework to on-premises migration and full-scale system architecture design and deployment on Azure.

Furthermore, in January 2026, SHIFT established a dedicated ‘Azure CCoE’ (Cloud Center of Excellence) to consolidate technical expertise and strengthen its cross-functional delivery model.

With these three designations, we look forward to seeing SHIFT combine its deep-rooted quality assurance background with its robust Azure technical expertise to assist an even wider customer base in accelerating business transformation and value creation—not only through cloud infrastructure deployment and migration, but also through data/AI integration and application modernization.

Microsoft Japan remains committed to deepening our collaboration with SHIFT Inc. to empower our customers’ cloud utilization and digital transformation initiatives powered by Microsoft Azure.”

Satoshi Asano, Managing Executive Officer, Enterprise Services Business Lead and Partner Business Lead, Microsoft Japan Co., Ltd.

[SHIFT’s Initiatives in the Azure Domain]
SHIFT continuously fosters engineers with advanced Azure proficiencies, boasting over 80 certified professionals (as of the end of September 2026). To date, SHIFT has spearheaded a wide range of Azure initiatives across diverse industries and business domains to empower client cloud adoption.

Key Track Record & Services:
・Architectural consulting for Azure adoption
・Design reviews aligned with the Azure Well-Architected Framework
・Migration support from on-premises environments to Azure
・End-to-end design and construction of system infrastructure leveraging Azure

In January 2026, SHIFT launched a specialized “Azure CCoE” (Cloud Center of Excellence) to centralize Azure technical insights and bolster cross-organizational execution. In September of the same year, SHIFT joined Microsoft’s “AX Co-Creation Program,” accelerating the development and expansion of its AI solutions portfolio.

Moving forward, SHIFT will pursue remaining Solutions Partner designations as well as “Specialization” certifications to demonstrate even deeper domain expertise. SHIFT will also continue standardizing technical documentation and reinforcing its architecture teams to deliver higher value and innovative solutions across Azure infrastructure and AI/data utilization.