In our fast-paced digital economy, software development companies—technology-led businesses that build, operate, and sell their own software—are at the forefront of shaping what’s next. With deep technical expertise and modern engineering practices, these companies are key players in driving AI innovation across industries.
As businesses look to modernize their apps, migrate to the cloud, and unlock new insights, AI is accelerating what’s possible. For software companies, this represents a massive opportunity to build differentiated solutions and deliver more value to customers. Whether you’re just getting started or scaling globally, we’re here to help you harness AI’s potential and celebrate your progress.
This year, at Microsoft Build, we introduced new AI tools and capabilities designed to empower every software developer to become an AI developer. Already, developers at over 70,000 enterprises and software companies like Cognition and Faros AI are using these tools to design, customize, and manage their AI apps and agents. From agentic AI to GitHub-native development tools, here’s what’s new and relevant for you.
Differentiate with AI: Build AI agents with a unified platform
Every era has its inflection points—moments when niche technologies suddenly become foundational. Today, AI is on the brink of a similar leap, evolving from assistants awaiting instruction to autonomous agents capable of serving as workplace teammates. With the rise of agentic AI, software companies are now positioned to build solutions that automate complex processes and transform how businesses operate.
Enter Azure AI Foundry, a unified platform of models, tools, and services to help you design, customize, and manage AI apps and agents at scale. With a new unified API and SDK—and the general availability of Azure AI Foundry Agent Service—developers can now orchestrate multi-agent workflows wherever they build, allowing AI agents to work together, solve more complex problems, automate decision-making, and drive new levels of productivity for customers.
We’re also expanding our catalog with cutting-edge models to give software developers more choice. Grok 3 from xAI is available today, with Flux Pro 1.1 from Black Forest Labs and Sora coming soon in preview via Azure OpenAI in Foundry Models. Additionally, we now have over 10,000 open-source models from Hugging Face available in Foundry Models, all supported with full fine-tuning so you can tailor models to your specific needs. And with a new model router that automatically selects the best Azure OpenAI model for your prompt, it’s even easier to boost performance while reducing costs.
For teams building commercial software, these same Azure AI Foundry capabilities are now available in GitHub and Visual Studio so you can use advanced models and infrastructure within the tools you already use.
Ship faster: Reimagine software development with AI-native tools
When it comes to the software developer experience, coding has changed dramatically with tools like GitHub Copilot. But writing code is just one part of your job. Most of your time is spent fixing bugs, managing dependencies, documenting, or maintaining legacy systems. That’s where AI agents come in.
At Microsoft Build, we introduced Agentic DevOps—the next evolution in DevOps, where AI agents work with you and each other to streamline the entire software lifecycle. From coding to testing to production, agents are here to handle repetitive and time-consuming tasks so you can focus on building what matters most.
Let’s take a look at how we’re making Agentic DevOps a reality:
The GitHub Copilot coding agent transforms GitHub Copilot from pair programmer to peer programmer—taking on code reviews, writing tests, fixing bugs, and collaborating with other agents to resolve production issues.
With new App Modernization capabilities, GitHub Copilot tackles one of the biggest software developer pain points. It handles tedious upgrade tasks for Java and .NET apps, automatically generating and executing upgrade plans, allowing teams to spend less time on legacy code and more time shipping new features. What once took months can now be done in hours.
Late-night alerts? We’ve got you covered. The new Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) agent monitors your production systems 24/7, responding to incidents in real time and autonomously troubleshooting issues as they arise. It tracks health and performance across Kubernetes, App Service, serverless, and databases—using the same expertise that powers Azure at global scale. Fewer fire drills, faster recovery, and more time to build what’s next.
And with GitHub Models, we’re bringing the leading models from Azure AI Foundry directly into your GitHub experience and workflow with a new native integration. Now, you can experiment with models from OpenAI, Meta, Cohere, Mistral, and more, testing and comparing their performance through a simple, unified API.
Together, these agents form an always-on dev crew that helps software companies ship faster, reduce tech debt, and build with confidence. We keep you at the center of this orchestra, conducting agents and approving recommendations so you can rediscover the joy of building software.
Drive growth: Partner opportunities to propel you forward
No matter where you are on your journey—from early-stage startup to mature software development company—we’re committed to being your partner in AI innovation by offering unique pathways to support you at every stage.
If you’re an early-stage startup looking for support and resources to accelerate innovation and growth, check out Microsoft for Startups. This program provides access to flexible Azure credits, tailored mentorship, go-to-market support, and scalable AI tools to help new startups conserve runway. Companies like Worlds.io are already putting these resources to work, using Azure and the program’s resources to build a “physical AI platform” that transforms live sensor and video data into real-time digital twins. With customers like Chevron, Worlds.io is helping enterprises automate ground operations and optimize supply chains—all while accelerating its own growth with enterprise-ready AI solutions.
To go to market with Microsoft and reach millions of global customers quickly, use the Microsoft marketplace. It’s already becoming the destination of choice for organizations seeking AI solutions, with AI and machine learning offer revenue growing 100% in the last year.1 Neo4j, a leader in graph database technology, is a prime example of a software company succeeding through the marketplace. They’ve seen 6X revenue growth in the last 18 months and reduced sales cycles by up to 40%. This has helped Neo4j streamline deployment, helping its customers get value from their graph database more quickly.
And if you’re looking for help publishing and selling your solutions on the marketplace, you can join ISV Success, which provides hands-on technical support, AI tools, and Azure credits to accelerate your development. You can also become a Solutions Partner2 with certified software designations3 to help your solution stand out. These designations help validate the quality, interoperability, reliability, and relevance of your software solution, driving a positive customer experience by delivering on the value customers expect from solutions built on the Microsoft Cloud.
Next steps: Let’s build the future together
If you missed the action at Microsoft Build 2025, don’t worry—you can catch all the keynotes and sessions on demand.
Ready to get hands-on? We have a full set of tools and resources to empower every software developer to be an AI developer. From the Well-Architected Framework for SaaS, to App Modernization Guidance and self-serve tools like App advisor, we’re making it easier than ever to deliver secure, scalable, and high-performing AI applications.
Check out our Microsoft Partner recap blog for a curated roundup of announcements most relevant to partners.
And don’t miss our new digital hub for software development companies—your go-to destination for hands-on resources, technical guidance, and purpose-built programs to help you innovate with AI and reach more customers.
The future of software is being written right now. Let’s build it—together.
Disclaimer
1Microsoft internal data
2“Solutions Partner” refers to a company that is a member of the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program and may offer software, services, and/or solutions to customers. Reference to “Solutions Partner” in any content, materials, resources, web properties, etc. and any associated designation should be not interpreted as an offer, endorsement, guarantee, proof of effectiveness or functionality, a commitment or any other type of representation or warranty on the part of Microsoft. All decisions pertaining and related to your business needs including but not limited to strategies, solutions, partner selection, implementation, etc., rests solely with your business.
3A certification is (1) specific to the solution’s interoperability with Microsoft products and (2) based on self-attestation by the solution owner. Solutions are only certified as of the date the solution is reviewed. Solution functionality and capability are controlled by the solution owner and may be subject to change. The inclusion of a solution in the marketplace and any such designations should not be interpreted as an offer, endorsement, guarantee, proof of effectiveness or functionality, a commitment or any other type of representation or warranty on the part of Microsoft. All decisions pertaining and related to your business needs including but not limited to strategies, solutions, partner selection, implementation, etc. rests solely with your business.
The post New AI innovations that are redefining the future for software companies appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
Author: Cyril Belikoff
