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Microsoft named a Leader in IDC MarketScape for Unified AI Governance Platforms

As organizations rapidly embrace generative and agentic AI, ensuring robust, unified governance has never been more critical. That’s why Microsoft is honored to be named a Leader in the 2025-2026 IDC MarketScape for Worldwide Unified AI Governance Platforms (Vendor Assessment (#US53514825, December 2025). We believe this recognition highlights our commitment to making AI innovation safe, responsible, and enterprise-ready—so you can move fast without compromising trust or compliance.

Read the IDC MarketScape for Unified AI Governance Platforms reportA graphic showing Microsoft’s position in the Leaders section of the IDC report.Figure 1. IDC MarketScape vendor analysis model is designed to provide an overview of the competitive fitness of technology and suppliers in a given market. The research methodology utilizes a rigorous scoring methodology based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria that results in a single graphical illustration of each supplier’s position within a given market. The Capabilities score measures supplier product, go-to-market and business execution in the short term. The Strategy score measures alignment of supplier strategies with customer requirements in a three- to five-year timeframe. Supplier market share is represented by the size of the icons.The urgency for a unified AI governance strategy is being driven by stricter regulatory demands, the sheer complexity of managing AI systems across multiple AI platforms and multicloud and hybrid environments, and leadership concerns for risk related to negative brand impact. Centralized, end-to-end governance platforms help organizations reduce compliance bottlenecks, lower operational risks, and turn governance into a strategic driver for responsible AI innovation. In today’s landscape, unified AI governance is not just a compliance obligation—it is critical infrastructure for trust, transparency, and sustainable business transformation.

Our own approach to AI is anchored to Microsoft’s Responsible AI standard, backed by a dedicated Office of Responsible AI. Drawing from our internal experience in building, securing, and governing AI systems, we translate these learnings directly into our AI management tools and security platform. As a result, customers benefit from features such as transparency notes, fairness analysis, explainability tools, safety guardrails, regulatory compliance assessments, agent identity, data security, vulnerability identification, and protection against cyberthreats like prompt-injection attacks. These tools enable them to develop, secure, and govern AI that aligns with ethical principles and is built to help support compliance with regulatory requirements. By integrating these capabilities, we empower organizations to make ethical decisions and safeguard their business processes throughout the entire AI lifecycle.

Microsoft’s AI Governance capabilities aim to provide integrated and centralized control for observability, management, and security across IT, developer, and security teams, ensuring integrated governance within their existing tools. Microsoft Foundry acts as our main control point for model development, evaluation, deployment, and monitoring, featuring a curated model catalog, machine learning oeprations, robust evaluation, and embedded content safety guardrails. Microsoft Agent 365, which was not yet available at the time of the IDC publication, provides a centralized control plane for IT, helping teams confidently deploy, manage, and secure their agentic AI published through Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft Copilot Studio, and Microsoft Foundry.

Deeply embedded security systems are integral to Microsoft’s AI governance solution. Integrations with Microsoft Purview provide real-time data security, compliance, and governance tools, while Microsoft Entra provides agent identity and controls to manage agent sprawl and prevent unauthorized access to confidential resources. Microsoft Defender offers AI-specific posture management, threat detection, and runtime protection. Microsoft Purview Compliance Manager automates adherence to more than 100 regulatory frameworks. Granular audit logging and automated documentation bolster regulatory and forensic capabilities, enabling organizations in regulated industries to innovate with AI while maintaining oversight, secure collaboration, and consistent policy enforcement.

Guidance for security and governance leaders and CISOsTo empower organizations in advancing their AI transformation initiatives, it is crucial to focus on the following priorities for establishing a secure, well-governed, and scalable AI framework. The guidance below provides Microsoft’s recommendations for fulfilling these best practices:

CISO guidance What it means How Microsoft deliversAdopt a unified, end‑to‑end governance platform Establish a comprehensive, integrated governance system covering traditional machine learning, generative AI, and agentic AI. Ensure unified oversight from development through deployment and monitoring. Microsoft enables observability and governance at every layer across IT, developer, and security teams to provide an integrated and cohesive governance platform that enables teams to play their part from within the tools they use. Microsoft Foundry acts as the developer control plane, connecting model development, evaluation, security controls, and continuous monitoring. Microsoft Agent 365 is the control plane for IT, enabling discovery, security, deployment, and observability for agentic AI in the enterprise. Microsoft Purview, Entra, and Defender integrate to deliver consistent full-stack governance across data, identity, threat protection, and compliance.Industry‑leading responsible AI infrastructure Implement responsible AI practices as a foundational part of engineering and operations, with transparency and fairness built in. Microsoft embeds its Responsible AI Standards into our engineering processes, supported by the Office of Responsible AI. Automatic generation of model cards and built-in fairness mechanisms set Microsoft apart as a strategic differentiator, pairing technical controls with mature governance processes. Microsoft’s Responsible AI Transparency Report provides visibility to how we develop and deploy AI models and systems responsibility and provides a model for customers to emulate our best practices.Advanced security and real‑time protection Provide robust, real-time defense against emerging AI security threats, especially for regulated industries. Microsoft’s platform features real-time jailbreak detection, encrypted agent-to-agent communication, tamper-evident audit logs for model and agent actions, and deep integration with Defender to provide AI-specific threat detection, security posture management, and automated incident response capabilities. These capabilities are especially critical for regulated sectors.Automated compliance at scale Automate compliance processes, enable policy enforcement throughout the AI lifecycle, and support audit readiness across hybrid and multicloud environments. Microsoft Purview streamlines compliance adherence for regulatory requirements and provides comprehensive support for hybrid and multicloud deployments—giving customers repeatable and auditable governance processes.We believe we are differentiated in the AI governance space by delivering a unified, end-to-end platform that embeds responsible AI principles and robust security at every layer—from agents and applications to underlying infrastructure. Through native integration of Microsoft Foundry, Microsoft Agent 365, Purview, Entra, and Defender, organizations benefit from centralized oversight and observability across the layers of the organization with consistent protection and operationalized compliance across the AI lifecycle. Our comprehensive approach removes disparate and disconnected tooling, enabling organizations to build trustworthy, transparent, and secure AI solutions that can start secure and stay secure. We believe this approach uniquely differentiates Microsoft as a leader in operationalizing responsible, secure, and auditable AI at scale.

Strengthen your security strategy with Microsoft AI governance solutionsAgentic and generative AI are reshaping business processes, creating a new frontier for security and governance. Organizations that act early and prioritize governance best practices—unified governance platforms, build-in responsible AI tooling, and integrated security—will be best positioned to innovate confidently and maintain trust.

Microsoft approaches AI governance with a commitment to embedding responsible practices and robust security at every layer of the AI ecosystem. Our AI governance and security solutions empower customers with built-in transparency, fairness, and compliance tools throughout engineering and operations. We believe this approach allows organizations to benefit from centralized oversight, enforce policies consistently across the entire AI lifecycle, and achieve audit readiness—even in the rapidly changing landscape of generative and agentic AI.

Explore moreRead the IDC MarketScape excerpt.Learn more about AI Security, Governance and Compliance.Read our latest Security for AI blog to learn more about our latest capabilitiesTo learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us on LinkedIn (Microsoft Security) and X (@MSFTSecurity) for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.
The post Microsoft named a Leader in IDC MarketScape for Unified AI Governance Platforms appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
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Chart your AI and agent strategy with Microsoft Marketplace

A new category of organization is emerging that embeds AI across every layer of their operations—accelerating delivery, scaling efficiently, and unlocking new business potential. These companies are leading Frontier Firm transformation, not simply adopting AI but rebuilding around it to set the pace for the next decade of innovation. Successfully adopting AI requires choosing the right strategy with tradeoffs between time-to-market and time-to-value. There is no one-size-fits-all approach—some organizations will build from scratch, buy off-the-shelf, or choose a hybrid option of custom components with ready-made tools.

Find cloud solutions with Microsoft Marketplace

Regardless of approach, Microsoft Marketplace—with the largest catalog of AI apps and agents in the industry—is the primary destination for organizations adopting AI quickly and responsibly. Thousands of pre-vetted solutions are available from Microsoft partners that seamlessly integrate with your existing Microsoft stack for faster time-to-value.

Marketplace has a single catalog that meets you where you are. Solutions can be contextually surfaced within the products employees use every day—like agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot and models in Microsoft Foundry. Additionally, with capabilities that help you balance agility and oversight, Marketplace is accelerating how organizations move from concept to production while prioritizing cloud cost and optimizing performance.

Build custom AI applications with models and apps from Marketplace

Microsoft Marketplace provides access to more than 11,000 prepackaged models, as well as over 4,000 AI apps and agents, to help you build a custom AI solution. Whether you’re doing pro-code work with programming languages, frameworks, and APIs or a low-code method with pre-built components and minimal coding, Marketplace and Microsoft products support your development.

Pro-code builds give you complete control with custom logic, custom data handling, and governance by design. You can also own your IP, which can be essential in industries like financial services or advanced manufacturing.

Marketplace provides access to thousands of models, including leading models from Anthropic, Cohere, Meta, OpenAI, and NVIDIA, that can ground custom agents with high-quality building blocks, dramatically reducing development time while preserving full ownership of logic and data. Prepackaged models available through Marketplace can accelerate building your solution with faster deployment because teams don’t have to build their stack. You can set up a specialized graphics processing unit (GPU) server, install drivers and AI runtimes, find and download the right models, and fine tune for compatibility and performance. Models are accessible in the Marketplace storefront as well as in the Azure portal and Microsoft Foundry, so teams can do what they need in the flow of work and deploy models securely in their Azure environment.

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Alternatively, low-code builds can be done quickly and benefit from tight platform integration and standardization. As your organization seeks to maximize impact with Microsoft Copilot, team members can use Microsoft Copilot Studio to design, extend, and govern custom AI copilots with responses securely grounded in your company’s data. With Copilot Studio, you can build with a low-code platform using models from Anthropic and OpenAI to create agents that support orchestration, chat, and deep reasoning.

Buy ready-made solutions through Marketplace 

Buying your AI application or agent becomes the pragmatic choice when the solution you need already exists with proven value and capabilities. For many organizations, buying is the fastest path to production—especially if resourcing constraints make custom builds unrealistic.

Microsoft is helping organizations in the shift to agentic AI whether you’re looking for singular agents that integrate into Microsoft 365 Copilot or fully autonomous multi-agent systems. Marketplace, as an extension of the Microsoft Cloud, gives you confidence in selecting AI apps and agents from discovery through deployment.

Filter by product, category, or industry in the storefront to find the right solution for your specific needs. Then, Marketplace supports try-before-you-buy with trials or proof-of-concepts within your Microsoft environment so you can ensure the solution is right for your business.

Once you’ve made your decision, Marketplace offerings align to your existing Microsoft investments, so there is seamless provisioning for administrators in a familiar and trusted experience, whether it’s a SaaS application in Azure or an agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot. In addition, if your organization has an Azure consumption commitment, eligible solutions count toward your contract—dollar-for-dollar, no limit.

Customize your AI strategy: a blended approach

Many organizations will land somewhere in the middle of building from scratch and buying a finished AI application. A blended strategy allows you to extend partner solutions with your own IP, customize layers that drive differentiation, and leverage pre-built components to reduce engineering effort. 

For example, a common scenario in the financial services industry is modernizing fraud and anti-money laundering detection systems that identify suspicious transactions or spot unusual customer behavior. Rebuilding these systems requires large rules engines and manual effort which can generate high false-positive rates and compliance fatigue.

With Marketplace, firms can deploy pre-built fraud and machine learning (ML) models and risk-scoring engines with compliant APIs in minutes—all running inside their Azure tenant using Managed Identity, so sensitive data stays secure. Once deployed, teams can immediately begin blending the models with their existing workflows, data pipelines, and case management systems. Instead of recertifying every new model or scenario, organizations can test, compare, and iterate rapidly without reopening full compliance reviews each time. This allows them to improve ML and fraud detection at a fraction of the cost and time required to rebuild systems internally, accelerating their journey to become Frontier.

Start discovering with Microsoft Marketplace

As your organization moves through Frontier Firm transformation, Microsoft Marketplace provides a unified, governed, and trusted ecosystem to innovate, while streamlining discovery, purchase, and deployment. A growing catalog of AI apps, agents, and models is available in the storefront and contextually surfaced in the Microsoft products you use every day. Whether you are building bespoke agents, deploying proven partner solutions, or blending both approaches, Marketplace helps AI practitioners and technology leaders focus on delivering measurable business impact at scale.

Start searching the Marketplace catalog

Explore Marketplace benefits with access to demos, case studies, and guides

Watch the webinar on “Charting your agent strategy with Marketplace”

Discover cloud-based solutions with Microsoft Marketplace
Your trusted source for cloud solutions, AI apps, and agents. Check out our featured solutions, featured industries, and customer stories.

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The post Chart your AI and agent strategy with Microsoft Marketplace appeared first on Microsoft Azure Blog.
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