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L–R: Katie McEntegart (Partner, The Information Lab Ireland); Denis Condon (Partner Technical Manager, Microsoft) and Kevin Lynch (Technology Director, The Information Lab Ireland) at Microsoft's Dublin campus.
The Information Lab Ireland has achieved the Analytics on Microsoft Azure Specialisation, an Advanced Specialisation Microsoft awards to partners delivering enterprise analytics on the Azure and Fabric platform. For our clients, this is not just a badge on our website. It's independent, third-party confirmation of exactly the thing that matters most when you're trusting a partner with your data and AI programme: can they actually deliver.
It's a genuinely hard-won recognition and we are delighted to have achieved it, so we wanted to explain what it means for you and what it actually took to get here, not just announce it.
What this means if you're collaborating with us, or thinking about it
This Specialisation is effectively an outside audit of something we already build every engagement around: our ACT framework - Accurate, Connected, Trusted. Whether you're at the Diagnose stage still figuring out what's wrong with your data, or already deep into a live Fabric estate, this recognition means:
Our delivery approach has been independently checked, not just validated by our internal teams. An external auditor went through how we actually scope, build and support analytics projects.
Our Microsoft Fabric and Azure expertise is certified and current across our team, not concentrated in one or two individuals who might not be on your project.
It's renewed annually, so it reflects where we stand today, not a badge earned once and left to gather dust
Why that matters when you're choosing a data partner.
"We do data and AI" has become a fairly standard claim in this market. A Specialisation is Microsoft's way of turning that claim into something a partner can prove, evidence of a genuine track record, backed by real projects and real outcomes, independently checked by someone with no stake in either side of the relationship. Getting the wrong partner can be costly: it can delay projects, create expensive problems down the line, and make it harder for a business to trust its own data.
This isn't a badge for the sake of it. It's an independent answer to the question every client should be asking before they hand over their data strategy: can this partner actually deliver.
Katie McEntegart, Partner, The Information Lab Ireland
What the Specialisation actually involved
For anyone curious what sits behind the recognition: the Analytics on Microsoft Azure Specialisation sits above standard Solutions Partner status within Microsoft's AI Cloud Partner Program and confirms a partner can plan and deliver enterprise-scale analytics work across Microsoft Fabric, Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Data Lake, Azure Data Factory and Azure Databricks. It replaces what used to be three separate specialisations (Analytics on Azure, Data Warehouse Migration, and Business Intelligence), rolled into one tougher standard.
To earn it, we had to clear three things at once:
An active Solutions Partner for Data & AI (Azure) designation which itself is a prerequisite demanding demonstrated performance and a certified team.
A minimum spread of certified expertise. This means at least five people across the team holding recognised Azure data certifications, with at least two people holding certifications.
An independent third-party audit assessing how we have scoped, planned, deployed, and maintained analytics engagements for our clients.
Every certification behind this came from people on our team who are on client projects day to day. That's what makes it worth something. It's been tested in our delivery, not in a training environment.
Kevin Lynch, Technology Director, The Information Lab Ireland
None of this happened in isolation. The Cloud & AI Platform Microsoft team supported us at every stage of the certification process, and we're grateful for that partnership as much as the recognition itself.
The Analytics on Microsoft Azure Specialisation is one of the most rigorous recognitions in our partner ecosystem, precisely because it's independently audited rather than self-reported. The Information Lab Ireland's team has shown consistent, certified capability across Fabric and Azure data engineering, and we're pleased to see that translate into a Specialisation that reflects real client delivery.
Denis Condon, Partner Technical Manager, Cloud and AI Platform – UK & Ireland, Microsoft
Get in touch if you would like to talk through what a governed, trusted data and AI roadmap could look like for your organisation, whether you already know what you need, or you're still trying to work out where the gaps are and what the right next step looks like.