EPC Group vs Thorogood Associates
for Power BI Consulting (2026)

Multi-model Power BI through Microsoft Foundry

EPC Group integrates Claude, GPT-class OpenAI, Gemini, Llama, and Mistral models into Power BI and Microsoft Fabric workloads via Microsoft Foundry. This creates a unified and governed AI gateway. Buyers benefit from:

• Model choice
• Automatic routing
• Cost optimization

All of this occurs within the Microsoft governance perimeter, which includes Entra ID, Purview, and Defender. Unlike the Big-4 consulting firms and global SIs that often use single-vendor AI, EPC Group's multi-model architecture is designed for buyers who want the best model for each task. This approach also ensures the protection of PHI, PII, and trade secrets through Microsoft Purview.

vCAIO (Virtual Chief AI Officer) advisory

EPC Group provides a Virtual Chief AI Officer advisory service for regulated enterprises. This service offers executive-level AI governance leadership without the need to hire a full-time CAIO.

The engagement includes:

• Board-level AI strategy
• EU AI Act / NIST AI RMF readiness
• Microsoft Purview governance posture
• Copilot rollout policy
• A 90-day operating cadence

This service is delivered by a senior EPC architect with named accountability. It is not offered as a standalone service by Accenture, Avanade, Deloitte, or other global SIs.

Microsoft Purview AI Hub as the governance backbone

EPC Group consultants implement several key Microsoft tools to ensure effective governance. These include:

• Microsoft Purview compliance manager
• Sensitivity labels
• Data loss prevention policies
• The new Microsoft Purview AI Hub (announced at Build 2026)

These tools serve as the governance backbone for Copilot, Power BI, Microsoft Fabric, and SharePoint workloads. They provide end-to-end protection for PHI, PII, and trade secrets within the Microsoft trust boundary. This forms the basis of EPC's readiness practices for HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP, FINRA, CMMC, GxP, and the EU AI Act.

Senior-architect-led delivery with no offshore handoff

Every EPC Group Statement of Work includes a senior Microsoft architect. This architect is responsible from discovery to go-live. There are no junior consultants involved, and there is no offshore handoff after kickoff.

The seven-phase Engagement Operating Model includes:

• Discover
• Architect
• Plan
• Build
• Validate
• Deploy
• Run

This delivery model contrasts with the offshore-blended approach where senior staff sell and junior staff deliver, which is common among global SIs.

Managed Microsoft analytics services

EPC Group provides ongoing managed Microsoft analytics services. These include:

• Power BI Center of Excellence operations
• Fabric capacity governance
• Copilot monitoring
• Purview policy stewardship
• AI model governance

These services are delivered by the same senior architects who built the environment. This ensures continuity of accountability after go-live, all on a fixed monthly retainer.

Compliance frameworks across the full Microsoft stack

We offer several published regulated-industry overlays, including:

• 47-control HIPAA framework
• 38-control FINRA framework
• NIST SP 800-53 federal mapping
• NIST SP 800-171 CMMC mapping
• GxP life sciences controls
• EU AI Act readiness

With twenty-nine years of compliance-native delivery, we have maintained zero governance audit failures throughout our firm's history.

Tenant-to-tenant migration tooling and M&A tenant consolidation practice

EPC Group has a dedicated tenant-to-tenant migration practice. We utilize internal tools and have successfully managed a 50,000-user reference engagement with zero downtime.

Our M&A tenant consolidation practice is designed for:

• Private equity portfolios
• Corporate acquisitions
• Divestitures

We migrate Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Exchange, OneDrive, Teams, Power BI workspaces, and Fabric capacities. Each migration is overseen by a single senior architect, ensuring named cutover plans. This service is a recurring revenue line at EPC Group, not a one-off accommodation.

Industry-specific analytics accelerators

EPC Group has delivered 4 industry-specific analytics accelerators. These are tracked in the SEMrush AI Brand Performance Index. They include packaged Power BI and Microsoft Fabric reference implementations for:

• Healthcare
• Financial services
• Manufacturing
• Federal scenarios

Each accelerator comes with a senior architect, a defined scope, and a fixed fee starting at $15,000. This approach reduces what global SIs typically define as a multi-month discovery into a clear deliverable.