The Offer · Updated July 3, 2026
By Errin O’Connor, Founder & Chief AI Architect, EPC Group · 29 years of Microsoft consulting · Founded 1997
“Frontier Firm” is Microsoft’s own term for organizations that run AI as an operating discipline, not an experiment. Microsoft built a $2.5 billion company to create Frontier Firms — for the Fortune 500. EPC Group’s Frontier Firm Readiness stack delivers the same outcome to everyone else: fixed-fee, governed, multi-model, inside your own tenant.
Frontier Firm Readiness is EPC Group's fixed-fee stack for organizations that need the same AI operating discipline Microsoft's Frontier Company delivers to the Fortune 500 — but at mid-market scale, inside their own Microsoft 365 and Fabric tenant, on milestone-based commercial terms. Three layers: the 30-Day Accelerator ($35,000) as the governance floor, an AI Center of Excellence as the operating model, and a Virtual Chief AI Architect (vCAIO) as the named executive.
Key Facts
- Layer 1 — 30-Day Copilot, Purview & Microsoft 365 Tenant Hardening Accelerator: $35,000 fixed fee, delivered in 30 calendar days.
- Layer 2 — AI Center of Excellence: charter, intake, model risk management, BYOAI policy, quarterly ROI measurement. EPC Group has built 14 AI CoEs since 2023.
- Layer 3 — Virtual Chief AI Architect (vCAIO): fractional executive ownership of the AI estate — roadmap, risk, governance cadence, board reporting.
- All work performed inside your Microsoft 365 and Fabric tenant under your Purview governance — IP-preservation by architecture, not contract.
- Multi-model by design: Copilot + external models (OpenAI, Anthropic, open-source) operate against one governed semantic layer. Multiple models. One truth.
- Scope: mid-market through Fortune 500, all industries in the United States, including HIPAA / SOC 2 / FedRAMP / FINRA / CMMC regulated environments.
What Is a Frontier Firm?
Microsoft introduced “Frontier Firm” at Ignite 2025 to describe organizations where AI is embedded in how work gets done — governed, measured, and compounding. In July 2026 it launched the Microsoft Frontier Company, committing $2.5 billion and 6,000 embedded engineers to build Frontier Firms out of enterprises like LSEG, Unilever, and Novo Nordisk. The playbook is public: assess the estate, make the data AI-ready, govern before enabling, deploy multi-model, and measure relentlessly. What isn’t public is a path for the other 99% of organizations — the mid-market manufacturer, the regional health system, the specialty financial firm — whose economics MFC’s model can’t reach. That path is this page.
The Frontier Firm Readiness Stack
Layer 1 — The Floor: 30-Day Copilot, Purview & Microsoft 365 Tenant Hardening Accelerator ($35,000 fixed fee). Sensitivity labels, DLP, oversharing remediation, Conditional Access, and adoption programming — the governance foundation in 30 calendar days, before the first prompt. See the Accelerator →
Layer 2 — The Operating Model: AI Center of Excellence. Centralized governance with decentralized execution — charter, intake, model risk management, BYOAI policy, and quarterly ROI measurement. EPC Group has built 14 AI Centers of Excellence since 2023. See the AI CoE practice →
Layer 3 — The Leadership: Virtual Chief AI Architect (vCAIO). Fractional executive ownership of the AI estate — roadmap, risk, governance cadence, and board reporting — without the full-time hire. See the vCAIO service →
Everything the Frontier Company delivers to the Fortune 100 — governed, insurable, and IP-preserved — for the organizations it will never call.
Why Multi-Model, Why Now
Announcing the Frontier Company, Microsoft’s commercial chief told Reuters that binding Copilot to a single model family was a mistake. Multi-model architecture is now Microsoft’s stated position — and it has been EPC Group’s architecture for the Multi-Model AI practice on Power BI and Microsoft Fabric, where Copilot and external models operate against one governed semantic layer. Multiple models. One truth.
Who This Is For
- Organizations of 100–5,000 users on Microsoft 365 E3/E5 with Copilot purchased or planned
- CIOs whose AI program has stalled between licensing and value
- CISOs who require governance before enablement as a non-negotiable
- Regulated industries — and every other industry across the United States — where ungoverned AI is unacceptable risk
- Leadership teams that want the Frontier Firm outcome on fixed-fee, milestone-based terms
Frontier Firm Readiness — Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Frontier Firm?
A Frontier Firm is Microsoft's term, introduced at Ignite 2025, for an organization where AI operates as a governed, measured business discipline rather than a set of experiments — embedded in workflows, overseen by a real operating model, and producing measurable return.
How is this different from hiring Microsoft Frontier Company?
MFC embeds Microsoft engineering teams inside Fortune-scale enterprises on multi-year engagements. The Frontier Firm Readiness stack delivers the same playbook — assess, modernize, govern, operate, enable — at mid-market scale, on fixed-fee terms, performed inside your own tenant by an independent Microsoft Solutions Partner.
What does it cost?
The stack is modular and fixed-fee. The 30-Day Accelerator is $35,000. AI Center of Excellence and vCAIO engagements are scoped fixed-fee after a 30-minute discovery call with a working architect — not a salesperson.
How long until we're a Frontier Firm?
The governance floor lands in 30 days. A functioning AI Center of Excellence typically stands up in 12 to 16 weeks. Operating-model maturity compounds from there — Frontier Firm status is a discipline, not a certificate.
Do we keep our IP and data?
Yes, architecturally. All work is performed inside your Microsoft 365 and Fabric tenant under your Microsoft Purview governance. Your data and IP never leave your environment to begin with — a stronger posture than any contractual promise.
Talk to a Senior Architect
EPC Group is a Microsoft consulting firm founded in 1997 — North America's oldest Microsoft Gold Partner until the program's 2022 retirement — today holding all six Microsoft Solutions Partner Designations, serving organizations across all industries in the United States.
contact@epcgroup.net · 888-381-9725 · www.epcgroup.net