On 13 October 2025, the Microsoft AI Tour arrived at London’s Hilton Hotel Park Lane, bringing together senior business leaders, partners, and innovators for a day that focused on what it means to be a Frontier Firm.
Kicking off proceedings, Darren Hardman, CEO, Microsoft UK & Ireland, reminded the in-house and online audiences that “we are living through a period of profound technological change” that challenges organisations to become more competitive and productive, while giving employees the skills and tools they need to maximise AI’s potential.
Microsoft’s recently announced $30bn (£22bn) investment was “the biggest ever in the UK”, he said, nearly half of which would be used to build new cloud and AI infrastructure, including the UK’s largest-ever supercomputer.
Hardman emphasised the huge economic opportunity presented by AI, but warned that it would only be realised if organisations became ‘Frontier Firms’ that “don’t just adopt AI but lead with it.”
Nick Parker, Microsoft Chief Business Officer and President of Worldwide Sales and Solutions, delivered a keynote focused on a success framework to help companies on their journey to become frontier.
It incorporated live demos showing how AI agents, such as Researcher, Analyst and bespoke agents built in Copilot Studio, could automate and streamline many business processes, from customer engagement to financial reconciliation.
“We see frontier as companies that are AI-first – every function, every role, every process,” he said.
He invited Emily Prince from LSEG and Chris Jansen from Kantar to share their stories of leading their companies to be AI-first, and the new value their employees and clients are seeing as a result.
Kantar CEO Chris Jansen told the audience that his company’s collaboration with Microsoft had been “transformational”, enabling the market intelligence group to “go all-in on AI”.
Citing just one example of AI-driven productivity gains, he said: “It used to take six weeks to test an ad[vert], now we can test 2,000 ads in 48 hours”.
He encouraged the audience not to fear AI, but to “fear working for a company that doesn’t embrace AI”.
Continuing the AI Tour London’s theme of giving practical advice to help organisations turn aspiration into action, there were also ‘deep dive’ sessions throughout the day on topics such as security, collaboration, growth strategy and customer engagement.
For example, Jo Miller, National Security Officer, Microsoft UK, took the audience on a tour of the latest security threats facing enterprises in the age of AI, from the dangers posed by AI-enhanced cyber-attacks to the risks posed by legacy computer systems and employees using unmonitored and unapproved ‘Shadow AI’ tools in the workplace.
And Pam Maynard, Chief AI Transformation Officer, Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions, led a session on how organisations need to collaborate across internal functions and build a culture of experimentation to foster innovation if they want to become Frontier Firms. Leaders in the “age of intelligence”, must learn be agile and inclusive, she argued.
Special guests during Darren Hardman’s final keynote included Dr Henry Morriss, Chief Medical Information Officer at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, who talked about their use of Microsoft Dragon Copilot.
Dragon Copilot is an AI assistant that ‘listens’ to patient/clinician consultations, writes up the notes and automates follow-up tasks, freeing up clinicians to concentrate on what really matters – the patient. “It’s offloading the cognitive burden,” Dr Morriss said, and is proving “very beneficial”.
Hardman was also joined on-stage by The Premier League’s Alexandra Willis, Director of Digital Media and Audience Development, and Will Brass, Chief Commercial Officer – as well as the Premier League Trophy itself – to talk about their strategic partnership with Microsoft, centred around the new Premier League app and the PL Companion powered by Copilot.
The Premier League app is using Microsoft generative AI to make more than 30 football seasons’ worth of stats – including 300,000 articles and 9,000 videos – more easily accessible to the Premier League’s 1.8 billion fans around the world.
AI is “an enormous accelerant”, said Brass, while Willis said the technology was helping the Premier League understand its fans better and “serve every fan in the way they want to be met.”
Wrapping up a packed day full of networking, learning and inspiration, Hardman reminded the audience that companies that embrace AI are nearly twice as likely to be thriving as those that don’t, according to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index.
“The advantage you build with AI today becomes the gap your competitors can’t close tomorrow,” he said.
But to become Frontier Firms, businesses need to invest in their people, giving them the AI skills they need to flourish in this new era.
“Skilling is an essential component of becoming a frontier firm,” he said, pointing out that Microsoft had already given free AI skills to 1.3 million people over the last two years.
“If you leave with one message today,” he concluded, “it is that becoming a Frontier Firm isn’t about technology alone, it’s about leadership, people, skills and ambition.”