Our customers have to keep critical operations running reliably while making investment decisions that will shape their businesses for decades. That means making difficult choices about maintenance, people and capital every day. 

I’m proud that IFS has been named Microsoft’s 2026 Energy and Resources Partner of the Year. IFS was also named a finalist in the Defense and Intelligence category. What matters most to me is the work behind this recognition and what it means for our customers. 

Working with Microsoft, we bring IFS’s industry expertise together with cloud, data and AI technology to help customers manage complex assets and plan the work and investment those assets need. 

What sits behind the recognition 

Across energy, utilities and resources, decisions about how to maintain assets and where to invest affect production, service reliability and cost. IFS builds software around how those decisions are made in the industry, while Microsoft Azure provides the cloud foundation to deploy it across sites and business units. That gives customers a consistent way to manage maintenance and a clearer basis for deciding where to invest. 

Understanding the realities of the industry 

TotalEnergies selected IFS Cloud as a single platform to manage and service its global operated asset portfolio across exploration, production, refining and chemicals. The programme is designed to standardizse maintenance, reduce downtime and extend asset life. Once fully implemented, it is expected to support more than 13,500 users worldwide in carrying out asset maintenance. Read the TotalEnergies announcement. 

At PG&E, separate investment programmes could lead to multiple projects on the same circuit, each requiring its own service interruption. In a $100 million pilot, PG&E manually bundled projects by circuit, cutting planned outages by 50% and saving $18 million on equivalent work. PG&E is using IFS Copperleaf to help scale that approach. Read the PG&E case study. 

Carol Johnston, VP, Energy, Utilities and Resources Industry Team, explains:  

“For our customers across energy, utilities and resources, better asset management means more reliable production and services, fewer interruptions and greater control over costs. Our industry expertise helps us connect maintenance, field work and investment planning around those outcomes, so customers can get more from the assets they operate today and make sound decisions about what comes next.” 

Putting Industrial AI to practical use 

For me, the value of Industrial AI is in the decisions it helps people make and the work it helps them get done. A maintenance planner preparing for a shutdown needs to know which equipment requires attention and what work can be scheduled together. Bringing asset condition and maintenance history into that decision helps the planner priorities the work before crews are assigned. 

The recently announced IFS Intelligence is designed to give people conversational access to operational information, with governance and guardrails. For that planner, it could mean spending less time gathering records and more time deciding what needs to happen during the shutdown. 

In investment planning, Microsoft AI Foundry powers IFS Copperleaf Foresight AI, which helps planners assess proposals and identify missing information or inconsistent assumptions. Microsoft Marketplace also gives customers another way to procure IFS solutions. 

Looking ahead 

As we build on this recognition with Microsoft, our commitment is to help customers improve the reliability of their operations and make better decisions about where to invest. Those outcomes will guide where we apply Industrial AI and how we assess the value it delivers for customers. 

Explore IFS solutions for Energy, Utilities and Resources. 

Thank you to our customers for their trust, to our colleagues for the expertise and commitment they bring to this work, and to the teams at Microsoft who share in this achievement. 

Read the Microsoft winner announcement here:Congratulations to the 2026 Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards winners and finalists.

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