Certified. Audited. Proven. Four-Time Azure Expert MSP Status, Explained

Deploying in Azure can seem simple. Staying sharp as it changes? That’s the real challenge. Services shift rapidly and staying secure and future-ready demands more than a reactive mindset. It requires a disciplined, continually evolving approach. That’s the day-to-day for IT leaders balancing strategic outcomes with operational pressure, all while needing to extract long-term value from their cloud investments.

That’s why the Microsoft Azure Expert MSP program matters. In 2025, Macquarie Cloud Services has been re-accredited for the fourth consecutive year—a validation not just of what we do, but how we do it, and the long-term value it delivers to our customers.

Expert MSP status is rare. Here’s why we pursued it anyway.

Achieving Azure Expert MSP accreditation isn’t a checkbox exercise. It’s a six-month technical and operational deep dive. Independent auditors assess how we architect, deliver and optimise services across the Azure platform, reviewing the delivery outcomes across more than 80 Azure services. From workload migration through to cost control, governance, and automation, they look for proof of internal skills and operational maturity, real-world customer implementations, and consistency over time.

As of June 2025, there are only 134 certified Azure Expert MSPs globally, and just three are Australian owned. We’re proud to be one of them, and prouder still to have maintained this accreditation four years in a row. The audit process pushes us to raise the bar, not just for the sake of passing, but because the work involved is foundational to how we support customers. It forces better processes, smarter tooling, tighter security, and clearer governance.

What it means for our customers.

There are hundreds of partners in the local market who can provision Azure infrastructure and respond to tickets. The difference with an Expert MSP isn’t a badge. It’s proven capability, discipline, and how effectively that translates into meaningful customer outcomes.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

1. Deep cost insight and proactive optimisation

Cloud cost control isn’t about reacting to budget overruns – it’s about engineering cost-efficiency from day one. Our native FinOps practice, supported by platforms like CloudHealth, provides continuous telemetry on usage patterns, anomalies, and forecast trends. This isn’t monthly reporting, it’s built into the fabric of our managed services, with real-time, prescriptive insights to keep our customers ahead of the spend curve.

2. Operational transparency by design

Trust is built through transparency. Our cloud management portal isn’t just a dashboard – it offers a real-time view of operational activity. Every automation, support task, and configuration change is traceable through the Activity Timeline, detailing who did what, when, and why. Through the use of tagging and asset management, it becomes simple to track mission critical workloads, who they belong to, and what they are leveraged for. This allows customers to prioritise what matters most—because not all workloads are equal, and your support shouldn’t treat them as such.

3. Fewer risks, faster response

Automation isn’t just about efficiency—it’s about resilience. When Microsoft updates core Azure service behaviours, our automation frameworks adapt quickly to maintain compliance, security, and performance, without service interruption. The audit called out our operational maturity in this space, especially our ability to maintain continuity across policy, access, and platform governance in the face of upstream changes. If you want to see this in action, explore how we’ve applied Microsoft’s Secure Future Initiative across our customer environments.

4. A platform built for what’s next

Cloud isn’t a destination. It’s a foundation. Whether you’re migrating legacy systems, rolling out AI workloads, or shifting to PaaS, our frameworks follow Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework from day one. That means architecture, governance, cost control and modernisation are not afterthoughts—they’re embedded from the beginning. We’ve helped customers adopt Microsoft Fabric, re-platform for scale, and use infrastructure-as-code to future-proof their environments.

5. A way of working that holds up to scrutiny

Azure Expert MSP isn’t just about technical skills—it’s about how you operate. Our 24×7 ISO-certified Cloud Operations Centres, service delivery documentation, and internal knowledge management practices all stood up to audit scrutiny again this year. And we don’t just rely on the audit to validate our approach, our live Net Promoter Score of +93  shows that our customers experience the difference every day.

So yes, we’re Azure experts. But the real story is what that unlocks for you.

Being an Azure Expert MSP is a hard-earned distinction, but it’s not our goal. It’s the minimum standard we hold ourselves to. Trust isn’t given in this space—it’s validated, daily, by how you show up in the detail. And Azure is only getting more complex, which is why we continue to invest in tools, people and processes that help our customers stay out in front.

Whether you’re preparing for AI workloads, simplifying your environment, or tightening governance, we’re ready to help. Through our Azure Managed Services and purpose-built platforms like Macquarie Flex, we help you move fast, without losing control.

Ready to get more from Azure (and your MSP)?

📞 Call us on 1800 004 943 or email us at enquiries@macquariecloudservices.com