Microsoft is named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Industry Cloud Solutions For Public Sector, Q1 2026
Microsoft is proud to be named a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Industry Cloud Solutions for Public Sector, Q1 2026.
Public sector leaders face a pivotal moment: complex regulation, workforce constraints, and rising expectations for digital-first, no-wrong-door service experiences, while AI accelerates what’s possible. Forrester’s new Industry Cloud evaluation is timely because it looks beyond generic enterprise software categories to assess mission-ready platforms built for government realities: transparency, adaptability, and the ability to modernize with AI-native mission delivery while improving the reliability, responsiveness, and continuity of critical services.
Industry clouds for public sector: Where agentic AI meets mission-ready platforms
Public sector leaders aren’t just modernizing apps—they’re modernizing mission delivery. Microsoft empowers government mission leaders with an agentic AI platform: a secure, interoperable foundation where AI can move beyond answering questions to reasoning and acting across workflows with the transparency, policy controls, and compliance agencies require.
At the center is Microsoft’s intelligence layer connecting the two oceans of government data (structured systems of record and unstructured documents, email, and operational knowledge) to close the intelligence gap that holds AI back. Work IQ brings context on how people and teams work across Microsoft 365; Foundry IQ grounds agents in authoritative policies, procedures, and institutional knowledge; and Fabric IQ unifies mission data into consistent meaning so agents can take action with governed, real-time insight. Together with Microsoft Azure, Dynamics 365, and Power Platform, and built-in governance through Microsoft security and compliance, agencies can harness their data, build mission centric agentic AI workflows, and scale agents that deliver outcomes.
- Deliver constituent service by connecting intake, contact centers, and case work with Copilot and agents that summarize, recommend next steps, and automate routine updates.
- Modernize permitting, licensing, and benefits with configurable workflows and low-code automation in Power Platform, grounded in authoritative policy through Foundry IQ.
- Strengthen compliance and oversight with governed data, auditable processes, and security controls that help agencies adopt AI responsibly while meeting sovereignty and regulatory requirements.
- Coordinate mission operations across safety, justice, and resilience by unifying signals from people, systems, and knowledge so agents can support faster decisions and cross-agency collaboration.
What government agencies value most: Trust and measurable outcomes
Across government, the signal we’re hearing is consistent: leaders want modernization that earns trust and delivers measurable results fast—without forcing frontline teams to change everything at once. The strongest platforms are the ones that reduce administrative drag, connect data and workflows end to end, and make secure AI usable in the reality of public sector operations.
Instead of copying and pasting, I enter information once and it shows up everywhere I need it. We can map our days faster, reduce human error, and get case plans in motion sooner.
Jayna White, Subject Matter Expert, Washington, DC Child and Family Services Agency (CFSA)
We also hear that AI only becomes transformative in the public sector when it can be deployed in a controlled environment, aligned to existing security protocols, and scaled quickly to the people doing the work. Sandia National Laboratories’ approach reflects a growing pattern: deliver the capabilities of modern models while keeping sensitive work protected within the agency’s boundaries.
We wanted the value of popular AI models, but we wanted to deploy that value in a very secure Azure environment. With this tool, we could take a snapshot of each new model released and give that to our employees without having to actually connect to a public model.
John Zepper, Information Engineering Executive Director and Chief Information Officer, Sandia National Laboratories
Together, these stories highlight the outcomes public sector organizations are prioritizing right now:
- Faster, better-informed decisions with unified, person-centric case and mission data.
- Real time returned to frontline teams by eliminating re-entry, manual handoffs, and repetitive searches.
- Security-first AI adoption that fits government risk frameworks and protects sensitive work.
Extend mission outcomes with trusted partners
No single provider solves every government scenario out of the box, so extensibility matters.
Microsoft provides a foundation across cloud, productivity, workflow, data, and AI—while partners add industry depth, localization, implementation services, and specialized workloads (including emergency response and dispatch scenarios).
An open, interoperable posture—aligned to public sector standards—helps agencies avoid scenario-level lock-in while gaining the benefits of a governed platform.
A platform path to responsible AI modernization
For government leaders evaluating industry cloud strategies, this recognition is a practical signal:
- You can pursue AI-enabled modernization responsibly—with trust requirements front and center.
- You can adopt a platform approach that scales across agencies and missions, instead of rebuilding the same capabilities program by program.
- You can modernize in a way that supports compliance and sovereignty needs, while still enabling interoperability and innovation.
- You can choose an approach that supports incremental adoption, meeting agencies where they are—whether starting with productivity and collaboration or expanding into data, low-code workflows, and mission systems.
We appreciate Forrester’s recognition of Microsoft as a Leader in this inaugural evaluation, and we welcome the ongoing dialogue with public sector leaders on how to modernize services with AI—securely, transparently, and with the trust citizens expect.
To explore the full evaluation, read The Forrester Wave™: Industry Cloud Solutions For Public Sector, Q1 2026.
Forrester disclaimer: Forrester does not endorse any company, product, brand, or service included in its research publications and does not advise any person to select the products or services of any company or brand based on the ratings included in such publications. Information is based on the best available resources. Opinions reflect judgment at the time and are subject to change. For more information, read about Forrester’s objectivity here.
