Kumar Bahukhandi
CloudThat, a Bengaluru-headquartered training and consulting company, has been named the India Winner of Microsoft’s FY26 Superstars Award Campaign, marking its eighth recognition from Microsoft since 2017 and fourth Superstars title. The recognition comes at a time when enterprises are accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), creating an urgent need for skilled professionals who can effectively deploy and use emerging technologies.
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Bhavesh Goswami, Founder & CEO, CloudThat | Stanford Seed Alumni
According to Gartner, by 2027, approximately 80% of the engineering workforce will need to upskill to keep pace with the rapid evolution of generative AI. At the same time, IBM research indicates that while access to AI tools is becoming widespread, employee capability and confidence in using these tools remain a significant challenge. Against this backdrop, enterprise AI adoption is increasingly dependent on the availability of trained and certified talent.
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CloudThat wins the FY26 Microsoft Superstars Award – India
CloudThat’s FY26 performance reflects the growing demand for enterprise AI and cloud skills. As part of Microsoft’s FY26 campaign, CloudThat trained 3.8 lakh learners, including 2 lakh learners through M365 Copilot skilling programmes and another 85,000 learners across Azure Data & AI. The company also delivered sustained learner acquisition, strong AI skilling outcomes and consistent growth in Microsoft Certified Professionals during the year.
The recognition builds on CloudThat’s longstanding association with Microsoft. Since 2012, CloudThat has trained more than 11 lakh professionals globally, supporting over 2,000 certifications across 30+ countries. Its continued recognition by Microsoft over nine years reflects the scale and depth of its skilling and consulting capabilities.
CloudThat’s strength is also supported by its trainer ecosystem. Twenty of its in-house Microsoft Certified Trainers (MCTs) featured in Microsoft’s Top 100 Global MCT list for 2025, while 13 trainers were recognised under the MCT Quality Awards for 2026. This depth of certified training expertise enables the company to deliver skilling programmes at scale while maintaining a strong focus on certification and learning outcomes.
Beyond enterprise skilling, CloudThat has also expanded its work across government, public sector and higher education. Under AI Pragya, launched by the Centre for e-Governance, Government of Uttar Pradesh, in collaboration with Microsoft, CloudThat trained more than 1,560 government officials across Copilot, Azure, Responsible AI and cybersecurity. The company has also undertaken comparable programmes for the Government of the Maldives, where monthly active usage of Microsoft tools increased by 20% following the training programme.
In the higher education ecosystem, CloudThat works with institutions to integrate Microsoft technologies and certifications into academic curricula, moving beyond one-time workshops towards structured, industry-aligned learning pathways. Its curriculum partnerships include IIT (BHU) Varanasi, Shree Vaishnav Vidyapeeth University, Acharya, SKITM Indore and GD Goenka University. Through these programmes, students can progress through seven Microsoft certification pathways spanning Azure, AI, Data Science and Business Applications. CloudThat plans to expand this model to 50 institutions over the next twelve months.
Commenting on the recognition, Bhavesh Goswami, Founder and CEO, CloudThat, said, “Winning our fourth Superstars title, and our eighth Microsoft recognition overall, tells us something bigger than an award ever could: that Microsoft has trusted us with its skilling ecosystem for more than a decade, and that the trust has held even as the technology underneath it evolved over time. It gives us real confidence as we push into our next phase of growth, expanding our global footprint and building CloudThat into the kind of AI skilling institution the world will keep needing, year after year.”
With AI adoption moving rapidly from experimentation to enterprise-wide implementation, CloudThat continues to focus on building the skills required to translate technology investments into measurable outcomes. Its latest Microsoft recognition reinforces its role in enabling enterprises, governments and academic institutions to develop AI, cloud and digital capabilities at scale.
