AI & automation

Azure AI Foundry

For when you have outgrown low-code AI and need to build something production-grade. Valto designs and builds enterprise AI on Azure AI Foundry: custom models, multi-agent orchestration, retrieval across large document sets, and the evaluation, observability and governance that production use requires. Our specialists work with your technical teams from architecture through to deployment and ongoing operation.

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Data, AI & Automation specialists

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Overview

Turn AI ideas into production-ready solutions

Many organisations have moved beyond asking whether AI can create value. The challenge now is deploying AI solutions that are secure, scalable and aligned with business objectives. That is a different discipline from building a prototype. A proof of concept has to work once, in front of people who want it to. A production AI system has to be monitored, evaluated, versioned, secured, costed and supported, and it has to behave predictably when a user asks it something nobody anticipated. Valto builds the second kind. Our specialists design the architecture, select and where necessary fine-tune the models, build the orchestration and retrieval layers, and put in place the evaluation and observability that let you tell whether it is still working. We work alongside your own technical teams rather than around them.

Our Azure AI Foundry services

Design the right foundation

We help organisations evaluate use cases, define architecture and select the right technologies for AI initiatives that align with long-term business goals. That includes the decision about whether Foundry is the right platform at all. Where a requirement is met by Copilot Studio or Power Platform, we say so before designing anything.

Why work with our AI engineering specialists?

Production engineering, not proof of concepts

We build AI that can be monitored, evaluated, versioned and supported. Most stalled AI projects were prototypes that nobody could take further.

Model selection on merit

Foundry gives access to OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta models. We test against your actual requirement rather than defaulting to whichever is most familiar.

We work with your engineers

Where you have internal technical capability, we design alongside it and hand over properly. Where you do not, we deliver and document, so you are not dependent on us.

Evaluation built in from the start

We define how you will measure whether the solution is answering correctly before it is built, because "it seems to work" is not a standard you can operate against.

Cost modelled at design time

Token consumption, model choice and retrieval design determine what a solution costs to run. Those are architecture decisions, and we make them with the running cost visible.

Honest about when Foundry is overkill

Plenty of requirements are met better by Copilot Studio, Power Platform or a change to a process. We will tell you when that applies rather than building something you did not need.

Expertise

AI engineering, not configuration

Control

Governed, observable, production-grade

Value

The right model for the requirement

Hear from our experts

Watch: Copilot Studio vs Azure AI Foundry

Not every AI challenge requires the same approach. In this session, our specialists explore where Copilot Studio excels, where Azure AI Foundry becomes the better choice, and how organisations can select the right platform for their goals, governance requirements and long-term AI strategy.

What Azure AI Foundry gives you

Foundry brings together the components production AI needs in one governed environment. In practice, these are the capabilities that make it the right choice for advanced work.

Access to leading models

Choose between OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta models within a secure enterprise environment, rather than committing to one provider.

Agent orchestration

Co-ordinate multiple agents across multi-step workflows, with the control and observability that autonomous behaviour requires.

AI search and retrieval

Ground solutions in large document sets and organisational knowledge using Azure AI Search.

Fine-tuning and customisation

Adapt models to your domain, terminology and data where general models fall short.

Observability and evaluation

Monitor quality, cost and behaviour in production, and measure output against defined standards.

Enterprise governance and security

Apply the visibility, security and data controls your organisation already requires of any production system.

Common AI Foundry engagements

AI proof of concepts

Validate ideas quickly before committing to larger investments, with a defined success measure agreed up front.

Enterprise AI platforms

Build scalable, governed foundations for AI initiatives across the organisation.

AI search & knowledge solutions

Connect employees and customers with trusted information across large or fragmented document sets.

Agentic process automation

Create AI-powered workflows capable of completing multi-step tasks, with orchestration and failure handling designed rather than assumed.

Custom and fine-tuned model solutions

Where general-purpose models fall short on your domain, terminology or data, we assess whether customisation is justified and deliver it.

Azure AI Foundry migrations

Review, redesign and migrate existing AI solutions onto Foundry to improve governance, performance and scalability.

Prototype to production

Take an AI solution that works in principle and make it something you can operate: evaluated, monitored, secured, costed and supported.

Common Azure AI Foundry use cases

AI agents | Agents that reason, retrieve information, perform actions and support business processes
AI search & knowledge discovery | Natural language access to information across documents, systems and organisational knowledge
Document intelligence at scale | Extract, classify and interpret information from large volumes of unstructured documents
Custom AI applications | Intelligent applications built on your own data, processes and domain
Multi-agent workflows | Several agents co-ordinating to complete tasks that a single assistant cannot

AI technologies available through Foundry

Access the right models for the right challenge. Azure AI Foundry allows organisations to work with a wide variety of leading AI models and services through a single platform. Azure AI Foundry allows organisations to work with a wide variety of leading AI models and services through a single platform.

Leverage powerful generative AI capabilities for content generation, reasoning, automation and conversational experiences.

Support advanced analysis, research, summarisation and enterprise knowledge workflows.

Deploy open-weight models for flexible, organisation-specific AI applications.

Ground AI responses in trusted business information through retrieval-augmented generation (RAG).

Coordinate multiple AI agents and workflows to solve more complex business challenges.

Adapt AI models and experiences to specific organisational requirements.

How we deliver Azure AI Foundry projects

Our five-step process is clear and transparent from start to finish. From understanding the requirement and designing the architecture, through to building, deploying and operating a solution you can rely on.

1
Discovery
Challenges & opportunities
We work with stakeholders to identify business objectives, technical requirements and the areas where AI can create the greatest value, including whether Foundry is the right platform for the requirement.
2
Architecture
The right AI foundation
Together we design architectures, governance approaches and technology strategies aligned to your objectives, with model selection and running cost assessed at this stage.
3
Build
Enterprise AI solutions
Our specialists develop, integrate and deploy AI applications, agents and services using Azure AI Foundry, working alongside your technical teams where you have them.
4
Launch
Security & adoption
We establish governance, monitoring, evaluation and operational processes that support successful deployment.
5
Optimisation
Keep ahead
AI capabilities evolve quickly. We continuously improve solutions, monitor performance and quality, and identify opportunities for additional value.

We're one of the UK's few Microsoft partners to hold all Microsoft Solution Partner designation badges, across all Solution Partner designation pathways. For our clients, that means access to specialists who understand AI strategy, data, governance and application development. Whether you're exploring your first AI initiative or scaling enterprise-wide adoption, we help organisations create AI solutions that are secure, practical and focused on real business outcomes.

Why organisations choose Valto

Case study · Clermont Hotel Group

Embracing AI powered operations

Clermont Hotel Group strengthens systems, improves performance, and embraces AI innovation with Microsoft Fabric.

Stronger IT foundation
Future ready platform
Data-driven insights

Read the story

The team driving you forward

Dena WilliamsBusiness Applications Business Unit Lead

Sam GarehPre-Sales Consultant

Cameron ShieldsSenior Cloud Developer

Claire BedingtonHead of People

Keep ahead

Visit our resource hub

Copilot Studio vs Azure AI Foundry: Which Microsoft AI Platform Is Right for Your Business?

12 August 2026

Questions, answered plainly

Practical answers on when Foundry is the right platform, what building on it involves, and how we make sure a solution is correct before it reaches users.

Foundry is right when you need custom or fine-tuned models, multi-agent orchestration, retrieval across large document sets, or the evaluation and observability that production use demands. It is overkill when Copilot Studio or Power Platform would meet the requirement, which is more often than you might expect. We assess that before recommending anything, and we would rather tell you to build somewhere cheaper.

Broadly, low-code versus pro-code. Copilot Studio is for building agents quickly on Microsoft data, with licensing and governance handled largely for you. Foundry is a development platform: more capable, more control, more engineering effort. Many organisations use both, starting on Copilot Studio and moving specific workloads to Foundry when they hit its limits.

Yes, and it is one of the more common reasons people come to us. Prototypes usually stall because nobody defined how correctness would be measured, or because monitoring, security and cost were left until later. We assess what exists, define the evaluation and operational requirements, and rebuild or extend accordingly. Occasionally the honest answer is that the use case was not viable, and we will say so.

By deciding what correct means before you build, then measuring it. We define evaluation criteria and test sets during design, run output against them, and monitor in production. Any AI system will sometimes be wrong; the question is whether you can detect it, quantify it and improve it. That is what evaluation gives you.

Yes. Foundry provides access to OpenAI models within your own governed Azure environment, so data handling and security follow your Azure controls rather than a consumer service.

Yes. Claude models are available through Foundry alongside OpenAI and Meta Llama, which is one of the platform's genuine advantages: you can evaluate models against your specific requirement rather than committing to a single provider up front.

That is largely an architecture question rather than a pricing one. Model choice, prompt design, retrieval strategy and how often a solution is called all drive consumption. We model expected cost during design and monitor it in production, so growth in usage is a decision rather than a surprise.

It runs within your Azure environment under your own identity, network and data controls, so it inherits the security posture you already operate. As with any AI solution, most of the practical risk sits in what data you ground it on and who can reach it, which we address during design.

Foundry is a development platform rather than a product, so the outcome depends on architecture decisions made early: model selection, retrieval design, evaluation approach, cost structure. Those are difficult to change later. A partner who has made them before is mainly useful for not repeating the expensive mistakes.

Azure AI Foundry is Microsoft's platform for building, deploying and managing enterprise AI applications. It brings together access to leading models, agent orchestration, AI search, fine-tuning, evaluation and observability in a single governed environment within your Azure tenant.

FREE AZURE AI FOUNDRY CONSULTATION

Ready to move beyond AI experimentation?

Whether you're building AI agents, developing intelligent applications, taking a prototype into production or deciding whether Foundry is the right platform at all, our specialists can help you identify the right next step.

AI & Foundry specialists
Speak directly with consultants who design and deliver advanced AI solutions.
Practical advice
Clear recommendations focused on value, governance and long-term success.
Straight platform advice
Understand whether Foundry, Copilot Studio or something simpler fits your requirement, before you commit to a build.