Why COGNAiO® Runs Natively on Microsoft Azure

It was precisely at this point that the question of the right infrastructure became concrete: On what basis can a platform be built that technically meets this requirement? It had to be secure and scalable and, above all, guarantee data accountability, especially for regulated companies. The decision to use Azure was therefore not a standard approach, but a conscious choice. And for the following reasons:

• Reliability during peak volumes: In the enterprise sector, the peak volume of documents arriving simultaneously can quickly reach very high levels. It must be guaranteed that the system does not become overloaded but instead automatically provides additional computing capacity and maintains this performance consistently even during continuous operation.

• Security without dependency: Regulated customers demand guarantees regarding where their data is processed, whether it is used for training, and who accessed what and when. At the same time, COGNAiO® is not tied to a single model: New models can be integrated centrally, and in critical cases, multiple models even cross-check each other before a result is approved.

• Reach via the Co-Sell and Marketplace Programs:  Due to our locations, our offerings have so far focused primarily on the DACH region and Italy. Through the Azure Marketplace, we can now also reach customers outside these regions, with credible access to the U.S. market. Our offering is also MACC-enabled. This allows customers with a corresponding Microsoft agreement to shorten lengthy evaluation phases, such as those resulting from RFPs or complex budget planning.

Our decades of industry experience with document-driven information processing led us to this idea: the transition from a solution specialist that uses existing tools to a vendor that builds its own agentic process automation solution.

Kaspar Tappolet, CEO of the DTI Group, sums up what this transformation means: “This shift has fundamentally changed how we grow. We’ve moved from being a solution specialist to a platform company, and that gives us a completely new ability to scale.”

This new perspective on input management led us to process automation, including pre-prepared decisions for human approval.

Daniel Szlapka, CPO of the DTI Group, sums up the scope of this step: “In the past, you were lucky to reliably extract a few fields. Now we go much further when clients request it, automating the process fully or preparing decisions for human approval.”

With COGNAiO® as an agent-based process solution, we step in where repetitive tasks arise within a process, without replacing existing systems. We see this relief most clearly where companies begin to see themselves as what Microsoft calls a “Frontier Firm.”

In the Work Trend Index 2025, Microsoft describes companies that operate in a consistently AI-driven yet human-led manner, with hybrid teams of people and agents, as “Frontier Firms.”

By integrating AI-powered capabilities into our own operations, we have become such a “Frontier Firm” ourselves. At the same time, with COGNAiO®, we are helping other companies enter this new frontier. Our agents handle repetitive, clearly defined cases within established guidelines, with humans always retaining control.

This applies across departments and industries, including and especially, in regulated sectors such as banking, insurance, and public administration, where numerous guidelines and legal requirements must be adhered to. This is precisely where COGNAiO® lays the foundation for companies to take this step in the first place, in a controlled and traceable manner, without compromising security or compliance. This can be implemented across a wide range of departments, whether HR, accounting, administrative processing, or customer communications. Because as soon as a process can be clearly described, an agent can take it over all the way through to decision preparation. The final say always rests with a human.

Azure is ISO 27001-certified, and so is COGNAiO®. For a product that runs in the cloud, this is not a given, but rather the result of implementing additional guidelines beyond the certification of the underlying infrastructure.

While Azure secures the infrastructure, COGNAiO® itself certifies all processes and applications running on it. When both levels are certified, security is guaranteed, including with regard to access rights, data encryption, and the segregation of customer data. These security standards remain in effect even as the product continues to evolve.

The result is a level of security that isn’t just on paper, but is actively practiced and regularly reviewed.