Franco Arda, Ph.D. – AI Solutions Architect

I build Microsoft AI.
And I sell it.

I help Microsoft partners and their enterprise clients turn data and AI into solutions that run in production on Microsoft Fabric and Microsoft Foundry, from the first C-level conversation all the way to delivery.

Microsoft AI Architecture Selling Microsoft AI
The Microsoft Foundry model catalog, listing more than 11,000 models
01 — BUILD

Building Microsoft AI with Foundry

From use case to production: I design agentic AI solutions on Microsoft Foundry, and the data platform they run on in Microsoft Fabric.

I start with the business outcome, not the model. Together we pick a use case with measurable value, build a working prototype on Microsoft Foundry, and ground it in governed enterprise data from a Microsoft Fabric lakehouse. Then I take it to production with security, monitoring, evaluation and cost control built in from day one.

Microsoft AI Architecture

Microsoft Foundry

Agentic AI solutions, from use case to production.

Microsoft Fabric

Lakehouse and warehouse architecture, data engineering and analytics.

02 — SELL

Selling Microsoft AI

Many architects can design a solution. Fewer can sell it. I take an opportunity from the first C-level conversation all the way to delivery.

I run discovery workshops that tie AI to the numbers the board cares about, shape the solution and the commercial proposal together, and present to CIOs and CFOs in their own language. That way the business case, the architecture and the delivery plan tell the same story.

Selling Microsoft AI

Pre-sales up to C-level

Discovery workshops, solution design, proposals and executive presentations.

Business and technology, both ways

Turning business cases into architecture, and architecture back into business value.

Trusted on both sides of the table

An MBA in Finance for the CFO and the business case. A Ph.D. in Data Science for the technical depth.

10+ YEARS WITH ENTERPRISES SUCH AS
Mercedes-BenzVolkswagenBMWSiemensInfineon TechnologiesDHLSwisscom

I know how large organizations make decisions: stakeholders, governance, procurement and the path from pilot to rollout.

Portrait of Franco Arda
ABOUT

Swiss native, based in Zurich

Microsoft Titan Frontier Transformation Engineer
Microsoft certified
AI-103 AB-100 DP-600 DP-700 GH-300
Ph.D. in Data Science
Statistical methods for accounting fraud detection (sample size determination for non-parametric distributions)
MBA in Finance
The language of CFOs and business cases

Languages: Swiss German (native) · German (native) · English (fluent)

Building your Data & AI practice in Switzerland or DACH?

If you’re a Microsoft partner growing your Data & AI practice, I’d be glad to connect.

Email me Connect on LinkedIn