PRESS RELEASE

New CEO sets Cloud Factory's next 36 months

Microsoft is narrowing the field of distributors. New CEO Michael H. Jensen told 300 MSP partners how Cloud Factory plans to grow through the cut and grow its partners with it.

ESBJERG, DENMARK - SEPTEMBER 9, 2026

There are around 180 cloud distributors like Cloud Factory in the world today. That number is expected to fall sharply. 

Cloud Factory distributes Microsoft, Adobe and other leading cloud brands to more than 1,000 MSP partners in Europe.

Microsoft keeps raising the bar for the distributors and resellers allowed to sell its cloud services. Fewer of them will clear it. On Thursday, September 3, Cloud Factory told more than 300 partners from six countries what it plans to do about that: be the distributor partners grow with and take them further than they could go alone.

A new CEO and a 36-month clock

Michael H. Jensen became Chief Executive Officer on July 1, 2026. He joined Cloud Factory as Chief Operating Officer in September 2025, after half a lifetime in the United States that included roles in space and defense at Google and running a business unit at Microsoft. Michael now runs the company, while founder Jacob V. S. Schmidt continues as Chief Product Officer with the partner platform as his.

The new CEO’s first Partner Day keynote was built around one number: 36 months. Five commitments, one for each place where partners feel Microsoft's changes first. 

The five commitments

– A partner platform built for people and AI agents doing the work together. The agentic version of the portal experience is already underway.

– More certified specialists, inside Cloud Factory and inside the partners’ businesses. Microsoft's new scoring makes certifications the road to incentives across mission critical areas like Copilot, Azure services, and security/compliance.

– A differentiated path, but always the highly rated service experience for every partner, five employees or five hundred. Partners rate the support 4.9 out of 5 today, and that stays the bar.

– Cloud Factory will walk the talk and be at the frontier of agentic transformation, across every one of its own business processes.

– From six countries in Europe to ten. Belgium is underway. Poland, Spain and Italy follow.

Five questions for 2027

Jensen closed the day by handing the partners five questions they get to ask him at Partner Day 2027. Has the platform changed how your people work? Has your business grown, and do you earn more? Have we moved the needle on AI transformation and did it create value?

The theme of the event was space. Jensen ended on the ability to adapt, adjust and deliver over and over, with a conclusion from the American space race:

“Nobody won by having the best rocket. They won by being able to do it again next Tuesday. That is the whole lesson of distribution,” says Michael H. Jensen, Chief Executive Officer, Cloud Factory. 

The numbers behind the plan

Cloud Factory was founded in 2013 and has 65 employees, 20 percent more than a year ago.

The growth comes from the partners, who have gone from 80 IT companies in 2020 to more than 1,000 today. With them, the number of Microsoft licenses Cloud Factory manages has gone from 63,000 in 2021 to 1.2 million this year. Revenue passed 100 million euro in the financial year ending June 30, a growth of 65 percent.

What the partners took home

The same Partner Day saw the launch of LevelUp!, a tool in the Cloud Factory Partner Portal that shows each partner their live Microsoft Partner Capability Score and the fastest route to raising it.

Read more about the LevelUp! announcement here.

The rest of the program covered strategy, what Microsoft's changes mean for an MSP in practice, and hands-on walkthroughs of the platform.

The next 36 months decide which distributors are left when Microsoft is done narrowing the field, and whether the partners come along.

From one address on the harbor in Esbjerg to ten countries in Europe.

About Cloud Factory

Cloud Factory is a European distributor of Microsoft, Adobe, and other leading cloud brands. We help MSPs run their cloud business with fewer headaches. Our partner-only platform automates licensing, billing, and migrations. We never sell direct, and we never compete with our partners. Our 24/7 support answers in seconds. Forget standard. Choose The Standard.

Media contact

Jacob Schaumann Schmidt, javs@cloudfactorygroup.com 
Michael H. Jensen, mihj@cloudfactorygroup.com