Chapters and their answers

Method · where every number comes from

Every figure in this report is counted, estimated or assumed — and says which.

How this score is made

78 of 100 · Advancing

Who makes it

Aristo. Not Microsoft.

Aristo makes this score. Microsoft defines what a Frontier Firm is; Aristo measures how close this organization is, out of 100. It is not a Microsoft benchmark.

You control

Your target: 85 by 1 Feb 2027.

Your organization sets the target and approves each move. No one can type the score in. Your target: 85 of 100, Frontier, by 1 February 2027.

Counted again

About every four weeks. Last: 24 Sep.

About every four weeks: Aristo starts a new count once the last one is 27 days old and the new figures are in. Last count: run 4 on 24 September 2026.

This reading is 78 of 100 — Advancing; up 4 points from 74 at the counted run on 25 August 2026. Source: Frontier Firm Report, run 4, 24 September 2026.

From what

illustrative here

Adoption

39 of 50

Activation

17 of 25

Security

22 of 25

Three parts, read from your organization's own Microsoft 365 once it is connected: Adoption, how far AI use has spread among your people (50 of the 100 points); Activation, how many of your assigned Copilot seats are in use (25); Security, your Microsoft Secure Score (25). This run: Adoption 78 of 100, Activation 68, Security 88. All three are illustrative.

Adoption

78/100

Activation

68/100

Security

88/100

counted·estimate·assumption — and how to firm it up

The move

Read every source — the pillars, the bands, the holdout, the money and the stability promise.

Read the method

Take it to your meeting

The deckThe Frontier Firm Report as PowerPoint — one slide per question. This page as a PDFThe sheet, ready to print or save. ListenThis page, read aloud.

Terms on this page

Frontier Firm — Microsoft's name for an organization rebuilt around AI; Aristo scores it 0–100 from adoption (50), activation (25) and security (25).

← 6 · What is coming?

Folded for the Executive reading §7 · Method — Every number, sourced open

§7 · Methodology

Where every number on these pages comes from — and where the words come from too.

Plain words, no marketing. Nothing here is estimated unless it says so; a pillar that isn’t available is listed as missing, never silently scored zero.

How this score is made

78 of 100 · Advancing

Who makes it

Aristo. Not Microsoft.

Aristo makes this score. Microsoft defines what a Frontier Firm is; Aristo measures how close this organization is, out of 100. It is not a Microsoft benchmark.

You control

Your target: 85 by 1 Feb 2027.

Your organization sets the target and approves each move. No one can type the score in. Your target: 85 of 100, Frontier, by 1 February 2027.

Counted again

About every four weeks. Last: 24 Sep.

About every four weeks: Aristo starts a new count once the last one is 27 days old and the new figures are in. Last count: run 4 on 24 September 2026.

This reading is 78 of 100 — Advancing; up 4 points from 74 at the counted run on 25 August 2026. Source: Frontier Firm Report, run 4, 24 September 2026.

From what

illustrative here

Adoption

39 of 50

Activation

17 of 25

Security

22 of 25

Adoption

78/100

Activation

68/100

Security

88/100

What is a Frontier Firm?

Covers Microsoft’s definition, the three pillars and the four bands

A Frontier Firm (Microsoft, 2025 Work Trend Index) is an organization rebuilt around AI — intelligence on tap, human-agent teams — not just using AI but delegating real work to it. Aristo owns the measurement; Microsoft owns the concept, and both are printed here so a first-time reader never has to take either on trust.

Aristo does not re-define the term — it measures it, for your tenant, from your own counted signals. Here is the arithmetic, in full.

Fig · The three pillars and their fixed weights. A pillar that is not available is dropped and the remaining weights re-normalized — never silently scored zero.

Adoption · 50 pts

How far AI has actually spread — your readiness score: real activation, real engagement, real outcomes.

Activation · 25 pts

How much of the assigned Copilot estate is in use — one minus the share of assigned seats ready to activate.

Security · 25 pts

Your Microsoft Secure Score — counted only once you have consented to share it, never assumed.

Fig · The four bands, at their true widths on the 0–100 scale. Versioned with every run, so a month-over-month comparison always states the scale it was scored on.

Emerging

0–29 of 100

The licenses are in place; everyday AI use is just beginning.

Developing

30–54 of 100

Adoption is climbing, but genuine activity is still the minority.

Advancing

55–84 of 100

Counted adoption taking hold, proven lift under way.

Frontier

85–100 of 100

AI is how the everyday work runs.

Counted where a signal is connected. At least one pillar above is answered by your team rather than read from a signal, so the whole score is labeled self-reported until that signal is connected. Where a number can only be estimated, this report says so on the number itself.

Where the term comes from

2025: The Year the Frontier Firm Is BornMicrosoft WorkLab · the canonical report, 23 April 2025 The 2025 Annual Work Trend IndexThe official Microsoft blog announcement Work Trend Index (the hub)Microsoft’s research home for the index

Every number on these seven pages, sourced

the score · the bands · the holdout · money · peers

The Frontier Score (0–100) — three pillars, fixed weights, computed at every run from counted signals: Adoption 50% (your Readiness score), Activation 25% (share of assigned Copilot seats in use), Security posture 25% (your Microsoft Secure Score, only when you’ve consented to share it). If a pillar isn’t available it is dropped and the remaining weights re-normalized; a self-reported pre-consent seed flags the whole score estimated.

The bands — Emerging 0–29 · Developing 30–54 · Advancing 55–84 · Frontier 85–100. Band definitions are versioned with each run (bandsV 2 = this scale), so a month-over-month comparison always states the scale it was scored on. Bands never move retroactively.

The path to 100 — the points you have not yet earned, decomposed across the pillars at their own re-normalized weights: a pillar’s remaining points are (1 − its score) × its share of the total weight × 100, and those remainders sum to exactly 100 minus your score. The steps are therefore a DECOMPOSITION, not a ranking — nothing is apportioned by judgment. Landing dates come from a least-squares line through your own last runs and appear only when that line exists and is climbing; below three runs there are no dates, and the report says so.

The holdout — how “proven” is proven — on day 0 a deterministic 12% of your seats ready to activate are a never-nudged control (stable, not hand-picked, not resettable). After the window, lift = nudged rate − control rate with a 95% confidence interval. Proven seats come from the CI lower bound, never the point estimate; below 95% confidence the report says directional, never proven. Negative lift is reported as negative. Valid only with ≥14 days and ≥8 people per arm.

Money figures — Activation opportunity = assigned Copilot seats ready to activate × your seat cost. Licenses waiting for a user = that activation opportunity + priced bought-but-unassigned seats — rerouted, never removed; the two are never presented as the same amount. Shelf seats = bought − assigned per SKU. Credit spend is a labeled envelope estimate until you connect Cost Management (read-only) — then it becomes measured and is labeled so.

Peer comparisons — fleet percentiles shown only as bands (top 10% / top 25% / above median…), never another org’s number, and omitted entirely below the k-anonymity floor of contributing tenants.

The stability promise — formula changes are versioned and dated; a report never silently re-scores the past. The score is allowed to go down.

Naming — “Frontier Firm” is Microsoft’s concept (WorkLab); Aristo owns the measurement, measured for your tenant.

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