Keptos It was founded in 1996, and Microsoft has been involved from the very first server. What we’ve learned over four phases of our partnership, and what that means today for a European subsidiary in Mexico.
Keptos It was founded in 1996. This year we’re celebrating our 30th anniversary, and as we look back, there’s one constant throughout every stage: Microsoft has been part of the picture since the very first server we installed. This is our story, told in four eras, and what each one taught us.
In 1996, a company in Mexico that wanted email, file sharing, and a network that wouldn’t go down had few serious options. We chose Windows NT, and shortly thereafter, Exchange and Active Directory. We’ve been Microsoft partners since those early years, when being a partner meant one thing above all else: having certified engineers capable of installing, documenting, and maintaining a platform that almost no one in the local market had mastered yet.
What we learned: Technology changes every three years; the process of documenting, backing up, and testing the recovery never changes. Thirty years later, it’s still the first question we ask in every IT audit we conduct.
In the 2000s, Microsoft reorganized its partner program into two tiers: Certified and Gold Certified. Gold status could not be purchased; it required engineers with valid certifications, audited projects, and clients who vouched for the work performed. Keptos earned this status with three accredited competencies: Security Solutions, Advanced Infrastructure Solutions, and Networking Infrastructure Solutions.
That was the time when we began serving the subsidiaries of European companies that were setting up operations in Mexico and needed their local IT teams to speak the same technical language as the parent company: domains, group policies, file servers, corporate email. A subsidiary in Lyon or Milan didn’t want a makeshift local provider; it wanted someone that its own IT department in Europe could recognize as an equal.
What we learned: A certification is worth what it requires you to do every day, not because of the logo. The three Gold competencies remain—under different names—at the heart of our IT management: security, infrastructure, and networking.
In late 2010, Microsoft launched the Microsoft Partner Network and replaced the old competency-based model with Silver and Gold specializations. We maintained our Silver competency in Server Platform while supporting our clients through the most significant migration of the decade: from on-premises servers to Office 365, and later to Microsoft 365 and Azure.
That shift changed the industry. It was no longer just about keeping the server from crashing, but about ensuring that identities were protected, licenses were properly assigned, and subsidiary data was accessible to the parent company without opening the door to just anyone. That’s when the services we now consider essential were born: multi-factor authentication, Microsoft 365 backup, and device management.
What we learned: In the cloud, the risk is no longer hardware failure—it’s disorganization. A subsidiary with 80 users might have 120 paid licenses and 30 active accounts belonging to former employees, and no one would even know it. That’s exactly what we check first when we’re looking for quick savings on licenses.
In October 2022, Microsoft phased out the Silver and Gold badges and transitioned to the Microsoft Cloud Partner Program, which was renamed the Microsoft AI Cloud Partner Program in 2023. Keptos remains active, with the Partner Success Expanded benefits package renewed for 2026–2027. We’re showing the old Gold and Silver badges for what they are: history. The current badge is that of the current program.
The question our customers are asking us today is no longer whether to migrate, but how to make the most of what they’re already paying for. Copilot, Intune, Defender, Entra: almost everything is included—or just a step away from being included—in the licenses that many subsidiaries already have, yet few use to their full potential. Our job in this fourth phase is less about installation and more about organizing, securing, and teaching customers how to use these tools.
What we learned: Artificial intelligence in the office doesn't start with buying something new; it starts with cleaning up what's already there. Without sound identities, classified data, and proper licenses, Copilot only accelerates the chaos.
To celebrate these 30 years, over the next few weeks we’ll be inviting our customers to a free on-site review of their Microsoft environment: licenses that are paid for but not used, immediate savings, and a realistic roadmap of what it would take to safely put Copilot and AI to work. If you’re a customer at Keptos, you’ll receive an invitation soon; if you’re not yet a customer, write to us and we’ll discuss it.
Thank you to the customers who placed their trust in us in 1996, to those who joined us later, and to the team that made each of these milestones possible. Here’s to the next thirty years.
Related reading: The 10 mistakes we've seen repeated over the past 30 years.
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