Microsoft and Vodafone have announced a 10-year strategic partnership. The collaboration will utilize cloud and AI technology to improve customer experiences across Africa and Europe. The partnership aims to transform Vodafone’s customer touchpoints, launch a standalone IoT business, improve financial inclusion in Africa, accelerate enterprise growth, and migrate servers to Microsoft Azure.
Microsoft and Vodafone: A 10-Year Strategic Partnership
Microsoft and Vodafone have announced a 10-year strategic partnership, aiming to enhance customer experiences across Africa and Europe using cloud and AI technology. The partnership, announced by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, will bring new AI experiences, digital services, and cloud capabilities to over 300 million individuals and businesses.
What’s New: Transforming Customer Experiences
Vodafone will invest in customer-focused AI and cloud services developed with Microsoft. This includes transforming all of Vodafone’s customer touchpoints—including its digital assistant TOBi—with Microsoft Azure OpenAI to deliver more seamless and hyper-personalized experiences.
“We’re delighted to partner with Vodafone to apply the latest cloud and AI technology to enhance the customer experience for hundreds of millions of people and businesses across Africa and Europe.”
Major Updates: Launching IoT Business and Improving Financial Inclusion
The partnership will also see the launch of Vodafone’s new standalone IoT business, scaling it with Microsoft Azure to connect 175 million devices and platforms worldwide. Furthermore, it aims to improve financial inclusion across Africa through an expanded partnership with M-Pesa—Vodafone’s mobile money service—by housing it on Microsoft Azure and enabling the launch of new cloud-native applications.
What’s Important to Know: Accelerating Enterprise Growth
Another key aspect of this partnership is the acceleration of enterprise growth with new Microsoft services for small and medium enterprises. This includes migrating tens of thousands of servers from Vodafone’s data centers to Microsoft Azure.
“I am thrilled to announce our 10-year strategic partnership with Vodafone to bring new generative AI experiences, digital services, and cloud capabilities to 300+ million individuals and businesses across Europe and Africa.”
This partnership is set to drive innovation and bring great things over the next decade. It’s an exciting time for both Microsoft and Vodafone, and we look forward to seeing the impact of this collaboration.
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