Vodafone and Microsoft Corp (MSFT) announced the creation of a new 10-year strategic partnership, through which they will combine their expertise to provide over 300 million businesses, public sectors and consumers across Europe and Africa, digital platforms with high capacity.
Through this partnership, the companies will transform the Vodafone customer experience using Microsoft 's Artificial Intelligence mechanisms , improve Vodafone's IoT (Internet of Things) network management platform, develop new digital and financial services for businesses in all of Europe and Africa, especially small and medium ones, and will review the global cloud data center strategy.
Vodafone will invest $1.5 billion over the next 10 years in customer-focused Artificial Intelligence solutions in the Cloud, in collaboration with Microsoft . In addition, Microsoft will use Vodafone's fixed and mobile connection services.
The software giant aims to invest in the IoT connectivity platform managed by Vodafone, which will be developed as a separate and independent entity starting in April 2024. The new company will attract interested parties and expand the platform its, enabling connections for various devices, vehicles and machines.
The digital services created by the new partnership will use the latest technology generated by Artificial Intelligence, to provide a personalized and differentiated customer experience through various channels. They will be built on unbiased and ethical privacy and security policies, according to Vodafone's regulatory framework for the responsible use of Artificial Intelligence.
Margherita Della Valle, CEO of the Vodafone Group, said: “Vodafone has taken a bold step towards the digital future of Europe and Africa. This unique strategic partnership with Microsoft will accelerate the digital transformation of our business customers, especially small and medium-sized companies, and enhance the quality of the customer experience for consumers.”
"This new generation of Artificial Intelligence will create many new opportunities for every organization and every industry around the world," said Satya Nadella, chairman of the board and CEO of Microsoft . "We are pleased that together with Vodafone we will apply the latest cloud and Artificial Intelligence technology to improve the customer experience for hundreds of millions of individuals and businesses in Africa and Europe, to build products and new services and accelerate the company's transition to the cloud ."
Vodafone will accelerate its transformation to the cloud, modernizing data centers on Microsoft Azure . As a result, Vodafone will replace physical data centers with virtual ones across Europe, simplifying and reducing IT operational costs, reducing energy requirements and helping to develop a sustainable business strategy.
