Vodafone and Microsoft Forge a Powerful Alliance: AI, Cloud, and IoT Take Center Stage

16 Jan 2024 , 03:20 PM

In order to provide generative AI, digital, enterprise, and cloud services to over 300 million organizations and consumers throughout its European and African markets, Vodafone and Microsoft have reached a 10-year partnership agreement.

The British corporation announced that it will replace physical data centres with more affordable and scalable Azure cloud services, as well as invest $1.5 billion in customer-focused AI created with Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI and Copilot technologies.

In turn, Microsoft will support the expansion of Vodafone’s mobile finance platform in Africa and transform into an equity investor in the managed Internet of Things (IoT) platform when it is spun out as a separate company by April 2024.

Microsoft’s leadership in AI, supported by its OpenAI alliance, according to Vodafone’s Chief Financial Officer Luka Mucic, will revolutionize the telco’s consumer services.

He stated on Tuesday, ‘That’s the part that is really going to catch every single one of our customers,’ and added that the Microsoft AI-powered TOBi chatbot would respond to inquiries with greater consistency and intelligence.

Vodafone’s IoT and financial services capabilities are strategically significant, according to Microsoft’s Chief Commercial Officer Judson Althoff.

‘The IoT assets are critical in helping us address the sustainability needs of so many of our customers in hard-to-abate sectors,’ stated the CEO.

In order to evaluate process changes in the cloud, Microsoft uses ‘digital twins’ to simulate manufacturing environments.

‘Vodafone’s IoT stack allows us to go into those environments, model the environment, create large-scale data stores, and use AI to help customers meet their sustainability goals,’ he explained.

Microsoft’s regional goals, including promoting digital literacy, were also shared by Vodafone’s M-PESA mobile money platform, which is available in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, and other African nations.

‘We are excited to bring generative AI capabilities to help customers make more intelligent financial decisions,’ stated the CEO.

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