Microsoft has announced it has added another big client to its list of partnerships, namely a five-year deal with Coca-Cola. Under the terms of the partnership agreement, the beverage giant will integrate its business operations with Microsoft's Azure, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365 services. This adds to the surge that Microsoft Teams has experienced in daily active users this year.
'This partnership with Microsoft allows us to really step change our employee experience through replacing previously disparate and fragmented systems,' said Coca-Cola's CIO, Barry Simpson. “At The Coca-Cola Company, innovation and growth are key pillars of our business.”
While the global pandemic moves employees towards remote working, collaboration tools are more important than ever before. Following full integration, Microsoft will be able to facilitate Coca-Cola’s employees to work from home.
Neither company disclosed the scope of the agreement but it was revealed that it also includes Dynamics 365, a suite of Microsoft tools that competes directly with Salesforce.
As Coca-Cola replaces its legacy software with Microsoft's cloud-based solutions, it won’t just streamline business but also cut costs, improve marketing efforts, predict demand, and provide its sales force with relevant customer information. The upgrades also mean that Coca-Cola’s back-end has upgraded employee communications “beyond a chat interface.” When fully integrated, Dynamics 365 will allow the Coca-Cola Company call center managers to monitor performance metrics for employee satisfaction. Eventually, the company’s customer service agents plan to use the system to help answer questions from its customers, which include major retailers and grocers.
The beverage company employs 86,200 people worldwide, in over 200 countries and regions, which means this deal could materially help increase Microsoft’s commercial cloud revenue for the rest of the year.
This deal is set to fulfill Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella's vision of a "mobile-first, cloud-first" company— a phrase he coined six years ago when he took the job.
“Coca-Cola is a pioneer and forward-thinking leader in its industry,” said Judson Althoff, executive vice president of Worldwide Commercial Business at Microsoft. “Today, the company is taking its digital innovation a step further, leveraging Dynamics 365, Microsoft 365 and Azure to better connect people and opportunities through breakthrough productivity and powerful information management that will drive continued business success over the next decade.”
