Vodafone Germany and Microsoft announced a new, far-reaching strategic partnership lasting ten years. The two companies bring together future technologies such as the Internet of Things, cloud services and artificial intelligence. Together they aim to provide digital platforms and services to more than 300 million companies, public sector organizations and consumers in Europe and Africa.
The two companies are working together to improve Vodafone's customer experience using Microsoft's generative AI. The partners also want to expand Vodafone's global IoT platform, develop new digital and financial services for companies, especially SMEs across Europe and Africa, and move services to the Microsoft Cloud.
Vodafone will invest $1.5 billion over the next 10 years in cloud and customer-focused AI services developed with Microsoft. Microsoft will use Vodafone's landline and mobile services. Microsoft also intends to invest in Vodafone's IoT platform, which will become a separate, standalone company by April 2024. The new company will attract new partners and customers, drive application growth and expand the platform to connect more devices, vehicles and machines. The digital services generated by the new partnership will leverage the latest generative AI technology to deliver a highly personalized and differentiated customer experience across multiple channels. They will consider privacy and security policies.
Margherita Della Valle, CEO of Vodafone Group,
Today Vodafone made a bold commitment to the digital future of Europe and Africa. This unique strategic partnership with Microsoft will accelerate the digital transformation of our business customers, particularly small and medium-sized businesses, and improve the quality of the customer experience for consumers.
Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO of Microsoft,
This new generation of AI will unlock tremendous new opportunities for every company and every industry around the world. We are pleased to partner with Vodafone to deploy the latest cloud and AI technologies to improve the customer experience of hundreds of millions of people and businesses in Africa and Europe, develop new products and services and support the company's transition to the cloud to accelerate.
