Building resiliency and spurring innovation: customers are using the Microsoft Cloud to advance industries and keep business moving forward

Photo illustration of connected Earth

Since the start of the pandemic, organizations representing a cross-section of industries have mobilized to adopt digital technologies to gain insights from their data and unlock cloud-based innovation. With the Microsoft Cloud, customers are reimagining ways to deliver patient care and provide access to critical services, secure their digital environments to scale and maintain business operations, extend frontline worker productivity, enhance employee experiences, and encourage new forms of business engagement and interaction.

At Microsoft Ignite, customers shared how accelerating their digital transformation with us as their partner has enabled them to better navigate the ongoing pandemic. They explained that while no single approach to digital transformation works for every company or industry, their journey to embrace technology has created the opportunity to retool their business model, improve operational and business performance and meet ambitious goals that drive industry-leading innovation.

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The growth we saw this past quarter further emphasized the role Microsoft’s comprehensive cloud plays in our customers’ digital transformation. Novartis shared through its multi-year research and development collaboration with Microsoft how they are using AI to accelerate the discovery, development and commercialization of medicines. Wejo announced continued progress in building its suite of data assets on Azure to enable near real-time data exchange and the ability to deliver new solutions to the broader mobility sector. Johnson & Johnson announced its digital manufacturing transformation with tools such as AI, IoT and Microsoft Cloud for Manufacturing capabilities to improve agility, reduce cost of ownership and improve disaster recovery. We partnered with Kyndryl to bring to market advanced solutions on Azure and accelerate hybrid cloud adoption, modernize applications and processes and to support mission-critical workloads. CVS Health selected Microsoft as a preferred cloud provider to customize care, empower frontline workers and digitize operations. We also shared news of our Xandr acquisition from AT&T to shape the digital ad marketplace with an emphasis on strong data governance and consumer privacy practices. And just today, we announced with FedEx a new cross-platform logistics solution for e-commerce aimed at increasing merchant competitiveness and improving the shopping experience so brands can better fulfill, ship and service customer orders.

Six medical staffers look at Xrays
St. Luke’s University Health Network nurtures a commitment to innovation with Microsoft tools.

 
Healthcare organizations are digitally transforming to advance patient care and secure personal health data

Israel-based Maccabi Healthcare Services is improving the patient experience with Teams and Power Apps to enable care workers to manage critical healthcare-related communication and workflows. HCA Healthcare is ensuring personal health information and the devices and systems caregivers rely on each day remain secure using Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, and the NHS has built a more responsive and scalable system architecture using Azure to help increase security, performance and operations. St. Luke’s University Health Network is more easily connecting people to their doctors and consolidating its data to communicate directly with patients. Lancet Laboratories has modernized its supply chain management solution across South Africa by migrating to Dynamics 365, and Orizon is migrating to Azure to modernize its data infrastructure to speed up care and further protect the data of 16 million Brazilian patients. And, with the support of Microsoft partner Pegasus One, IN.S.P.I.RE Global LLC is using Azure services to create a health and wellness platform that offers guidance on follow-up visits and coordinated care.

Water view in King County Washington
In Washington state, King County delivers critical services using Microsoft Power Apps portals.

 
The public sector is increasingly turning to the cloud to maintain access to services and secure its environments

The New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs is helping residents affirm their identities and access services more easily by centralizing its identity service across 56 public agencies. The University of Miami is boosting security improvements for its on-premises environment and scaling its virtual network using Azure VMWare. The Dominican Republic, via its Ministry of the Presidency, will be the first Caribbean country to be part of the Microsoft Government Security Program aimed at improving protection and defense against cyberthreats. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is using Power Platform to digitize administrative procedures, enhance government services and drive data-driven policy decisions, and the King County Department of Information Technology is taking a low code-first strategy to help residents gain access to needed services by building more than 200 solutions. With help from FunctionOne, the Court of Justice of São Paulo is creating a more inclusive environment for employees with disabilities by implementing Microsoft 365 tools and developing a chatbot.

Johnson Controls in North America
Johnson Controls exceeds enterprise training expectations with a scalable solution built on Power Platform.

 
From smart spaces to factory floors, manufacturing organizations are building cloud infrastructures to scale operations and keep employees connected

Global manufacturer Advantech is keeping its networks and facilities in Asia, Europe, the U.S. and Australia highly secure and compliant by deploying Microsoft Security solutions, and Rudin is monitoring unmanaged devices for threats and targeted attacks across its smart buildings. In Mexico, CEMEX is using Azure to significantly improve performance of its SAP applications. AMD is using high-performance computing to maximize production timelines and speed delivery. Supported by Infosys, Norwegian global supplier Jotun Group is modernizing key business applications to run on Azure, resulting in better app performance, less app downtime and reduced cost. Using Power Apps, Johnson Controls built a class of enterprise-level training solutions that can track, measure and analyze progress on learning outcomes and key initiatives. Austrian furniture manufacturer Blum is keeping factory floor employees connected to the larger company by adopting Microsoft Viva.

Zurich Insurance building view
Zurich Insurance gets future-ready with Microsoft 365 tools that modernize customer service.

 
Financial services companies are embracing cloud solutions to maintain business operations and respond to customer needs

Bankingly is democratizing access to financial resources across rural Latin America through web services and mobile applications developed on Azure. Interac is powering the future of digital payments in Canada by migrating core software applications to the cloud and reliably scaling its solutions, and United Arab Emirates-based Mashreq Bank is using Azure for its hybrid solution to gain better insights into customers and optimize the digital banking experience. Netherlands-based Rabobank is using Microsoft Defender for Cloud to manage its hybrid, multi-cloud environment and to protect data and information. Investors Bank is maintaining business continuity and enabling a digital-forward, omnichannel strategy by migrating to the cloud with help from Applied Information Sciences. Zurich Insurance Germany is maintaining security, compliance and the ability to protect customer data while also equipping employees with productivity tools, and Techcombank is adapting to a remote work model to keep business operations running smoothly for employees and customers across Vietnam.

Daimler truck on highway
Daimler looks to optimize supply chain processes and reduce downtime with Dynamics 365.

From virtual tire development to interactive movie posters to flight crew communication, the Microsoft Cloud is driving innovation across every industry

Belgium-based Bridgestone EMIA is using high-performance computing to increase the sustainability, efficiency and agility of its virtual tire development process, and Daimler Trucks North America is bringing together actionable insights and optimizing operations across the supply chain using Dynamics 365. Axpo, Switzerland’s largest renewable energy producer, is creating a single access point for its grid assets using Azure services and Power BI. German energy company Uniper is creating a unified solution to standardize management of its data estate using Azure Arc, and Finnish telecommunications company Nokia is using the technology to deploy, operate and monitor applications running in its customers’ preferred cloud. With partner Accenture, Disney Studios’ StudioLAB is developing and piloting interactive movie posters leveraging Azure to enable the virtual setup and monitoring of content and data analytics. Peloton is using Azure and its AI capabilities to develop live subtitles so members who are deaf or hard of hearing can more easily engage in classes. U.K. retailer Marks & Spencer is using Teams as its productivity platform for frontline workers and office-based employees, and United Airlines is using collaboration apps to improve core operational processes and boost communications between operations teams and flight crews.

How our customers are adapting underscores technology’s critical role during times of unpredictability and change. Amid the previous quarter’s pandemic-related challenges, we kept pace with our customers’ evolving needs, innovating through our partner ecosystem to harness the Microsoft Cloud in support of their business outcomes. That is our purpose and will remain so even once we are all beyond the pandemic. As always, I feel tremendously privileged to work with the customers who have chosen to partner with Microsoft, and I am excited as their trusted technology advisor about what is on the digital horizon.

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