One of the highlights of my career has always been connecting with customers and partners across industries to learn how they are using technology to drive their businesses forward. In the past 30 years, we’ve seen four major platform shifts, from client server to internet and the web to mobile and cloud to now—the next major platform shift to AI.

As today’s platform shift to AI continues to gain momentum, Microsoft is working to understand just how organizations can drive lasting business value. We recently commissioned a study with IDC, The Business Opportunity of AI, to uncover new insights around business value and help guide organizations on their journey of AI transformation. The study found that for every $1 organizations invest in generative AI, they’re realizing an average of 3.7x return—and uncovered insights about the future potential of AI to reshape business processes and drive change across industries. 

Today, more than 85% of the Fortune 500 are using Microsoft AI solutions to shape their future. In working with organizations large and small, across every industry and geography, we’ve seen that most transformation initiatives are designed to achieve one of four business outcomes:

1. Enriching employee experiences: Using AI to streamline or automate repetitive, mundane tasks can allow your employees to dive into more complex, creative, and ultimately more valuable work.
2. Reinventing customer engagement: AI can create more personalized, tailored customer experiences, delighting your target audiences while lightening the load for employees.
3. Reshaping business processes: Virtually any business process can be reimagined with AI, from marketing to supply chain operations to finance, and AI is even allowing organizations to go beyond process optimization and discover exciting new growth opportunities.
4. Bending the curve on innovation: AI is revolutionizing innovation by speeding up creative processes and product development, reducing the time to market and allowing companies to differentiate in an often crowded field.

In this blog, we’ve collected more than 200 of our favorite real-life examples of how organizations are embracing Microsoft’s proven AI capabilities to drive impact and shape today’s platform shift to AI. We hope you find an example or two that can inspire your own transformation journey.

IDC InfoBrief: sponsored by Microsoft, 2024 Business Opportunity of AI, IDC# US52699124, November 2024 

Enriching employee experiences

Generative AI is truly transforming employee productivity and well-being. Our customers tell us that by automating repetitive, mundane tasks, employees are freed up to dive into more complex and creative work. This shift not only makes the work environment more stimulating but also boosts job satisfaction. It sparks innovation, provides actionable insights for better decision-making, and supports personalized training and development opportunities, all contributing to a better work-life balance. Customers around the world have reported significant improvements in employee productivity with these AI solutions:

1. Access Holdings Plc adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot, integrating generative AI into daily tools and, as a result, writing code now takes two hours instead of eight, chatbots launch in 10 days instead of three months, and presentations are prepared in 45 minutes instead of six hours.
2. Adobe is connecting Adobe Experience Cloud workflows and insights with Microsoft 365 Copilot to deliver generative AI-powered capabilities that enable marketers to increase collaboration, efficiency, and creativity.
3. Amadeus empowers its teams to focus their time and skills on value-added tasks with Microsoft 365 Copilot by summarizing email threads, chat, or transcripts, and summing up information from diverse sources.
4. ANZ has invested in Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Copilot in Microsoft Edge to boost productivity and innovation across its workforce. 
5. Asahi Europe & International (AEI) has adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot, saving employees potentially 15% of time previously spent on administrative tasks.
6. AXA developed AXA Secure GPT, a platform powered by Azure OpenAI Service that empowers employees to leverage the power of generative AI while targeting the highest level of data safety and responsible use of the tool.
7. Axon Enterprise developed a new AI tool with Azure OpenAI Service called Draft One, resulting in an 82% decrease in time spent on reports, which freed up officers to engage more with their community.
8. Aztec Group enhanced productivity and client experience by trialing Microsoft 365 Copilot with 300 staff, uncovering “unlimited” use cases and plans for a wider rollout.
9. Bader Sultan & Bros. Co. W.L.L implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance employee productivity and speed up customer response times.
10. Bancolombia is using GitHub Copilot to empower its technical team, achieving a 30% increase in code generation, boosting automated application changes to an average of 18,000 per year, with a rate of 42 productive daily deployments. 
11. BaptistCare Community Services is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to save employees time as they navigate workforce shortage challenges allowing them to focus more on the people they care for.
12. Barnsley Council was recognized as “Double Council of the Year in 2023” for its implementation of Microsoft 365 Copilot, which modernized operations and reduced administrative tasks, leading to improved job satisfaction and increased creativity.
13. BlackRock purchased more than 24,000 Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses spanning all employees, functions, and locations, helping improve the Copilot experience, including co-developing new features and functions.
14. British Heart Foundation is testing Microsoft 365 Copilot and in its initial test, users estimate that Microsoft 365 Copilot could save them up to 30 minutes per day.
15. Buckinghamshire Council deployed Microsoft 365 Copilot with staff reporting productivity improvements, quality enhancements, and time savings which are enabling the different teams to do more with less. 
16. Campari Group adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to help employees integrate it into their workflow, resulting in time savings of about two hours a week from the support of routine activities such as email management, meeting preparation, content creation, and skill acquisition.
17. Capita is using GitHub Copilot for productivity improvements as well as improvements in developer satisfaction, recruitment, and retention.
18. CDW used Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve work quality for 88% of users, enabling 77% to complete tasks faster, and increasing productivity for 85% of users.
19. Chi Mei Medical Center is lightening workloads for doctors, nurses, and pharmacists with a generative AI assistant built on Azure OpenAI Service. 
20. E.ON is focused on Germany’s energy transition, leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot to manage the complex grid in real-time, increasing productivity and efficiency for its workforce.
21. Enerijisa Üretim has adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline meeting summaries, reformat documents, and compile reports, enabling employees to concentrate on more strategic and fulfilling activities instead of spending six hours in meetings.
22. EPAM is deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot to consolidate information and generate content and documents. 
23. Farm Credit Canada implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot which resulted in time savings on routine tasks for 78% of users, with 30% saving 30 to 60 minutes per week and 35% saving over an hour per week, allowing employees to focus on more value-added tasks.
24. Finastra used Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate tasks, enhance content creation, improve analytics, and personalize customer interactions, with employees citing a 20% to 50% time savings.
25. Four Agency Worldwide increased employee productivity using Microsoft 365 Copilot to generate ideas for creative work and support administrative-heavy processes, data analysis, and report generation, allowing staff to focus on outreach and less time doing paperwork.
26. Goodwill of Orange County developed an AI-powered app using Azure AI capabilities to help more people, including those with developmental, intellectual, and physical disabilities, work in unfilled e-commerce positions.
27. Honeywell employees are saving 92 minutes per week—that’s 74 hours a year! Disclaimer: Statistics are from an internal Honeywell survey of 5,000 employees where 611 employees responded.
28. Insight employees using Copilot are seeing four hours of productivity gained per week from data summarization and content creation.
29. Joos uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to grow its brand with worldwide collaboration by streamlining meetings, optimizing presentations, and improving communications.
30. Kantar is harnessing the power of Microsoft 365 Copilot by reducing costly, time-consuming IT processes and boosting productivity for employees.
31. KPMG Australia is using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, Azure AI Search, and Microsoft 365 Copilot to perform advanced text analysis of dozens of client source documents to identify full or partial compliance, or noncompliance, in a fraction of the time required for manual assessments.
32. LGT is launching Microsoft Copilot LGT to improve efficiency, showing users save an average of an hour a week even in the pilot phase. 
33. Lotte Hotels & Resorts has been creating a new work culture that allows employees to work more efficiently and focus on the nature of the work by adopting Microsoft Power Platform for automation.
34. MAIRE is leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot to automate routine tasks, saving more than 800 working hours per month, freeing up engineers and professionals for strategic activities while supporting MAIRE’s green energy transition by reducing their carbon footprint.
35. McDonald’s China chose Microsoft Azure AI, GitHub Copilot, and Azure AI Search to transform its operations, resulting in a significant increase in AI adoption, consumption, and retention from 2,000 to 30,000 employee transactions monthly.
36. McKnight Foundation adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot for all staff, saving time, increasing productivity, and freeing space to focus on strategic priorities.
37. Morula Health is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to enhance productivity, streamline medical writing tasks, and ensure data security, ultimately improving efficiency and client satisfaction. 
38. Motor Oil Group is achieving remarkable efficiency gains by integrating Microsoft 365 Copilot into its workflows, with staff spending minutes on tasks that used to take weeks. 
39. Nagel-Group uses Azure OpenAI Service to help employees quickly access information which saves time, creates efficiency and transparency, and leads to higher-quality answers overall.
40. National Australia Bank is leveraging Microsoft 365 Copilot for daily productivity and data analysis and insights and Microsoft Security Copilot to quickly analyze millions of security event logs and allow engineers to focus on more important areas.
41. NFL Players Association integrated Azure AI Services and Azure App Service into their video review process, reducing review time by up to 73%, significantly increasing efficiency and enhancing player safety through consistent rule enforcement.
42. O2 Czech Republic boosts productivity and streamlines meetings with Microsoft 365 Copilot, revolutionizing how information is shared and making automation a part of daily work.
43. Onepoint developed a secure conversational agent based on Azure OpenAI Service, which delivers productivity gains of between 10% and 15% across all business lines.
44. Orange Group has more than 40 use cases with Azure OpenAI Service and GitHub Copilot across business functions to support employees in their day-to-day tasks, enabling them to concentrate on higher value-added activities.
45. Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve staff report productivity by saving one to two hours a week, or simple formatting tasks down to a matter of seconds, enabling more resources to deliver frontline services.
46. PA Consulting transformed its sales operations with Microsoft 365 Copilot, so its people can invest more time on the activities that have the biggest impact for clients and maximize the strategic value they provide. 
47. Petrobras used Azure OpenAI Service to create ChatPetrobras, which is streamlining workflows, reducing manual tasks, and summarizing reports for its 110,000 employees.
48. Petrochemical Industries Company automates work processes to save time with Microsoft 365 Copilot from weeks to days, hours to seconds.
49. PKSHA Technology is optimizing their time on critical work by increasing efficiency in meeting preparations, data analytics, and ideation with the help of Microsoft 365 Copilot.
50. Providence has collaborated with Nuance and Microsoft to accelerate development and adoption of generative AI-powered applications, helping improve care quality and access, and reduce physician’s administrative workloads. 
51. RTI International adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot to gain productivity wherever possible, allowing staff to focus on their areas of expertise, delivering even better science-backed solutions for clients.
52. Sandvik Coromant is using Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales to drive efficiency and accuracy, shaving at least one minute off each transaction, allowing sellers and account managers to focus their expertise on responding to customers’ needs with analysis, creativity, and adaptability.
53. Sasfin Bank built a solution on Microsoft Azure that centralized 20,000 documents to analyze contract clauses and provide real-time snapshots, moving guesswork into data-driven decision-making.
54. Scottish Water implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot reducing mundane tasks to a minimum, and thus freeing up time for employees to work on the more meaningful tasks.
55. Shriners Children’s developed an AI platform allowing clinicians to easily and securely navigate patient data in a singular location, enhancing patient care, and improving the efficiency of their healthcare services. 
56. Siemens is leveraging Azure OpenAI Service to improve efficiency, cut downtime, and address labor shortages.
57. Softchoice employees are experiencing firsthand how Microsoft 365 Copilot can transform daily workflows, realizing productivity gains of 97% reduction in time spent summarizing technical meetings and up to 70% less time spent on content creation.
58. Syensqo utilized Azure OpenAI Service to develop a custom AI chatbot in three months, which improved their internal data management, decision-making, and overall efficiency.
59. Teladoc Health uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to revolutionize its telehealth operations, automating routine tasks, boosting efficiency, and increasing productivity.
60. Telstra developed two cutting-edge generative AI tools based on Azure OpenAI Service: 90% of employees are using the One Sentence Summary tool which resulted in 20% less follow-up customer contact and 84% of customer service agents using the Ask Telstra solution.
61. Topsoe achieved 85% AI adoption among office employees in seven months, significantly enhancing productivity and business processes.
62. Torfaen County Borough Council utilized Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline back-office processes, resulting in significant time savings and enhanced productivity for both business and children’s services teams, with further rollouts planned.
63. Trace3 leveraged Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline and enhance processes across the business and with clients, such as reducing the time it takes human resources (HR) recruiting managers to respond to applicants within a couple of days instead of several weeks.
64. Unilever is reinventing their marketing process with Copilot, saving time on briefing tasks, automatically pulling in relevant market data, content and insights to accelerate campaign launches. 
65. Uniper SE implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce time spent on manual and repetitive tasks, and help workers focus on more pressing work, such as developing enhanced solutions to speed up the energy transition.
66. Unum Group built a custom AI application to search 1.3 terabytes of data with 95% accuracy using Azure OpenAI Service. 
67. Virgin Atlantic adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot and GitHub Copilot and is seeing real business benefits, including productivity improvements, enabling new ways of working.
68. Visier built a generative AI assistant that leverages Azure AI and Azure OpenAI Services to deliver workforce analytics and actionable insights for more than 50,000 customers.
69. Virtual Dental Care developed an AI application Smart Scan that leverages Azure to reduce paperwork for mobile dental clinics in schools by 75% and frees dentists to devote more time to patient care.
70. Zakladni Skola As Hlavkova adopted Microsoft 365 Copilot and saw a 60% improvement in handling administrative documents, decreased lesson preparation from hours to few minutes, increased inclusivity, and enhanced communication with students and parents.

Reinventing customer engagement

We’ve seen great examples of how generative AI can automate content creation, ensuring there’s fresh and engaging materials ready to go. It personalizes customer experiences by crunching the numbers and boosting conversion rates. It makes operations smoother, helping teams launch campaigns faster. Plus, it drives innovation, crafting experiences that delight customers while lightening the load for staff. Embracing generative AI is key for organizations wanting to reinvent customer engagements, stay ahead of the game, and drive both innovation and efficiency.

71. Absa has adopted Microsoft Copilot to streamline various business processes, saving several hours on administrative tasks each day.
72. Adobe leverages Azure to streamline the customer experience, harnessing the power of the connected cloud services and creating a synergy that drives AI transformation across industries.
73. Acentra Health developed Medscribe, a web application that uses Azure OpenAI Service to generate draft letters in a secure, HIPAA-compliant enclave that responds to customer appeals for healthcare services within 24 hours, reducing the time spent on each appeal letter by 50%.
74. Alaska Airlines is using Azure, Microsoft Defender, and GitHub to ensure its passengers have a seamless journey from ticket purchase to baggage pickup and started leveraging Azure OpenAI Service to unlock more business value for its customer care and contact centers.
75. Ally Financial is using Azure OpenAI Service to reduce manual tasks for its customer service associates, freeing up time for them to engage with customers. 
76. BMW Group optimizes the customer experience connecting 13 million active users to their vehicles with the MyBMW app on Azure, which supports 450 million daily requests and 3.2 terabyte (TB) data processing.
77. Boyner has tripled its e-commerce performance using Azure, seeing a rise in customer satisfaction, engagement, conversion rate, and revenue.
78. Bradesco Bank integrated Azure to its virtual assistant, BIA, resulting in reduced response time from days to hours, improving operational efficiency and client satisfaction.
79. Capgemini Mexico integrated GitHub Copilot to support scalable AI implementations which has led to improved customer experiences and increased efficiency.
80. Capitec Bank uses Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft 365 Copilot, enabling their AI-powered chatbot to assist customer service consultants in accessing product information more efficiently, saving significant time for employees each week.
81. Cdiscount is leveraging GitHub Copilot and Azure OpenAI Service to enhance developer efficiency, optimize product sheet categorization, and improve customer satisfaction.
82. Cemex used Azure OpenAI Service to launch Technical Xpert, an AI tool used by sales agents to provide instant access to comprehensive product and customer solution information, significantly reducing search time by 80%. 
83. Chanel elevated their client experience and improved employee efficiency by leveraging Microsoft Fabric and Azure OpenAI Service for real-time translations and quality monitoring.
84. City of Burlington created two AI-powered solutions: MyFiles system using Microsoft Power Platform for building permits, and CoBy, an around-the-clock customer support assistant using Microsoft Copilot Studio.
85. City of Madrid created an AI virtual assistant with Azure OpenAI Service offering tourists accurate, real-time information and personalized responses in more than 95 languages.
86. Cognizant is making performance management more effective and meaningful with Azure Machine Learning to help clients across industries envision, build, and run innovative digital enterprises.
87. Coles Group has leveraged Azure to enhance its digital presence and improve customer engagement, rolling out new applications to its stores six times faster without disrupting workloads.
88. Commercial Bank of Dubai used Azure to upgrade its application infrastructure, improving transaction security and speed so individual customers can now open an account and start banking in about two minutes.
89. Dubai Electricity and Water Authority has significantly improved productivity and customer satisfaction by integrating multiple Microsoft AI solutions, reducing task completion time from days to hours and achieving a 98% customer happiness rate.
90. Elcome uses Microsoft 365 Copilot to improve the customer experience, reducing response times from 24 hours to eight hours.
91. elunic developed shopfloor.GPT based on Azure OpenAI Service, leading to increased productivity for customers, saving 15 minutes per request.
92. Estée Lauder Companies is leveraging Azure OpenAI Service to create closer consumer connections and increase speed to market with local relevancy.
93. First National Bank (FNB) is using Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales to help bankers create professional, thoughtful emails in 13 native South African languages to enhance customer interactions, streamline communications, and reinforce its commitment to innovation and customer service. 
94. Flora Food Group migrated to Microsoft Fabric to offer more detailed and timely insights to its customers, enhancing service delivery and customer satisfaction.
95. Groupama deployed a virtual assistant using Azure OpenAI Service that delivers reliable, verified and verifiable information, and boasts an 80% success rate.
96. International University of Applied Sciences (IU) adopted Azure OpenAI Service to revolutionize learning with a personalized study assistant that can interact with each student just like a human would.
97. Investec is using Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales to enhance the bank’s client relationships, estimating saving approximately 200 hours annually ultimately boosting sales productivity and delivering personalized, seamless customer experience. 
98. Linum is using Azure to train their text-to-video models faster and more efficiently without losing performance or wasting resources.
99. Lumen Technologies is redefining customer success and sales processes through the strategic use of Microsoft 365 Copilot, enhancing productivity, sales, and customer service in the global communications sector.
100. McKinsey & Company is creating an agent to reduce client onboarding process by reducing lead time by 90% and administrative work by 30%.
101. Meesho leveraged Azure OpenAI Service and GitHub Copilot to enhance customer service and software development, resulting in a 25% increase in customer satisfaction scores and 40% more traffic on customer service queries.
102. Milpark Education integrated Microsoft Copilot and Copilot Studio and in just four months, improved efficiency and accuracy of student support, decreasing the average resolution time by 50% and escalations by more than 30%.
103. NC Fusion chose a comprehensive Microsoft solution to make marketing engagement activities easier and accurately target the best audience segments.
104. Medgate, a telehealth subsidiary of Otto Group, developed a medical Copilot powered by Azure OpenAI Service that summarizes consultations, supports triage, and provides real-time translations. 
105. Pacific Gas & Electric built a chatbot using Microsoft Copilot Studio that saves $1.1 million annually on helpdesk support. 
106. Pockyt is using GitHub Copilot and anticipates a 500% increase in productivity in the medium to long term as they continue adapting AI and fine-tuning their software development life cycle.
107. South Australia Department for Education launched an AI-powered educational chatbot to help safeguard students from harmful content while introducing responsible AI to the classrooms.
108. Sync Labs is using Azure to create AI-powered solutions that have led to a remarkable 30x increase in revenue and a 100x expansion of their customer base.
109. Syndigo is using Azure to accelerate digital commerce for its customers by more than 40% and expand its customer base.
110. Telkomsel created a virtual assistant with Azure OpenAI Service, resulting in a leap in customer self-service interactions from 19% to 45%, and call volume dropped from 8,000 calls to 1,000 calls a day.
111. Torrens University chose to use Azure OpenAI to uplift its online learning experience, saving 20,000 hours and $2.4 million in time and resources.
112. Trusting Social integrated Azure services to launch AI-driven agents that are changing how banks function and transforming their customer’s banking experience.
113. University of California, Berkeley used Azure OpenAI Service to deploy a custom AI chatbot that supports student learning and help students with complex coursework.
114. University of Sydney created a self-serve AI platform powered by Azure OpenAI Service, to enable faculty to build custom chatbots for enhancing student onboarding, feedback, career simulation, and more.
115. Van Lanschot Kempen is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce the time needed for daily tasks, freeing up time to invest in that crucial personal connection.
116. Virgin Money built an award-winning virtual assistant using Copilot Studio to help build customers’ confidence in their digital products and services.
117. VOCALLS automates over 50 million interactions per year, resulting in a 78% reduction in average handling time aside from a 120% increase in answered calls.
118. Vodafone Group is leveraging Microsoft’s AI solutions, including Azure AI Studio, OpenAI Service, Copilot, and AI Search, to achieve a 70% resolution rate for customer inquiries through digital channels and reduce call times by at least one minute.
119. Walmart is using Azure OpenAI Service to deliver a helpful and intuitive browsing experience for customers designed to serve up a curated list of the personalized items a shopper is looking for.
120. Weights & Biases created a platform which runs on Azure that allows developers to keep records, log successes and failures, and automate manual tasks.
121. World2Meet is providing better customer service and operations with a new virtual assistant powered by Azure.
122. Xavier College is modernizing its student information systems on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Azure to unlock powerful insights, fostering innovation and data-driven decision making.
123. Zavarovalnica Triglav implemented Dynamics 365 and Azure OpenAI Service to streamline its operations with automated responses and smart rerouting of customer enquiries.

Reshaping business processes

Transforming operations is another way generative AI is encouraging innovation and improving efficiency across various business functions. In marketing, it can create personalized content to truly engage different audiences. For supply chain management, it can predict market trends so companies can optimize their inventory levels. Human resources departments can speed up the hiring process, while financial services can use it for fraud detection and risk assessments. With generative AI, companies are not just refining their current processes, they’re also discovering exciting new growth opportunities.

124. Accelleron used Microsoft Power Platform to support numerous business applications and simplify processes for service agents and employees, resulting in the onboard of new agents in 30 minutes, compared to two days for other solutions.
125. Accenture developed an AI-powered financial advisor that leverages RISE with SAP on Azure to enhance their infrastructure and integrate financial data.
126. Atomicwork leverages Azure OpenAI to bring together three power capabilities: a conversational assistant, a modern service management system, and a workflow automation platform.
127. Blink Ops fully embraced generative AI to build the world’s first Security Automation Copilot with more than 8,000 automated workflows to help any Security/IT task through prompts.
128. Chalhoub Group is using Microsoft Fabric to modernize its data analytics and streamline its data sources into one platform, increasing agility, enhancing analytics, and accelerating processes.
129. Cineplex is developing innovative automation solutions for finance, guest services, and other departments, saving the company more than 30,000 hours a year in manual processing time.
130. ClearBank moved its services to Azure to gain scalability and efficiency, pushing out 183% more monthly system releases, gaining both scalability and efficiency.
131. Danske Statsbaner increases productivity up to 30% with help from Microsoft AI solutions.
132. Eastman implemented Microsoft Security Copilot realizing the benefits of accelerated upskilling, step-by-step guidance for response, and faster threat remediation.
133. Fast Shop migrated to Azure creating a self-service culture of access to data, eliminating delays, reducing costs, and increasing leadership satisfaction with data while providing more agility in reporting.
134. Florida Crystals adopted a value-added solution across Microsoft products including Microsoft 365 Copilot to reduce telecom expenses and automate industrial process controls.
135. GHD is reinventing the request for proposal (RFP) process in construction and engineering with Microsoft 365 Copilot.
136. GovDash is a software as a service (SaaS) platform that leverages AI to streamline the entire business development lifecycle for government contracting companies using Azure OpenAI Service.
137. Grupo Bimbo is deploying Microsoft’s industrial AI technologies to modernize its manufacturing processes, optimizing production and reducing downtime, driving significant cost savings, and empowering global innovation.
138. Insight Canada implemented Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline business operations, realizing a 93% productivity gains in functions including sales, finance, and human resources.
139. Intesa Sanpaolo Group enhanced its cybersecurity with AI-enabled Microsoft Sentinel and Microsoft Security Copilot, resulting in faster threat detection, increased productivity, and reduced storage costs.
140. Kaya deployed a custom implementation of Dynamics 365 and Power BI to modernize its supply chain, leading to enhanced visibility, improved planning, and streamlined inter-department operations.
141. Lionbridge Technologies, LLC is using Azure and Azure OpenAI Service to accelerate its delivery times and improve quality, reducing project turnaround times by up to 30%.
142. LTIMindtree integrated Microsoft Security Copilot, offering automated incident response, integrated threat intelligence, and advanced threat analysis.
143. Mania de Churrasco used Azure, Microsoft Power Platform and Microsoft 365 to achieve high efficiency, security, and scalability in its operations, in addition to improving its data intelligence, which indirectly participated in a 20% increase in sales year on year.
144. National Bank of Greece built an Azure-powered Document AI solution to transform its document processing, improving the bank’s accuracy to 90%. 
145. Nest Bank has revolutionized its operations by integrating Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure OpenAI Service, resulting in doubled sales and increased daily transactions from 60,000 to 80,000 showcasing the transformative impact of generative AI in the financial sector.
146. Network Rail modernized their data analytics solution with Azure, helping engineers understand data 50% faster than before and improve efficiency, passenger experiences, and safety—all while saving costs.
147. Nsure developed an AI-powered agent that uses Copilot Studio and Power Automate to reduce manual processing time by 60% while also reducing associated costs by 50%.
148. Oncoclínicas implemented Azure to transform its entire data ecosystem with a web portal and mobile application that performs all image processing and storage.
149. Pacífico Seguros has adopted Microsoft Security Copilot to optimize its security operations and anticipate and neutralize threats more efficiently and effectively.
150. Parexel adopted Azure Databricks and Power BI, achieving an 85% reduction in data engineering tooling costs, a 30% increase in staff efficiency, and a 70% reduction in time to market for data product delivery.
151. Paysafe used Microsoft 365 Copilot to streamline meetings, information management, and document creation, addressing language barriers, eliminating time-consuming tasks, and boosting creativity along the way.
152. Planted is integrating Azure OpenAI Service to manage everyday tasks more efficiently and facilitate the search for information for innovative process development.
153. Presidio realized dramatic productivity gains saving 1,200 hours per month on average for the employees using Microsoft 365 Copilot and created 70 new business opportunities.
154. Qatar Charity used Copilot Studio to increase its call center efficiency, reducing average handle time by 30%, increased customer satisfaction by 25%, and achieved a 40% reduction in IT maintenance costs.
155. Saphyre uses Azure and AI to provide an intelligent cloud-based solution that automates and streamlines financial trading workflows around client and counterparty life cycle management, reducing manual efforts by 75%. 
156. Swiss International Air Lines migrated and modernized with Azure, achieving up to 30% cost savings, a remarkable boost in platform stability along with enhanced security visibility.
157. ZEISS Group uses Microsoft Fabric to create a secure and trusted data supply chain that can be shared effortlessly across a range of business units.
158. ZF Group builds manufacturing efficiency with more than 25,000 apps and 37,000 unique active users on Microsoft Power Platform.

Bending the curve on innovation

Generative AI is revolutionizing innovation by speeding up creative processes and product development. It’s helping companies come up with new ideas, design prototypes, and iterate quickly, cutting down the time it takes to get to market. In the automotive industry, it’s designing more efficient vehicles, while in pharmaceuticals, it’s crafting new drug molecules, slashing years off research and development (R&D) times. In education, it transforms how students learn and achieve their goals. Here are more examples of how companies are embracing generative AI to shape the future of innovation.

159. Air India has incorporated Microsoft 365 Copilot into multiple departments, unlocking a new realm of operational insights that not only provides critical data on flight punctuality and operational hurdles, but also empowers proactive, collaborative decision making.
160. Agnostic Intelligence deployed Azure OpenAI Service to eliminate time-consuming tasks, saving users up to 80% of their time, and enabling IT managers to focus on innovation and quality assurance.
161. Albert Heijn is using Azure OpenAI Service for everything from customer personalization to demand forecast and food waste projects, making it easier for its customers to change their lifestyle.
162. Amgen is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to boost productivity and has the potential to speed up drug development and support advancements in their business processes.
163. APEC leverages Azure and deep neural network algorithms to develop an app that enables healthcare providers to capture retinal images, increasing the accuracy to identify Retinopathy of Prematurity (RoP) to 90%.
164. ASOS is using Azure AI Studio to help customers discover new looks with genuine shopping insights, personalized conversations, naturalism, and even humor to enliven the shopping journey.
165. Auburn University is incorporating Microsoft Copilot to promote AI literacy, accessibility, and collaboration, with the aim to expand educational and economic opportunities for its entire academic community with AI-centric tools.
166. B3 launched an AI assistant using Azure OpenAI Service that aids 10,000 users a day to answer Brazilians’ questions about how to start investing.
167. Basecamp Research aims to build the world’s largest database of national biodiversity and apply AI and machine learning to advance bioscience.
168. Bayer is using Microsoft Copilot to contribute to feeding a growing global population and helping people lead healthier, disease-free lives.
169. Brembo leveraged Azure OpenAI Service to develop ALCHEMIX, a solution to generate innovative compounds for its brake pads, drastically reducing the development time of new compounds from days to mere minutes.
170. Canary Speech can now train new vocal models in as little as two months and handle millions of transactions per month with Azure. 
171. CapitaLand simplified internal processes increasing efficiency to more than 10,000 man-days saved per year and deployed Azure OpenAI Service to build the first AI hospitality chatbot for its lodging business.
172. Cassidy is using Azure OpenAI Service to enhance efficiency across various industries, supporting more than 10,000 companies.
173. Coca-Cola is implementing Azure OpenAI Service to develop innovative generative AI use cases across various business functions, including testing how Microsoft 365 Copilot could help improve workplace productivity.
174. Denso is developing “human-like” robots using Azure OpenAI Service as the brain to help robots and humans work together through dialogue.
175. eFishery is using Azure OpenAI for farmers to get the data and insights on fish and shrimp farming, including more precise feeding and water quality monitoring.
176. EY developed an application that automatically matches and clears incoming payments in SAP, resulting in an increase from 30% to 80% in automatically cleared payments and 95% matched payments, with estimated annual time savings of 230,000 hours globally.
177. FIDO is using Azure OpenAI Service to develop an AI tool that uses sound to pinpoint leaky pipes, saving precious drinking water. 
178. Georgia Tech is using Azure OpenAI Service to enhance the electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure, achieving rapid data classification and predictive modeling, highlighting the reliability of networked chargers over non-networked ones.
179. GigXR developed a solution to create the intelligence for specific AI patients using Azure OpenAI Service and other Azure services.
180. GoTo Group is significantly enhancing productivity and code quality across its engineering teams by adopting GitHub Copilot, saving over seven hours per week and achieved a 30% code acceptance rate.
181. GovTech used Azure OpenAI Service to create LaunchPad, sparking more than 400 ideas and 20 prototypes, laying the foundation for the government to harness the power of generative AI.
182. H&R Block is using Azure AI Studio and Azure OpenAI Service to build a new solution that provides real-time, reliable tax filing assistance.
183. Haut.AI provides skin care companies and retailers with customizable, AI-based skin diagnostic tools developed with the help of Microsoft AI.
184. Helfie is building a solution that caters to healthcare providers who can arm their patients with an application to more quickly and accurately access the care they need.
185. Hitachi will implement Azure Open AI Service, Microsoft 365 Copilot, and GitHub Copilot to create innovative solutions for the energy, mobility, and other industries.
186. Icertis is providing AI-based tools that will recognize contract language and then build algorithms to automatically choose the right approach based on the content of the contract.
187. ITOCHU is using Azure OpenAI Service and Azure AI Studio to evolve its data analytics dashboard into a service that provides immediate recommendations by automatically creating evidence-based product proposals.
188. IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU) is using the power of Azure OpenAI Service to develop Syntea, an AI avatar integrated into Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot, making learning more personalized, autonomous, and flexible.
189. Khan Academy has partnered with Microsoft to bring time-saving and lesson-enhancing AI tools to millions of educators.
190. Lufthansa Group developed an animated 3D avatar called Digital Hangar to help guide passengers from initial travel inspiration to flight booking through an exchange with an avatar in natural language.
191. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is using Azure OpenAI Service to help accelerate digital innovation in power plants.
192. Molslinjen has created an AI analytics toolbox that has reduced fuel emissions, improved customer satisfaction, and brought in millions of additional revenue.
193. Novo Nordisk recently published initial results with predictive AI models for advanced risk detection in cardiovascular diseases, including an algorithm that can predict patients’ cardiovascular risk better than the best clinical standards. 
194. Paige.AI​ is using AI and Azure to accelerate cancer diagnoses with data from millions of images.
195. Pets at Home created an agent to help its retail fraud detection team investigate suspicious transactions.  
196. Plan Heal is using Microsoft AI to create solutions that enable patients to monitor and report health metrics so care providers can better serve them.
197. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is testing a new battery material that was found in a matter of weeks, not years, as part of a collaboration with Microsoft.
198. Rijksmuseum is harnessing the power of Copilot to make art accessible at scale by joining forces with Microsoft to improve and expand the art experience for blind and low-vision community members.
199. Royal National Institute of Blind People is using Azure AI Services to develop an AI-based solution that quickly and accurately converts letters to braille, audio, and large print formats.
200. Schneider Electric provides productivity-enhancing and energy efficiency solutions and is using a whole suite of AI tools to hasten its own innovation and that of its customers.
201. SPAR ICS created an award-winning, AI-enabled demand forecasting system achieving 90% inventory prediction accuracy.
202. Suzuki Motor Corporation is adopting Azure OpenAI Service for data security, driving company-wide use with five multipurpose apps.
203. Tecnológico de Monterrey created a generative AI-powered ecosystem built on Azure OpenAI Service with the goal to personalize education based on the students’ needs, improve the learning process, boost teachers’ creativity and save time on tedious tasks.
204. TomTom is using Azure OpenAI Service, Azure Cosmos DB, and Azure Kubernetes Service to revolutionize the driver experience.
205. Unilever is partnering with Microsoft to identify new digital capabilities to drive product innovation forward, from unlocking the secrets of our skin’s microbiome to reducing the carbon footprint of a multibillion-dollar business.
206. Unity used Azure OpenAI Service to build Muse Chat, an AI assistant that can guide creators through common questions and help troubleshoot issues to make game development easier.
207. University of South Florida is using Microsoft 365 Copilot to alleviate the burden of repetitive, time-consuming tasks so faculty and staff can spend this time creatively solving problems, conducting critical research, establishing stronger relationships with peers and students, and using their expertise to forge new, innovative paths. 
208. Visma has developed new code with GitHub Copilot, Azure DevOps, and Microsoft Visual Studio, as much as 50% faster, contributing to increased customer retention, faster time to market, and increased revenue.
209. Wallenius Wilhelmsen is implementing Microsoft 365 Copilot and using Microsoft Viva to drive sustainable adoption, streamlining processes, empowering better decision making, and cultivating a culture of innovation and inclusion.
210. Wipro is committed to delivering value to customers faster and improving the outcomes across the business by investing $1 billion in AI and training 200,000 employees on generative AI principles with Microsoft Copilot.

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Germany stands at the forefront of a new era in AI, where strategic investments, public-private partnerships, and a focus on sustainable innovation converge to shape the future of industry and society. With significant governmental investment and growing adoption across key sectors, AI is poised to become a cornerstone of Germany’s economic transformation, ensuring global competitiveness and addressing critical labor shortages. 

The country’s rapidly advancing AI capabilities have been supported by significant investments and partnerships, with Microsoft playing a pivotal role. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced a €3.3 billion investment in Germany to expand its AI and cloud infrastructure over the next two years.¹ This initiative aims to double the AI infrastructure in the country and includes efforts to establish new datacenters in regions like North Rhine-Westphalia and Frankfurt, supporting key industries such as pharmaceuticals and energy through low-latency services. Microsoft is also focusing on sustainable operations, planning to power these facilities with renewable energy sources by 2025. 

In alignment with Germany’s broader national AI strategy, Microsoft has emphasized the importance of equipping workers with AI expertise, aiming to train up to 1.2 million people in new digital and AI capabilities by 2025.² This effort addresses labor gaps in sectors such as healthcare and manufacturing, which are adopting AI to increase efficiency and reduce operational costs. 

The recent Microsoft AI Tour event in Berlin, Germany, featured several innovative Germany organizations leveraging AI to advance to the cutting edge of their industries. Spanning from higher education to travel and manufacturing, these organizations present inspiring case studies and represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of what is possible at the intersection of German ingenuity and Microsoft AI technology.  

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IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU) prepares students for the future of work with AI-powered education  

IU International University of Applied Sciences (IU), Germany’s largest and fastest-growing university with more than 130,000 students, is using AI to advance its mission of democratizing higher education globally through a hybrid model of on-campus and online studies. By using the power of Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, the university developed Syntea, an AI avatar integrated into Microsoft Teams and Microsoft 365 Copilot, making learning more personalized, autonomous, and flexible.   

Syntea’s impact has been profound, driving a 27% reduction in the time students need to complete online courses. In addition, IU is testing a new model within Syntea’s exam trainer function to improve grading while upholding its same high-quality standards and ensuring the solutions to be dependable. These innovations enhance the quality of education while making it more accessible and equitable. 

To further equip students for an AI-powered future, IU partnered with Microsoft to create the IU Copilot School featuring Microsoft. With the IU Copilot School, every student gains access to Microsoft 365 Copilot and in the future seamlessly to Syntea, fostering familiarity with AI tools that will shape tomorrow’s workforce. This initiative ensures AI is embedded across all study programs, preparing graduates to excel as knowledge workers in the evolving job market.   

Looking ahead, IU’s team of developers is exploring ways to extend the way of exam grading by leveraging the next generation of Syntea with advanced AI agents. IU’s Syntea Newskilling project leverages the power of AI-driven mentorship to redefine workplace learning and development by seamlessly integrating personalized upskilling and onboarding journeys directly within Microsoft Teams, empowering employees to achieve both individual and organizational success.

By seamlessly integrating AI into education and workforce preparation, International University of Applied Sciences (IU) is setting a bold precedent for how technology can redefine learning and unlock new opportunities for students and professionals alike. 

thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering alleviates labor shortage with Siemens Industrial Copilot 

Siemens and Microsoft have elevated the Siemens Industrial Copilot, now leveraging Azure OpenAI Service to meet rigorous manufacturing and automation demands at scale. The Industrial Copilot combines Siemens’ specialized industry expertise with advanced generative AI to address complex requirements, bringing new levels of efficiency and precision to industrial processes. 

thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering, a co-creation partner and one of more than 100 companies using the Siemens Industrial Copilot, plans to expand its use globally. The Industrial Copilot plays a critical role in thyssenkrupp’s response to the skilled labor shortage affecting Europe and the United States, enabling smoother operations even with less-experienced staff. 

A standout application is in thyssenkrupp’s battery quality systems, where the Industrial Copilot supports automated processes for battery assembly lines—key to the sustainable energy transition. For electric vehicle batteries, for example, the Industrial Copilot integrates sensors, cameras, and measurement systems to monitor quality at each production stage, detecting any issues that could affect reliability. By automating data management, sensor configuration, and stringent reporting requirements, the Industrial Copilot ensures precision in quality control, freeing engineers to focus on higher-value tasks. Additionally, the Industrial Copilot’s real-time problem-solving and documentation capabilities reduce downtime, while making machinery easier for early-career and unskilled workers to operate effectively.

Recognizing that technology oftentimes outpaces the machinery market, thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering is now the first to plan to use the Industrial Copilot globally, not only addressing labor challenges and advanced automation demands company-wide, but enabling their machines to keep pace with change into the future. 

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• How AI is helping Siemens and thyssenkrupp bridge skilling gaps in manufacturing
• Siemens and Microsoft scale industrial AI

Ottobock revolutionizes prosthetics with AI for greater quality of life 

In pursuit of their mission to empower people with disabilities to move freely and independently, Ottobock is transforming individualized prosthetics and orthotics with the power of AI. For over a century, the company has faced a persistent challenge within the prosthetics and orthotics industry: achieving a perfect fit of body interfaces such as sockets or braces.   

With the help of the Microsoft Azure platform, Ottobock now analyzes detailed images of body parts to create customized body interfaces. This approach not only improves the precision and comfort of their devices, making high-quality solutions accessible to a broader range of patients, but also accelerates production while reducing costs. The streamlined process has further enabled less experienced technicians to deliver consistent, standardized products—helping alleviate the industry-wide shortage of skilled orthopedic technicians.   

Building on these successes, Ottobock is actively exploring additional AI applications to enhance the patient experience. With the potential of self-learning prosthetics on the horizon, Ottobock continues to elevate the quality of life for users by combining cutting-edge technology with compassionate care.

Lufthansa elevates customer experience and streamlines operations with AI-powered solutions  

Lufthansa Group continuously explores new ways to enhance premium travel experience of its passengers. This includes exploring possibilities of using generative AI. For example, in the Lufthansa Group Digital Hangar, an animated 3D avatar was developed as part of a test, guiding passengers from initial travel inspiration to flight booking through an exchange with an Avatar in natural language. Additionally, with the help of Microsoft’s generative AI, other applications were implemented, such as expanding the chat assistant, processing compensation claims, and automating website content creation.

Otto Group scales AI innovation, transforming e-commerce and healthcare 

Otto Group and its subsidiaries are harnessing the power of AI to accelerate innovation across industries. Group company OTTO has rolled out GitHub Copilot and the entire GitHub Platform for all software developers. This has enabled the teams to work numerous AI use cases simultaneously, which are used in e-commerce, live shopping, and by various subsidiaries of the Otto Group. One standout success is at Medgate, Otto Group’s leading telehealth subsidiary, which leverages AI-powered Copilot technology to address Germany’s healthcare challenges.   

Medgate developed a medical Copilot that transforms physician workflows and elevates patient care. Leveraging a custom-trained Azure speech and Azure OpenAI model, the Copilot summarizes consultations, supports triage, and provides real-time translations. In a medical chat powered by Azure OpenAI Service, physicians can enter keywords to generate follow-up questions and treatment recommendations. With this solution, Medgate reduces physicians’ administrative workload, giving doctors more time to focus on patient care—a critical advantage amid Germany’s shortage of 50,000 doctors and rising healthcare costs, which account for 12.8% of the nation’s GDP.   

The impact is measurable: case documentation times are cut by 10 to 20%, and AI-generated prompts reduce message drafting time by up to 40%. More than 60% of these AI-generated responses are utilized by doctors, demonstrating high acceptance and trust.

Otto Group’s successful integration of AI extends beyond Medgate, with the GitHub Cloud Platform enabling secure, scalable AI deployments across the Otto Group’s diverse operations. As Otto Group continues to lead in AI innovation, it exemplifies how technology can enhance both business performance and essential public services, driving meaningful impact across industries.

AI for everyone in Germany

As Germany cements its position as a global leader in AI, the ingenuity of its organizations continues to shape industries through transformative AI applications. From advancing education with AI-powered tools at IU International University of Applied Sciences to modernizing manufacturing at thyssenkrupp and enhancing healthcare services through Otto Group’s Medgate platform, these enterprises exemplify how AI can drive progress while addressing societal challenges.  

Microsoft’s investment in AI infrastructure and skilling reflects a long-term commitment to strengthening Germany’s digital capabilities and a shared goal to empower businesses and workers while fostering innovation that aligns with environmental sustainability and data security standards. Together, they are driving a future where AI not only serves as a tool for competitive advantage but also as a force for good—ensuring that Germany’s AI ecosystem becomes a model of innovation, resilience, and responsible development.

Find the resources to support your AI journey 

• Explore Microsoft’s AI solutions.
• Catch up on core concepts with AI Office Hours.
• Read the guide: An Introduction to Generative AI and Safety.

¹ The Federal Government, Investing in the digital future: Microsoft invests billions in Germany as an AI hub, February 15, 2024.

² Deutsche Welle, Germany: Microsoft to invest €3.3 billion in AI capacities, February 15, 2024.

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If you’ve read The AI Strategy Roadmap: Navigating the stages of value creation, you’re already familiar with the five drivers of AI value. This research paper and blog series explore what organizations need to succeed with AI, including establishing a clear strategy and securing senior leadership support. Our research found that AI success isn’t solely about technology—strategic, organizational, and cultural factors are equally critical.

We’ve heard from customers that it’s crucial to consider how prepared your organization is for this technological leap. In this blog post, we’ll share some learnings to help you gauge your AI readiness so you can plan how to move forward effectively.

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Assess your AI readiness

When I meet with customers, they often share that they’re not sure where to start when it comes to assessing their readiness for large-scale AI transformation. It requires a strategic approach to understand your current capabilities, identify areas for improvement, and align these efforts with your business priorities to focus on the areas that will deliver the highest value. We’ve created a new AI Readiness Wizard to help you get started in evaluating your preparedness. Use the assessment to:

• Evaluate your current state. The assessment includes questions that help you determine how well your AI objectives align with your business priorities and the effectiveness of your current data access and security measures. Understanding your starting point is essential for identifying the right next steps.
• Identify gaps. By scoring your responses in the assessment, you can identify focus areas that may need more attention, such as business strategy, AI governance principles, or team expertise. This step helps prepare you for formulating a clear path forward and addressing specific areas for improvement.
• Plan your next steps. Based on your scores, the assessment categorizes your readiness into one of five stages: exploring, planning, implementing, scaling, or realizing. Each stage represents a different level of AI maturity and preparedness, guiding you on where to focus your efforts:
  • Exploring—At this stage, focus on building your AI strategy and experience. You might want to learn about key AI concepts and explore how AI is transforming the business landscape.
  • Planning—Here, you’ll concentrate on formalizing your business strategy. Look at the ways other organizations are driving value with AI and develop an informed plan for prioritizing AI projects.
  • Implementing—This stage involves focusing on leadership support and scaling AI expertise. Ensure you have the necessary resources and expertise to execute your AI initiatives effectively.
  • Scaling—At this level, you’ll aim to create an organization and culture of innovation. Scale your AI initiatives and begin analyzing the impact of AI in your organization.
  • Realizing—Focus on fostering continuous innovation within every team and the organization. Aim to embed AI technology in your operations and culture for sustained value creation.

Assessing your AI readiness requires a strategic approach to understand your current capabilities and identify areas for improvement.”

This assessment offers a structured way to reflect on your current practices and identify key areas to focus on as you develop your strategy for the future. You’ll also find resources for each stage to help you advance.

How AI is reshaping industries

Financial services

We’re seeing the financial services sector make rapid advancements in AI readiness, with 40% of organizations currently in the “implementing” stage. According to recent research, 70% of financial services organizations are using big data analytics in their operations, and 27% have piloted AI applications or AI-assisted solutions.

Additionally, more than half are allocating budgets for AI projects, providing AI-specific training, and fostering internal knowledge sharing. This commitment has enabled 27% of firms to reach the “scaling” and “realizing” stages, surpassing the 25% industry benchmark.

Healthcare

The healthcare industry shows a diverse mix of AI readiness, with 28% of organizations in the “scaling” and “realizing” stages, according to one study. Notably, 44% are actively laying the groundwork in the “exploring” and “planning” stages, focusing on learning and developing their AI strategies. The sector leads in overall maturity, but 14% of organizations report receiving no discernible value from AI, highlighting challenges in measuring the impact of AI investments within their broader business strategies.

Manufacturing

With 38% of organizations in the manufacturing industry still in the “exploring” and “planning” stages, many are focused on learning and developing AI strategies. Research shows that manufacturers actively deploy AI across operations, research and development (R&D), and supply chain management to address key business challenges. 25% believe they achieve significant value from AI implementation.

Manufacturing organizations also have a greater likelihood of appointing AI leadership, which we’re learning enables them to excel in fostering the operational and cultural factors that support value creation, resulting in more firms reaching the “realizing” and “scaling” stages.

Retail

We’ve seen a wide range of AI readiness in the retail sector. While some retailers use AI to enhance customer relationships and drive revenue, research shows that 43% are still in the “exploring” and “planning” stages. This divide is evident between those who adopted cloud technology early—about 25%—and those who have yet to embrace it, with 8% still not using cloud services. Notably, 21% of retailers have a chief AI officer, highlighting commitment among leadership to embed AI into their operations.

Map your AI journey

After assessing your readiness and gathering insights, you’ll want to outline a plan to address gaps and advance through the stages of AI maturity. Our findings at Microsoft have shown that crafting a strategic plan outlining how AI technology will fit into your organizational framework is a great place to start. The AI Strategy Roadmap: Navigating the stages of value creation is a valuable resource designed to guide you through this process.

As you define your AI strategy and roadmap, you might find our e-book, Building a Foundation for AI Success: A Leader’s Guide, helpful in identifying key focus areas for AI implementation.

The post A strategic approach to assessing your AI readiness appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

As various industries and different markets continue to adopt AI, its impact at the local level is also increasingly evident. Recently, the Microsoft AI Tour event in Mexico City highlighted the variety of ways in which AI is enabling Mexico to become a premier innovation hub.

Last year, Microsoft unveiled our vision for AI transformation, and we are already witnessing how AI is revolutionizing businesses and delivering tangible outcomes. As we continue to embrace AI transformation, our mission to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more is clear and attainable.

Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella announced that Microsoft Corporation is reaffirming its commitment to Mexico with a new investment of $1.3 billion over the next three years. This investment aims to enhance AI infrastructure and promote digital and AI skills through initiatives like the Artificial Intelligence National Skills program, which seeks to democratize access to AI skills and reach 5 million people. The investment will also focus on improving connectivity and encouraging AI adoption by small- and medium-sized businesses to accelerate their digital transformation and business operations within the country.

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Mexico is poised to become a regional leader in leveraging AI solutions as key drivers of business innovation across sectors. The potential seen in the country is further showcased by the recent availability of a new datacenter region built in Querétaro. Through the joint work of Microsoft, its partners, and cloud-using customers, it’s expected to create more than 300,000 jobs over the next four years.¹Microsoft, celebrating its 38-year presence in Mexico, recognizes AI’s role as a catalyst for social and economic growth. The company is expanding its AI infrastructure in Mexico, involving a significant investment to increase local computing capacity and encourage innovation.

Cemex leverages AI to enhance operations, productivity, and customer experiences

As a global leader in building materials, Cemex continues to focus on developing innovative and sustainable construction solutions. Partnering with Microsoft, Cemex initiated a journey to leverage AI capabilities that enhance productivity and reinvent customer experiences.

Cemex joined the Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program, which integrated generative AI into their operations, allowing employees from different areas and roles to increase their productivity and efficiency. Additionally, Cemex’s developers have further immersed themselves into AI by utilizing GitHub Copilot to extend the possibilities the technology brings to different business areas through specific applications. This vision is reflected in Cemex Go, the company’s End- to End commercial platform which consolidates commercial processes and order tracking to enable more agile and intelligent order and purchase management. Customers can navigate the company’s solutions catalog in a more intuitive manner through an optimized user experience. 

Cemex also introduced Technical Xpert, a generative AI-powered tool built internally using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, as one of a series of knowledge assistants to revolutionize its sales process. Technical Xpert provides sales agents with instant access to comprehensive product and customer solution information, significantly reducing search time by 80%.  

Grupo Bimbo embraces AI with “Copilot for All” strategy

Recognizing the potential of AI to enhance productivity and operational efficiency, Grupo Bimbo—the world’s largest baking company (in Spanish)—has partnered with Microsoft to integrate advanced AI solutions into its operations.

Grupo Bimbo’s initial AI strategy, branded “Copilot for All,” empowers 3,500 corporate associates across various departments, including human resources (HR), sales, and procurement, to leverage AI. By utilizing Microsoft 365 Copilot, they improved efficiency in tasks such as content creation and process management. Leveraging Microsoft Copilot Studio, they created two unique Copilots to address specific business areas. The Internal Control & Risk Management Copilot consolidates nearly 200 internal policies. This tool promotes compliance with Grupo Bimbo’s policies which apply to all Bimbo collaborators across the 34 countries where the company operates.

They also developed the Procurement Copilot, which extracts data from various sources to provide answers without users having to perform the analysis themselves. This further consolidates operations by automating data extraction and policy management.

Simultaneously, Grupo Bimbo is deploying Microsoft’s industrial AI technologies to modernize its manufacturing processes. This includes implementing AI assistants at key facilities in the US and Mexico to optimize production and reduce downtime. The collaboration aims to enhance asset reliability and worker safety while establishing a unified, data-driven framework across factories.

The integration of Microsoft’s cutting-edge AI services is expected to drive significant cost savings, improve operational efficiency, and empower global innovation.

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Capgemini accelerates Mexico’s AI transformation

Capgemini Mexico is part of the global Capgemini Group, a worldwide leader in consulting and digital transformation that employs more than 340,000 professionals. In Mexico, the company has responded to rising IT service demands by integrating advanced technologies like cloud computing, data analytics, AI, and digital engineering.

At Capgemini Mexico, developers have embraced and integrated GitHub Copilot throughout the software development lifecycle to significantly accelerate the development process—from planning and coding, to testing and development. By taking this approach, they ensure high-quality, customizable software solutions. The use of generative AI addresses some of the major challenges in software engineering by speeding up development phases, enhancing product quality, and reducing time to market.

Capgemini Mexico has been impressed with GitHub Copilot’s ability to support scalable AI implementations, which has led to improved customer experiences and increased efficiency. Their north star is to have all software engineers leverage Generative AI, which offers new opportunities for Capgemini’s partner ecosystem, and drives growth and innovation in the software engineering field. You can read more on their use of generative AI for software engineering.

APEC uses AI to advance Retinopathy of Prematurity diagnostics

Retinopathy of Prematurity (RoP) is a serious eye condition and the leading cause of blindness in newborns in Mexico. Microsoft Mexico, in collaboration with Business Data Evolution and the Asociación Para Evitar la Ceguera (Association to Prevent Blindness-APEC), a leading institution in ophthalmology in Mexico dedicated to the prevention and treatment of visual diseases, are tackling this medical condition through a groundbreaking AI-powered diagnostic tool.

Leveraging Microsoft Azure cloud and deep neural network algorithms based on machine learning, APEC developed an app that enables healthcare providers to capture retinal images or videos of a baby’s eye using a smartphone camera. Azure AI uses the collected images to train the algorithm to recognize common patterns among affected eyes and identify signs of RoP. The app has significantly increased the accuracy of identifying the condition to 90%—well beyond the human capability of 60%.

This mobile app also means greater access to advanced diagnostics in rural areas where ophthalmologists are scarce. It also provides a platform for training future specialists to help reduce blindness rates and enhance the overall efficiency and reach of medical care in Mexico. The goal is to offer a free service accessible globally, which can positively impact you. You can watch a video on the solution here: APEC in Mexico creates algorithms based on Microsoft Azure AI to prevent blindness in newborns.

Tecnológico de Monterrey’s empowers educators and students with AI-powered resources

Founded in 1943, Tecnológico de Monterrey is a leading private institution in Latin America with more than 60 campuses and a student body of 90,000.

The institution launched TECbot, a virtual assistant which provides all day support for its educational offerings. Recognizing the need for more advanced capabilities, they then created TECgpt, a marketplace for AI-powered tools that enables educators and students to access tailored resources, from library assistance to physics tutoring. By integrating the solution with Skills Studio, it can also generate educational content and problem-solving examples. The implementation was developed utilizing Microsoft’s Azure platform and generative AI technologies.

TECgpt continues to expand Tecnológico de Monterrey’s IT capabilities. They’ve enhanced operational efficiency to enrich the teaching-learning process, and improved feedback quality with an eye on the next generation of scholars. You can learn more about this case here: Discover TECgpt.

AI for everyone in Mexico

AI is enabling companies and individuals to transform their activities by reshaping processes and opening new paths towards development. From students to health professionals, and across diverse industries, it has been inspiring to see the creativity and ingenuity that Mexico’s organizations showcase in harnessing AI and cloud solutions to tackle real-world challenges and open new opportunities. These initiatives are only a few examples of Microsoft’s commitment to empower Mexican organizations through the latest technological solutions. I am eager to see how they will continue to leverage the limitless potential of AI and enable their own success.

Find the resources to support your AI journey

• Explore Microsoft’s AI solutions

• Download the AI readiness worksheet

• Continue your AI learning journey
• Read An Introduction to Generative AI and Safety

¹Microsoft launches its first hyper-scale cloud datacenter region in Mexico – News Center Latinoamérica.

The post How Mexico is pioneering AI innovation for a global future appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

AI’s transformative power is now evident globally. Deemed a technology of the future not long ago, AI-powered business transformation is unfolding across all sectors. It’s clear that mastering AI is crucial for maintaining a competitive edge, and Japan has risen to this challenge. Bolstered by robust infrastructure, advanced technological capabilities, and significant government support for AI initiatives, Japan ranks second on the Asia-Pacific AI Readiness Index.¹

To support this progress, Microsoft plans to invest $2.9 billion over the next two years to expand hyperscale cloud computing and AI infrastructure in Japan. This marks the largest investment Microsoft has made in Japan since it opened its first international office there 46 years ago.

The investment also emphasizes AI digital skilling, which Microsoft aims to provide to more than 3 million people in Japan within three years, targeting full-time and part-time workers, developers, students, and especially women. In partnership with Japan’s government, we will open the first Microsoft Research Asia Lab in Tokyo. Here, we’ll focus on embodied AI, societal AI wellbeing, and scientific discovery aimed at strengthening cybersecurity defenses in response to Japan’s updated National Security Strategy.

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Microsoft’s expanded initiatives and partnerships with educational, governmental, and private organizations in Japan are poised to enhance AI capabilities across various sectors and amplify the societal benefits and economic growth that are already part of Japan’s culture of innovation. I’m excited to showcase some of the very organizations that are contributing to AI leadership, not only in Japan or Asia, but globally.

Dentsu unlocks employee creativity with Microsoft Copilot support

Dentsu, a global leader in creative media with a 120-year history and 72,000 employees, has effectively integrated Microsoft Copilot into its operations to tackle the increasing demand for high-quality content across multiple channels. As part of this integration, Copilot has been deployed to automate routine tasks such as email management and meeting recaps, and to enhance creative processes through faster ideation and content visualization. This strategic deployment also includes Microsoft Teams Premium, which offers features like intelligent recap and real-time translations, optimizing communication across dentsu’s global teams.

The adoption of these AI tools has significantly benefited dentsu employees by reducing the time spent on administrative tasks, thereby allowing more time for creative and strategic work. For instance, the automation provided by Copilot has saved employees approximately up to 60 minutes per day, translating into substantial productivity gains across the company. These efficiency improvements have also led to superior creative outputs, enabling dentsu to maintain its competitive edge in the fast-paced media industry.

“We started using Copilot with the hypothesis that it would elevate our people’s potential and bring additional value to our clients. I am delighted our high expectations proved to be accurate based on survey data and insights as we work to broaden access to this and other generative AI technologies,” said Brian Klochkoff, Executive Vice President, Innovation & Emerging Technologies at dentsu.

Moreover, the integration of AI has facilitated a cultural shift within dentsu, fostering an environment where technology enhances creativity rather than replacing it. The company continues to explore new AI capabilities through initiatives like Microsoft Copilot Studio, aiming to expand the use of AI across various functions to further streamline operations and enhance creative capabilities.

Recruit Co., Ltd. uses conversational AI to address nuanced customer requests

Recruit Co., Ltd., a prominent human resources technology company, has implemented a conversational AI user interface for Jalan.net, one of Japan’s leading travel booking platforms, powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service. Initiated in May 2023, this innovative application aims to quickly gather user feedback and adapt to customer needs not typically met by conventional search functions.

As a result, user interactions on Jalan.net have been significantly enhanced through more dynamic exchanges that accommodate nuanced and implicit customer preferences related to travel themes, purposes, and modes, which were previously difficult to discern. Attracting tens of thousands of users monthly, the implementation has been widely accepted, with negative reactions constituting less than 1% of user responses.

The successful implementation of Jalan.net has prompted wider integration of Azure OpenAI Service within Recruit itself, creating more than 30 internal environments for projects like interactive resume building and internal information sourcing tools. Moving forward, the company plans to automate approval processes for AI usage and integrate internal data into AI models to enhance personalized experiences, maintaining a focus on security and compliance.

TXP Medical enhances emergency response with AI-powered mobile service

TXP Medical has released an AI-based smartphone application for paramedics, NSER mobile. With nearly 22,000 users per month, NSER mobile streamlines traditional, labor-intensive operations such as manual data entry, paperwork, and direct telephone communications, which are error-prone and time-consuming. The service incorporates AI-powered voice command input, allowing emergency personnel to input patient data hands-free using voice recognition algorithms that accurately interpret medical terminology, even in noisy environments, while AI-powered image analysis processes images of medical documents. Employing Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and advanced image processing allows NSER mobile to quickly extract essential data, speeding up the conversion of visual information into digital formats and reducing the need for phone confirmations with hospitals.

The impact of the NSER mobile service is notable, particularly in Kamakura, Japan, where it reduced average telephone communication time with hospitals from 3 minutes and 30 seconds to 2 minutes and 44 seconds, doubling the target time achievement ratio.

Overall, TXP Medical’s NSER mobile service not only boosts the operational efficiency of emergency medical teams but also improves patient care quality. It showcases AI’s potential to transform emergency medical services by optimizing critical processes and easing the workload on healthcare providers.

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DENSO enhances robot’s understanding with generative AI

DENSO Corporation, a leading automotive parts manufacturer in Japan, is leveraging Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to develop advanced autonomous robots capable of human-like interaction. Designed to understand and execute tasks based on verbal instructions, DENSO faced numerous challenges, including the robots’ ability to adapt to unforeseen circumstances as well as managing the complexity of programming, ensuring operational accuracy, and integrating advanced AI technologies into practical robotic applications. These challenges were compounded by the need to create user-friendly interactions that allowed non-technical users to easily operate and instruct the robots based on simple verbal commands.

Advanced generative AI powered by Azure OpenAI Service addressed these challenges by enhancing the robots’ ability to understand and process complex verbal instructions for greater adaptability and functionality. The service improved operational accuracy through features that allowed for precise action selection based on input text, simplifying the programming process and making the technology accessible to non-technical users. Additionally, Azure’s cloud-based infrastructure facilitated scalability and flexibility in deployment, and streamlined the development processes, reducing complexity and boosting efficiency across various applications.

In addition, GitHub Copilot significantly enhanced DENSO’s development process by quickly generating and testing new robotic functions, thus reducing costs and accelerating capability expansion. This tool streamlined code generation and debugging, improving productivity and easing the learning curve for new developers.

Takeshi Narisako, Executive Officer of Cloud Service Development Department at DENSO, views the project as “a good start to research and development to create social value through the use of generative AI.” Looking forward, the company will invest in ongoing collaboration with various organizations, including Microsoft, to harness technological and operational strengths, furthering the development of AI-powered robotics and enriching society through human-robot interactions.

Mitsubishi Corporation leverages Azure OpenAI Service for customer GPT

Mitsubishi Corporation, one of Japan’s leading trade, investment, and management companies, is using generative AI to streamline text operations and support better investment and management decisions. Having explored AI from various vendors since 2015, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the company’s IT Services Department opted for Azure OpenAI Service to further the development of its custom generative AI application, MC-GPT, emphasizing security and comprehensive features.

“First of all, Azure itself is largest global service with the ability to handle a variety of languages including Japanese and English and operates securely at a high speed,” explained Hidenori Kurashima, team leader of the Process Transformation Promotion Team of Mitsubishi Corporation’s IT Services Department. “In fact, in the area of generative AI, Microsoft is ahead of the competition. On the other hand, peripheral tools such as Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Synapse Analytics are also available, making it easy to integrate with Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel that we use in our daily work.”

Within two months of adoption, the company had created and evaluated two prototype applications internally. In collaboration with partner Knowledge Communication Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi established a robust environment for deploying Azure OpenAI Service extensively, integrating it with additional Azure services like Azure Cosmos DB and Azure Synapse Analytics for superior data handling and user interface development.

The prototypes generated interest from 12 different departments, prompting the company to create a customized AI engine using its internal data to address both overlapping needs and department-specific requirements. Looking forward, Mitsubishi plans to harness Microsoft’s extensive AI offerings, including Copilot for Microsoft 365, to further streamline business processes, boost operational efficiency, and enhance decision-making in investments and management.

AI for everyone in Japan

These stories illustrate the substantial progress Japanese companies are making in integrating AI across sectors and highlight Japan’s collective commitment to reinforcing its position as a global leader in innovation.

Microsoft’s extensive investment and strategic initiatives underscore the robust foundation being laid for cutting-edge technological advancements and AI integration, focusing on enhancements in digital skilling, cybersecurity, and AI-powered automation that supports economic growth and fosters an environment where technology enhances human creativity and operational efficiency.

We hope these narratives have not only informed but also inspired you to explore how AI can revolutionize your own fields of interest or business. As we conclude our series, we encourage you to take the next steps in your AI journey, leveraging the insights and innovations shared to ignite transformative projects in your own organization.

Take the next step in your AI journey by exploring Microsoft’s AI solutions, diving into our insightful white paper on the five pillars of AI success, and getting skilled up with Microsoft Learn’s AI learning hub to ensure you’re ready to leverage Microsoft AI to its fullest potential.

Footnote

¹New Salesforce Report Reveals How Asia Pacific AI Readiness Will Impact Deployment of Generative AI, Salesforce.

The post Showcasing AI-powered business transformation in Japan appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

But finding and connecting with the right partners can be challenging, and in a new frontier like AI, it can be especially daunting—so many AI startups have entered the market in recent years that it’s hard to keep count. By many estimates, there are now more than 10,000. How is an enterprise supposed to find its match in such a crowded and confusing space?

In the multi-layered landscape of AI, large tech firms bridge the gap between startups and enterprises. Microsoft provides the infrastructure and generative AI models that require major investment. Startups specialize in domain-specific, industry-focused applications and tooling. When we work together, it’s a winning combination that results in the kind of enterprise-ready AI that enterprises need.

As a Partner at Microsoft for Startups, I lead a global team in the Pegasus Program. I always say it’s the best job in the world because we get to help startups make the most of not just the Microsoft stack and models, but also our knowledge, experience, and relationships. The program’s Customer Community is where we “match make” for enterprises and startups to foster exciting new partnerships and co-innovations.

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The following are key areas where I see Microsoft really adding value to bridge the gap between enterprises and startups for delivery of enterprise-ready AI.

AI startups move fast—Microsoft helps them move even faster

Startups are nimble by nature, and AI is taking it to a whole new level. With the emergence of AI, we have seen an explosion in new use cases and tooling needs—from data hygiene platforms to vector databases. For example, Synthesized, a startup that specializes in approximating datasets with synthetic data, says AI helps their small teams create synthetic data for testing and training faster and better so they can “punch above their weight,” delivering like a much larger team. Enterprises can adopt AI quicker because their highly accurate synthetic data is used to build AI use cases without privacy concerns.

Plus, Microsoft helps all startups in the Pegasus Program to develop and test their solutions quickly by giving them access to AI models and a high-performance GPU cluster in the Microsoft Cloud. Having access to this kind of infrastructure and foundational support gives startups the extra muscle to move even faster from ideation to production. And, when a startup has an app or service on Microsoft Azure that is in production and ready to go to market, it can be vetted for inclusion to drive more leads and speed their sales cycle.  

Specialization is differentiation—Microsoft helps startups focus and refine

Startups differentiate by specializing in doing one thing and doing it better than anybody else—and they need to resist the temptation to go broad to meet the needs of every potential customer. Microsoft helps startups focus on their core competencies by providing them with domain-specific guidance, mentorship, and co-innovation opportunities.

Pangaea Data’s novel AI driven product, for example, discovers more untreated (undiagnosed, misdiagnosed, at risk, uncontrolled, and miscoded) patients based on their records and clinical guidelines, thereby mimicking a clinician’s manual process. Microsoft helped Pangaea Data connect and build trust users with their solution, which has helped the United Kingdom’s National Health Service and two global pharmaceutical companies discover 6 times more undiagnosed and miscoded cachectic cancer patients.

Holistic AI created a governance platform for complete management of AI systems, including discovery and inventory, risk mapping, risk mitigation, monitoring, and compliance readiness. Their diverse team brings together global expertise across various domains, including data science, machine learning, law, and policy. Through the Pegasus Program, they are continually working with enterprises to explore new use cases that will enable them to grow while staying focused on their core competencies in governance, risk management, and compliance.

Enterprise solutions require enterprise readiness—Microsoft knows how to get there

Enterprises have complex technology environments that can’t just be “ripped and replaced” to make way for AI, so startups need to offer solutions that integrate seamlessly. We were our own “customer zero” when we created Microsoft Copilot for our own business applications, and startups in our Pegasus Program are now learning from our experience.

Weights & Biases, an AI developer platform, not only aims to create solutions that seamlessly integrate for their enterprise customers but also take the same approach to integrating AI themselves. They observed that “most customers look at AI as something that improves what they’re already doing, augmenting their core offerings rather than creating end-to-end machine learning products. This is how we approach our use of AI as well. With technologies as transformative as AI, the instinct is to think big. Plenty of companies have. But rather than approach AI as a way to change our entire business, we look first at investments that can help our team be more productive.”

And of course, trust is something that can be difficult for startups to establish on their own. Microsoft stakes its reputation on trust, so customers know that the startups in our Pegasus Program are companies they can trust as well. Global manufacturer Mars shared that Microsoft was a “gateway to the startup ecosystem where every collaboration becomes a map to success.”

Find startups with the right enterprise-ready AI for your business

The winning combination of AI startups and major tech firms can create a virtuous cycle of co-innovation and co-creation, where both parties learn from each other, complement each other, and enhance each other. Together, they can deliver enterprise-ready AI solutions that are faster, smarter, and more trustworthy.

If you think your enterprise could benefit from working with us and the AI startups we support, join the Pegasus Customer Community today. You’ll receive access to exclusive programs and resources, including pre-vetted, enterprise-ready AI startup solutions, and Microsoft will help you find your match. Visit Microsoft AI for news, announcements, customer stories, and more.

Tom Davis is a Partner at Microsoft for Startups where he focuses on bringing business value to strategic startups in vertical industry segments and emerging AI use cases. You can read more blogs by Tom on the Microsoft for Startups blog.  

The post How Microsoft helps startups deliver enterprise-ready AI appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

As technology advances rapidly, AI emerges as a source of innovation, promising to redefine what’s possible in our world. This sense of wonder and anticipation was palpable during our recent stop in Sydney for the Microsoft AI Tour. The vibrant enthusiasm for AI was displayed by businesses and governments in Australia and New Zealand showcasing the region’s commitment to leveraging AI to transform services, enhance efficiency, and solve complex challenges with unprecedented agility.

Microsoft’s recent investment of AUD $5 billion in Australia’s digital infrastructure is a testament to our belief in AI’s potential to empower every individual and organization to achieve more. This significant investment not only reflects our confidence in AI’s transformative power but also highlights the pivotal role Australia and New Zealand are poised to play in global AI innovation. It is against this backdrop of optimism and groundbreaking investment that we delve into success stories that demonstrate the tangible benefits AI is already bringing to the Australia and New Zealand region.

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Telstra: Revolutionizing customer service through AI

Facing the challenge of improving customer service efficiency and reducing the need for repeated information, Telstra turned to Microsoft Cloud and Azure OpenAI Service to develop their generative AI solutions, “One Sentence Summary” and “Ask Telstra.” These tools, by summarizing customer histories and providing quick access to internal knowledge, have drastically improved the efficiency and personalization of customer service, setting a new standard in telecommunications.

The successful pilot programs underscored the solutions’ impact, demonstrating marked improvements in operational efficiency and customer satisfaction, prompting Telstra to expand these AI tools across its network. This strategic move underscores Telstra’s commitment to innovatively enhancing service delivery through responsible AI use, in collaboration with Microsoft and Accenture.

South Australia’s Department for Education: Empowering education with AI

Confronted with the advent of generative AI services like ChatGPT, the South Australia Department for Education harnessed AI to create EdChat, a pioneering chatbot designed to enrich teaching and learning. This innovative tool, developed in collaboration with Microsoft and IT partner, Insight Enterprises, has equipped students and teachers with a dynamic resource for exploring AI safely, fostering essential future skills.

The outcome of the eight-week EdChat trial revealed a significant shift in how students engage with information and learning, promoting a culture of inquiry and critical thinking, while ensuring a secure and ethical AI learning environment. EdChat serves as a secure environment where students can ask questions without fear of judgment, granting them increased agency over their own educational paths.

This initiative not only highlights the department’s proactive approach to educational challenges but also sets a precedent for integrating AI in education, empowering the next generation with the knowledge and skills for a future where AI plays a central role.

“EdChat is a truly inspiring example of how the education sector can embrace generative AI to deliver value to its most important stakeholders – students,” says Veli Mati-Vanamo, CTO (APAC) of Insight Enterprises.

CommBank: Enhancing financial services with AI

As an early adopter of AI in the banking sector, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) has embraced a variety of innovative AI use cases to redefine customer service and enhance operational efficiency. The bank ran a successful trial of GitHub Copilot with the goal of accelerating the coding processes, and it has deployed generative AI for personalized customer notifications, a Q&A tool to expedite staff response times, and AI-driven analysis to streamline loan processing.

Informed by these successes, Commbank recently announced an exciting expansion of their partnership with Microsoft. This collaboration will focus on generative AI to develop tools like the CommBank copilot to resolve customer queries faster and help customers better understand their money.

“Through our ongoing partnership,…we also see this as an opportunity to work together with leading global technology teams to ensure CBA’s safety and security is constantly upgraded and improved, to keep pace with the evolving threat landscape,” said Gavin Munroe, CommBank’s Group Executive, Technology and Group Chief Information Officer.

The partnership also emphasizes the development of AI-driven solutions to support CommBank staff and customers, with Microsoft engineers already collaborating on projects to elevate customer service and security.

This strategic and planned adoption of AI technologies is solidifying CommBank’s position as a leader in responsible and ethical AI use, demonstrating a forward-thinking approach to leveraging AI for comprehensive business and community betterment.

Australian Government: Innovating public service with AI

In a pioneering initiative, the Australian Government is harnessing generative AI through a strategic partnership with Microsoft to revolutionize public service. Through the current pilot, 7,000 government staff members are receiving AI literacy and skills training of Microsoft Copilot for Microsoft 365 based on a six-month trial aimed to significantly enhance productivity and the delivery of services to the public.

“By strengthening our partnership with Microsoft, we are charting a course for the future of public service – one where generative AI is used responsibly to enhance the work of the APS in delivering for Australians without compromising on safety,” said Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese when he announced the trial in November 2023.

The initiative positions Australia at the forefront of global leaders in integrating AI within government operations, reflecting a deep commitment to innovation and responsible AI use, paving the way for a robust digital future.

LawVu: Transforming legal workflows with AI

Embedded deeply within LawVu’s operational fabric, AI is transforming legal workflows and decision-making processes. As a pioneer in Microsoft’s AI First Movers program, LawVu leverages Azure OpenAI Service to power its AI Assist feature, significantly streamlining contract reviews with rapid access to essential details, thereby bypassing exhaustive document examinations.

While LawVu’s focus is on streamlining internal processes for in-house legal teams, “Now, with the power of AI embedded in that workflow, we are taking a crucial next step in transforming what in-house legal teams can do and how efficiently they can do it,” said Sam Kidd, CEO and Co-founder of LawVu.

The use of AI extends beyond customer-facing features to internal operations, where LawVu harnesses ChatGPT for swift resolution of employee policy queries and GitHub Copilot to accelerate software development, embodying AI as a core component of its innovation strategy. This holistic adoption of AI not only alleviates administrative loads but also marks a profound shift towards efficiency and enhanced productivity, symbolizing a leap forward in legal technology evolution.

Qscan Group: Advancing medical diagnostics with AI

In the face of a global radiologist shortage and heightened demand for diagnostic imaging, one of Australia’s leading medical diagnostic imaging providers, Qscan Group, turned to AI to optimize the productivity of its radiologists. Utilizing Microsoft’s cloud and AI capabilities, including Nuance’s PowerScribe One, Qscan Group radiologists improved their productivity by more than 5%.

“We’ve seen some significant improvements in our cybersecurity posture and our overall technology performance by leveraging the Microsoft ecosystem,” says Simon Button, Chief Technology Officer at Qscan Group. “It ensures that we have a high performing, yet safe and secure organization.”

Qscan is already exploring ways that generative AI and the latest AI advances can improve patient and employee experience from improving the quality of radiology reports to automating call centers, setting new benchmarks for excellence in healthcare technology.

Stuff Group: Strengthening te reo Māori language with AI translation

In their ongoing effort to support the revitalization of te reo Māori, New Zealand’s Stuff Group Te Puna has launched an exciting pilot program that leverages AI to translate news articles, videos, and audio content at scale.

“Bilingual articles aren’t new at Stuff, we’ve been producing them for years,” said Stuff’s Pou Tiaki Matua Carmen Parahi (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāti Hine, Rongowhakaata). “But this is the first time we will be using AI to translate even more articles at scale, which will be quality-checked by a human translator and our editorial team before being published.”

Using technology from Microsoft and Straker Translations, the AI tool will not only multiply the number of articles published each week in te reo Māori but greatly increase its ability to translate live or breaking news.

Contrasted with his own experience as a young Māori in the 1970s and 1980s, Grant Straker (Ngāti Raukawa), Founder and Chief Executive of Straker Translations proudly noted, “Today’s generation of Māori and everyone that comes after will be able to engage with regular news content in their own language.”

Microsoft and ASD: Elevating cyber resilience with Sentinel-CTIS integration

The cybercrime threat landscape is escalating, with bad actors exploring the use of large language models (LLMs) and generative AI to research and plan cyber-attacks. As part of the Microsoft-Australian Signals Directorate Cyber Shield, Microsoft Australia and the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) Cyber Threat Intelligence Sharing program (CTIS) have partnered together to advance cyber resilience and ensure a safer future for Australians.

The collaboration will enable public-private exchange of threat intelligence to boost ASD’s Cyber Threat Intelligence Sharing program (CTIS) and a world-first integration with Microsoft Sentinel technology. Microsoft Sentinel customers will be offered a free download capability to integrate into the CTIS program more easily and benefit from Microsoft’s global threat analysis of more than 78 trillion signals every day to support the fight against the evolving cybersecurity threats.

“Cyber security is a team sport, and the collective efforts of both the public and private sectors are vital to defend our nation,” said Rachel Noble PSM, Director-General of the Australian Signals Directorate. “By fostering such partnerships, we can more quickly identify threats, combat threat actors and make a lasting impact on Australia’s state of security.”

By actively disrupting cybercrime, including dismantling phishing domains and targeting ransomware groups like Black Basta, the collaborative use of AI between government, industry, and international partners has proven effective in bolstering Australia’s cyber defense.

AI for everyone in Australia and New Zealand

These compelling stories from Australia and New Zealand illuminate the transformative potential of AI across sectors, serving as a source of inspiration for business leaders to explore how AI can revolutionize their operations.

Microsoft’s dedication to empowering organizations with AI technology and ethical guidance underpins a future where innovation leads to sustainable growth and enhanced human experience. As we continue this series, stay tuned for further insights and stories that celebrate the transformative journey of AI across industries and regions.

Take the next step in your AI journey by exploring Microsoft AI solutions, diving into The AI Strategy Roadmap, and getting skilled up with Microsoft Learn’s AI learning hub to ensure you’re ready to leverage Microsoft AI to its fullest potential.

The post A wave of AI innovation is overtaking Australia and New Zealand appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

It’s important to understand the potential of AI and learn how to make informed decisions about AI adoption and implementation. The benefits of AI in business are more compelling every day. A recent global study by IDC confirms that businesses are eager to adopt AI technology, with 71% of respondents currently using AI tools in their organizations.¹

Even with this momentum, business leaders face challenges when it comes to implementation. Where should you start your organization’s AI transformation?

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We’ve brought together our AI and industry leaders at Microsoft to share how they think about AI transformation in our video series, Transform Your Business with AI. More importantly, they provide success stories and guidance on how others can align AI technology with their business goals.

To start learning about how AI can transform your business, I recommend you begin by thinking about where your business is today and where it is you want to go. Jessica Hawk, Corporate Vice President, Data, AI, and Digital Applications Product Marketing at Microsoft, will walk you through the key drivers of AI success. She will also provide guidance as you examine what characteristics foster an AI-ready culture.

Whether you lead a healthcare organization or a retail business, the next two topics are top of mind.

1. Responsible AI: Natasha Crampton, Chief Responsible AI Officer, shares principles and procedures followed at Microsoft and how leaders can develop their own AI strategy.
2. Sustainability: Melanie Nakagawa, Chief Sustainability Officer, shares the Microsoft approach to sustainability in the era of AI.

Explore how Microsoft and customers are implementing AI within retail, manufacturing, financial services, and healthcare with our industry-focused videos.

• Retail: Learn how AI is impacting the retail industry with Shelley Bransten, Corporate Vice President of Global Retail, Consumer Goods, and Gaming Industries at Microsoft.
• Manufacturing: Kathleen Mitford, Corporate Vice President of Global Industry Marketing at Microsoft, shares how AI will change the manufacturing industry and how you can partner with Microsoft to prepare your business.
• Financial Services: Bill Borden, Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Financial Services at Microsoft, takes you through some of the biggest obstacles facing the financial services industry and shows how AI can help you drive differentiated outcomes for your business.
• Healthcare: Rob Dahdah, Corporate Vice President of Industry and Partner Sales for the Health and Life Sciences at Microsoft, dives into how AI can make a significant impact on the world of healthcare, from more personalized healthcare to more efficient drug development.

Discover the knowledge and resources to adopt AI in your organization

To complement this video series, we’ve released a full training course on our free learning platform, Microsoft Learn.

Here’s what you’ll learn in this course:

1. What is AI and how is it used in business?

You’ll learn the difference between generative AI, machine learning, and deep learning. Plus, you’ll understand how AI works through examples specific to sales, supply chain, human resources, finance, marketing, commerce, customer service, and project management.

2. How can I be sure AI is adding value to my business?

AI technologies can drive substantial value to organizations. Defining an AI strategy specific to your business is so critical. We’ll walk through how to define your strategy, and we’ll examine what characteristics foster an AI-ready culture.

3. How do I know if my business is using AI responsibly?

At Microsoft, we believe that as organizations and society take steps toward responsible AI, we need to continually evolve to reflect new innovations and lessons from both our mistakes and accomplishments. You’ll learn the six guiding principles to develop and use AI responsibly so you can move confidently in your AI transformation.

4. What steps do I take to implement AI in my organization?

Starting with your AI strategy, this module in the training covers assigning responsibilities and empowering workers and subject matter experts to use AI themselves. You’ll also learn to evaluate and prioritize AI investments and establish AI-related roles and responsibilities.

By the end of the course, you’ll have a solid understanding about the practicalities of AI, how you can use it in your business, and how to evaluate it against the principles of responsibility.

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Continue learning about AI at Microsoft

At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. The rapid rise of advancements in AI and cloud computing make access to technical skills an even more vital part of that mission. Developing proficiency in Microsoft AI technologies empowers you to innovate and accomplish far more than you previously thought possible.  

Today, it’s more important than ever to empower your team to gain the right skills, prove their expertise, and showcase their abilities so you can accelerate implementing AI at scale.

Learn more about generative AI in this training from Microsoft Learn.

¹IDC Infographic, sponsored by Microsoft, The Business Opportunity of AI, IDC #US51315823, November 2023.

The post How to get started with AI for industry and business leaders appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

Organizations like 3M, Prada Group and Campari have been testing copilot features in Dynamics 365 and Power Platform firsthand, while General Motors, Visa, KPMG, AGL, Data #3, Bupa, NAB, Powerlink Queensland, Rest Super and Suncorp are now part of the Microsoft 365 Copilot Early Access Program. Our collaboration with IBM is helping clients accelerate the deployment of generative AI with its new Azure OpenAI Service offering, and we are enabling thousands of organizations like PepsiCo, Vodafone and Voya Financial with Azure cloud services through our expanded partnership with Oracle. To empower employees across 34 countries, Grupo Bimbo developed a solution with an integrated copilot in two weeks to help prevent non-compliance and save time when asking questions about company policies. All of Microsoft’s AI-powered copilots are backed by our Copilot Copyright Commitments to extend IP and legal protection to enterprise customers who use these services, building upon our AI Customer Commitments.

Helping healthcare professionals and providers focus on patient care and support through secure data automation and training

By securely centralizing its data in an AI-powered intelligent data platform on Azure, Mercy is able to use generative AI to help patients schedule appointments more efficiently and better understand their lab results. Mayo Clinic is deploying Microsoft 365 Copilot to ease the burden of administrative demands on healthcare providers so they can focus on patient care, while Duke Health is partnering with Microsoft to responsibly and ethically harness the potential of generative AI and the Microsoft Cloud to redefine the healthcare landscape. To speed up care and improve patient experiences, MultiCare has automated its medication reconciliation process and increased efficiency by 175% with help from Microsoft and partner 3Cloud. By consolidating data such as lab results, medications and plan coverage in the cloud, Blue Shield of California is making services more accessible to members while reducing the cost of care. With help from Healthanea, France-based insurance company AXA is connecting hospitals, pharmaceuticals, health tech solutions and insurers to provide patients with reliable and accurate health information while protecting sensitive health data through the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare. Paige and Microsoft are collaborating to transform patient care by building the world’s largest image-based AI to detect cancer with higher accuracy. To ensure patient confidentiality and automate threat reporting, Hamad Medical Corporation is working with Mannai to proactively detect and respond to cyber threats while providing real-time visibility to its executives. Sanofi is improving training and collaboration for employees in different locations with HoloLens 2 — saving two weeks of training time for its production line operators and meeting increased demand for pharmaceuticals.

Empowering government workers, non-profit volunteers, students and teachers to expand social impact and save costs with data and AI

Working with AltaML, the Government of Alberta has built an AI-powered tool to help firefighting duty officers become more confident in predicting and sustainably managing the risk of wildfires, creating the potential to save up to $3 million in annual operating costs. In the U.K., Aberdeen City Council is making it easier for workers to access social care data within minutes to provide faster and more accurate service to vulnerable citizens while saving more than $2 million annually on manual data collection. To help ensure seamless service to citizens and prevent cyberattacks to critical infrastructure like traffic light systems and utilities, the City of Brampton is helping its IT team improve its cybersecurity maturity and reduce attack alerts by 70% with help from partner Difenda. To quickly scale the creation of thousands of audiobooks and reduce volunteer labor, nonprofit Project Gutenberg is making its e-books more accessible to people with visual impairments by using text-to-speech capabilities in Azure AI and Microsoft Fabric. German-based Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald is using AI to help research students pre-classify wildlife images in two days instead of 30 — saving 95% on the cost of wildlife monitoring and distance measurement. Working with teachers to offer more individualized support to students, New York City Public Schools has developed a secure, custom AI-powered teaching assistant on Azure OpenAI to answer questions and give real-time feedback.

Providing financial services employees and customers with AI capabilities for more meaningful and personalized interactions

Ally Financial launched a proprietary platform as its foundation for generative AI innovation across the company, including live summarization of customer service calls so employees can spend more time focusing on customer interactions. With Azure OpenAI, Swiss investment firm Vontobel is boosting employee productivity in programming and data analysis, while automatic payments company Sem Parar is responding intelligently and contextually to customer inquiries to help them resolve their questions more quickly. Emirates NBD is empowering more than a thousand developers with its coding assistant leveraging the capabilities of GitHub Copilot X, while automating repetitive tasks and content generation for employees using Microsoft 365 Copilot. MetLife is helping pet parents access health records and connect with veterinary technicians more easily through its app built with AI-powered search and machine learning capabilities. With a focus on making financial services more accessible in Qatar, CWallet has saved $1 million by building its secure and compliant fintech platform on Azure to meet data regulations in the Middle East, and now plans to explore AI capabilities to simplify customer transactions.

Equipping manufacturing workers with AI-driven data and insights to improve customer support and streamline complex operations

Using Azure OpenAI, electrical equipment manufacturer ABB is integrating generative AI into its platform and applications to provide industry executives, specialists and engineers with real-time insights for better decision making and increased productivity. To reduce waiting time for customers, Dubai-based BMW Group importer AGMC is building an AI solution to more quickly locate and transport vehicles from its largest service center. By creating a scalable AI platform in Azure, Swedish steel manufacturer Epiroc is helping automate complex processes for its global employees to ensure consistent quality of its products, increase efficiency and reduce waste. Printer and imaging company Lexmark has improved its technician support efficiency by 20% with AI-driven predictive modelling, contributing to a 20% increase in customer satisfaction ratings. Xiaomi has developed an AI service bot with Power Virtual Agents to handle customer questions more efficiently and is better using Azure Translator to quickly generate product manuals in multiple languages. Indian textile company Arvind is leveraging the integrated AI capabilities of Power Apps to reduce sampling errors by 90%, production errors by 70% and order turnaround time by 30%.

Enhancing employee productivity and providing customers with AI-enhanced solutions across professional services 

Lumen Technologies is empowering employees across organizations with Microsoft 365 Copilot, making it easier for customer service teams to access repair manuals and helping sales teams summarize actionable steps from customer communications. In France, consulting firm Arthur D. Little is unifying its complex, unsorted data while maintaining data confidentiality and maximizing human capital — helping its consultants prepare for client meetings faster and curate presentation content in 50% less time. Jacobs Solutions is making it easier for staff to access and share high-quality data by integrating Microsoft Fabric with its end-to-end platform for seamless data management and advanced AI capabilities. INSPIRE Environmental is reducing costs and client turnaround time for image analysis of complex ocean data using Azure AI and machine learning. By leveraging Azure OpenAI, Orca Security is speeding up response times to customers and increasing data security while meeting regulatory compliance, Amadeus is working with Microsoft and Accenture to assist corporate travelers with trip logistics through its interactive assistant — as well as building a plug-in for Microsoft 365 Copilot, and professional services firm Atera is helping IT technicians focus on high value work while improving efficiency by 10x with its AI-powered platform.

Today’s AI advancements have also generated new opportunities for digital natives to build upon their cloud-first strategies and shape the future of industry. To combat and identify cyber financial crime behaviors, SymphonyAI developed an AI assistant to help investigators securely and automatically collect, collate and summarize financial and third-party information. By applying AI capabilities across thousands of interactions each day, CallMiner is unlocking insights that empower organizations with a better understanding of the customer journey. Striving to be a leader in empathetic personal intelligence, Inflection AI is developing an AI chatbot that helps people accelerate development while reducing downtime. Building upon its cloud-based solution on Azure, Elastic is giving customers more focused answers to search queries by combining internal company knowledge with context from actual documents. With Azure OpenAI and Azure Cognitive Services, DeepBrain AI is cutting down chatbot development time and reducing manual processes while increasing language understanding and translation capabilities; while Commerce.AI has already started driving up to 50% increases in productivity for clients with its consumer sentiment analytics solutions.

We have a collective opportunity to put generative AI to work to help solve the biggest challenges facing organizations, industries and society today. Microsoft is helping customers and partners prioritize work and pragmatically innovate with generative AI to meet their most pressing business needs. From our unwavering commitment to building products responsibly and securely to how we engage with our customers and partners, I am proud of the trust we have forged along the way. Whether you are leveraging our copilot capabilities across the Microsoft Cloud, working with our partners to apply industry-specific cloud and AI solutions or seeking to co-innovate and co-develop to build custom solutions, I look forward to working alongside you to accelerate your AI transformation.

The post Innovating with responsibility: How customers and partners are bridging data, AI and trust with the Microsoft Cloud appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

Throughout history, the right tool, in the right hands has always sparked transformation. From moving water across hundreds of miles via ancient aqueducts to putting the world’s knowledge at our fingertips with the advent of smartphones, these tools change our lives. And now we’re seeing the potential of the next great shift: the new era of AI.

This shift isn’t coming a few years down the road, or even in a few months. Your opportunity to lead in this new era of AI is right now. It’s one of the most exciting shifts of our generation, and we’re just starting to see the impact.

We believe leaders will see this impact take shape across three key dimensions—for individuals, for business functions, and for entire industries.

Transforming productivity for every individual

AI is fundamentally changing how we as individuals relate to and benefit from technology. Our own natural language is now the key to unlocking value—we think of it as having a copilot to navigate any task.

A copilot is an AI-driven partner guided by an individual to amplify creativity and accelerate results. As tasks get more complex, a copilot can deliver even greater value. But an individual is always in control—it’s a copilot, not an autopilot. Individuals determine, guide, and approve the output.

We recently announced our vision for Microsoft Copilot, a digital companion for your whole life. And to be your AI assistant at work, Microsoft 365 Copilot works across calendars, emails, chats, documents, meetings, and more. It’s already being used by tens of thousands of enterprise users in our Early Access Program including customers at companies like Visa, General Motors, KPMG, and Lumen Technologies, and will be generally available on November 1, 2023.

And we know productivity looks different for specialized roles, like developers. With GitHub Copilot, developers can get guidance and suggested code right in line, simply by describing what they want using natural language. At General Motors, developers are using GitHub Copilot to get up to speed faster, so they can start collaborating with more seasoned peers right away. New developers don’t have to spend as much time on structure or formatting—instead, they can focus on adding value and contributing check-ins.

In today’s world, we have access to more data and information than ever before. But how do we make sense of it all? That’s where AI can help. When we don’t need to spend as much cognitive energy on figuring out what happened in that meeting, getting caught up on email, or finding that document from that chat last week, we can spend more time on the substance of our work.

Using AI effectively means augmenting human capability and accelerating everyone’s innate ingenuity. For individuals, AI clears the space for human creativity to flourish. 

Transforming work with Microsoft Copilot

Designed to help you be more productive, spark your creativity, and to meet the everyday needs of your business.

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Shifting what success looks like for every role and function 

Nearly every leader is looking to optimize their core business functions. They’re looking for cost savings, increased efficiency, modernized operations, topline revenue growth, or market growth. Today, AI is becoming the catalyst that can accelerate these outcomes across every business role and function.

Take sales, for example. Sales leaders have many highly specific priorities, including optimizing seller time with customers, ensuring data quality and pipeline hygiene, and shortening the sales cycle so they can deliver revenue faster. However, traditional sales technology often gets in the way. Sellers are juggling highly manual and disjoined processes spanning email, spreadsheets, and customer relationship management (CRM) software. It’s no wonder that 78 percent of sellers would be happy to have some help from AI to make everyday tasks easier.¹

With Microsoft Sales Copilot, we’re already seeing organizations like global security services provider Securitas empower their sellers to spend less time on data entry and focus more of their energy on customers. Philip Eklund, Vice President of Client Engagement Platform at Securitas, says, “Opportunity summary in Microsoft Sales Copilot is a huge and important leap in our direction to save more time for our sales personnel.”

Let’s consider another critical business function: security. For security professionals, AI is the game-changer we’ve been waiting for. It’s not just about defense, it’s about taking the initiative, learning from the environment, and adapting faster than the threats can evolve. Asset management firm Bridgewater, one of the organizations currently previewing Microsoft Security Copilot, claims that this leap forward is so momentous that security operations from 2021 may seem “prehistoric” by December 2024.

These core business functions are undergoing a fundamental shift, with AI redefining what success looks like and how organizations can deliver value.

Envisioning a new future for every industry

Every industry is facing unique challenges, opportunities, pressures, and constraints, and the effects of generative AI will be felt in radically different ways depending on whether you’re in the energy sector, financial services, manufacturing, or any other industry. But one thing is clear—the potential for impact is incredible.

This potential is perhaps most evident when we consider healthcare. AI can help reinvent care delivery with more personalized patient experiences, increase the productivity and efficiency of care practitioners to address industry challenges like clinician burnout, and unlock predictive insights that help to improve the quality and accessibility of healthcare services. We’re proud to partner with industry leaders like Epic to bring together Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare with Epic’s deep healthcare expertise. Capabilities like Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, Nuance DAX Copilot, and our partnership with Epic are revolutionary for the healthcare industry—take a look at how our AI-powered solutions can help clinicians reduce administrative burden and enable them to spend more time focused on direct patient care.

Another industry in which AI will have an incredible impact is retail—in fact, McKinsey estimates that generative AI could deliver increased revenue of up to $660 billion each year for the retail and consumer packaged goods sectors through increased revenue, greater customer loyalty, or operational efficiencies.² We’ll see this transformation take shape with more personalized customer experiences, conversational commerce, analytics, customer service, more productive store associates, and new supply chain efficiencies, just to name a few.

One retail use case gaining traction is frictionless shopping. Facing narrow profit margins and a labor shortage impacting much of the world, retailers are looking for ways to drive down operational costs while continuing to delight their customers—and AI is putting autonomous, frictionless shopping experiences within reach for retailers large and small. Choice Market, a small but growing convenience chain, is using Microsoft Cloud for Retail to better understand its customers so they can offer the right product, at the right price, in the right place—including their best-selling breakfast burrito.

Our responsibility to shape the future together

As we transform productivity for every individual, shift the definition of success for every role and function, and envision new futures for radically different industries, considering AI safety is not an optional feature. It’s a requirement, and it can’t be an afterthought. 

That’s why Microsoft is committed to responsible AI, an approach to developing, assessing, deploying, and using AI systems in a way that aligns with human values and does not cause harm to individuals, communities, or society. We are committed to sharing our learnings around responsible AI as we’ve developed and deployed our own AI solutions, and offering tools and resources to help our customers approach AI responsibly for their own organizations.

And as you chart your path in this new era of AI, we are committed to supporting you with guidance, resources, and information you can use.

We’ve worked with customers, industry experts, and Microsoft leaders to identify five critical factors for AI success that you should consider as your organization looks to the future. You can also explore some of the top use cases we’ve seen deliver impact across industries, as inspiration for how you can get started.

The opportunity before all of us to shape this new era of AI is simply extraordinary, and it’s one of the most significant shifts of our generation. We’re excited to partner with you on this journey.  

Sources

¹ How Sellers Can Use AI to Better Engage with Customers

² The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier, McKinsey Digital

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