But behind these numbers are the real stories—organizations that have moved beyond experimentation to embed AI at the heart of how they operate. These “AI Challengers”—bold, AI-first businesses that are not just adapting to change but actively challenging the status quo and shaping the future.

These AI challengers haven’t just implemented new tools—they’ve reimagined what’s possible when AI becomes a core business capability. Find out how these companies are pulling ahead:

BOQ Group—Human-led transformation for banking reimagined

BOQ Group champions an employee and customer first approach to AI transformation. “At BOQ Group, we are committed to transforming the way we work and serve our customers by building an AI-ready workforce,” explains Chief Information Officer Craig Ryman.

The bank’s strategic rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot delivered extraordinary results: over 70% of users now save 30 to 60 minutes each day. The impact extends far beyond time savings—completing business risk reviews in one day instead of three weeks, creating training programs in one day instead of three weeks, and improving report quality while speeding up sign-off processes from four weeks to one week.

BOQ’s approach emphasizes the critical insight that having a “human in the loop” is critical to AI adoption. The organization’s experience reveals universal adoption phases: users start with personal productivity gains, then focus on targeted opportunities, before ultimately transforming how work gets done entirely.

AI transformation is not just a technological transformation but a people-led transformation changing how we work. This is why it’s critical that any AI transformation starts by listening to and understanding team needs, spotting opportunities, and tackling challenges head-on to embrace the opportunities.

Enveda—Cracking the chemical code of life with AI

Enveda is innovating with AI by reinventing what is possible in medicine. It is focused on revolutionizing drug discovery by unlocking the potential of the vast majority of undiscovered molecules in nature. Enveda is using generative AI to identify and analyze thousands of compounds simultaneously, which significantly speeds up the drug development process and reduces costs.

“Today, nine out of ten drug candidates don’t make it through clinical trials, despite years of research and massive investment. This 90% failure rate pushes the cost of bringing a single new medicine to market as high as $6 billion. It’s an approach that simply can’t scale,” states CEO and Founder Viswa Colluru. 

At Enveda, AI is changing that. By decoding nature’s chemistry at scale, it is delivering drug candidates to clinical trials four times faster and at nearly one-tenth the cost.

AvePoint—Using AI to transform business inside and out

AvePoint is driving business innovation by embedding AI-powered capabilities into its product suite with Copilot. AvePoint also demonstrates the power of being your own best customer with its internal AI adoption. 95% of pilot participants actively use Copilot, with employees saving one to three hours per week by automating repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on higher-value work.

As Mario Carvajal, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, noted, “Our investors care about efficiency, and AI is helping us deliver that. By freeing up time for higher-value work, we’re making our teams more effective and our business more competitive.” 

To accelerate adoption, AvePoint had two key strategies: upskilling its employees and creating focused, department-specific initiatives. AvePoint also encouraged a dialogue that sparked curiosity, built confidence and helped AI become a natural part of its daily workflows. As AI continues to evolve, AvePoint is positioned to lead the way, proving that the right foundation is key to unlocking its full potential. 

Eaton—Revolutionizing its energy management using AI

Eaton showcases how industrial companies use AI across complex global operations. “AI offers limitless potential for innovation, providing transformative technical opportunities that align with our growth objectives and advance our mission for sustainability and energy resilience by supporting grid flexibility, enhancing energy management, and delivering superior service and outcomes for our customers.,” explains Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer Katrina Redmond. 

The company’s implementation of Copilot specialized agents brings functional expertise to areas like finance, sales, human resources, and service, handling repetitive, mundane tasks and freeing teams to focus on higher-value, strategic work that enables them to better serve their customers. By embedding AI into its culture and adopting a “think AI first” mindset, Eaton aims to drive further advancements in both technology, organizational strategy and will ensure that it can fully harness AI’s immediate potential while fostering sustained innovation across all aspects of its business.

The agent-enabled workplace

Each organization is driving innovation and demonstrates different aspects of the agent-enabled workplace—environments where AI agents work alongside human teams to accomplish complex business objectives, but all point toward a future where intelligent systems amplify human potential. 

Their success reinforces a critical insight: AI transformation requires more than technology adoption. It demands fundamental rethinking of business processes and competitive strategies. The organizations that recognize this—and act boldly on it—will define the next decade of business innovation. The future is here—and it’s time to claim your place in it. Will you lead or follow? 

Ready to join the AI challengers?

Explore how Microsoft’s AI solutions can transform your organization. Connect with our team to discuss your AI strategy or watch detailed case studies featuring each of these remarkable organizations.

Find the resources to support your AI journey:  

• Explore Microsoft’s AI solutions.
• Advance your AI transformation with AI business resources.
• View more AI Challengers executive insights.
• Listen to the Leading the Shift podcast to hear advice from leaders navigating the AI platform shift.

AI business resources

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¹ IDC 2025 Worldwide CEO Survey — Part 1: Overarching Insights, Business Priorities, and Risks, doc #US53155225, April 2025

² IDC, 2025 CEO Signature Report: Transforming Business for an AI World, doc #US53393625, June 2025

The post AI-powered innovation: How leading organizations are shaping the future appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

The United Kingdom (UK) is on the brink of a half-a-trillion-pound opportunity, powered by AI and cloud technologies that are set to transform industries, boost productivity, and redefine the way we work. As Europe’s most advanced digital economy, home to 171 unicorns worth more than £800 billion, the UK has already proven its appetite for innovation, investing more than £20 billion in AI since 2016. But realizing AI’s full potential isn’t just about investment, it’s about action.

AI is no longer a distant concept. Businesses across every sector are already embedding AI-powered agents into their operations—automating workflows, streamlining decision-making, and eliminating digital drudgery to free employees for more impactful work. The rise of agentic AI—technology that doesn’t just respond to commands but takes action on our behalf—marks a major shift, poised to revolutionize everything from customer service to cybersecurity, driving efficiency, resilience, and innovation at scale.

And yet, a stark AI divide is emerging. More than half of UK organizations still lack a formal AI strategy, and 57% of business leaders report a growing gap in productivity between AI adopters and non-adopters. With employees and leaders already stretched thin, the demand for AI-powered solutions has never been more pressing.

The question is no longer whether AI will reshape the UK economy, but how quickly businesses will step up to seize the opportunity. Organizations that act decisively—building clear AI strategies and investing in the right capabilities—will be the ones that thrive. I highlighted several of these leading organizations during my AI Tour keynote, and I’m excited to share more of their journeys here. 

Pets at Home reimagines integrated pet care with AI

Pets at Home, the UK’s largest pet care company, is transforming its operations with AI agents powered by Microsoft Copilot Studio. The company, which includes 450 retail stores, an online platform, veterinary practices, and grooming services, initially operated in silos but underwent a digital transformation to unify the customer experience across all channels using Microsoft Azure.

With a centralized data platform in place, Pets at Home turned to AI to enhance efficiency. One of the first AI agents supported fraud detection, swiftly analyzing vast amounts of data to identify suspicious transactions, such as repeated use of the same image for fraudulent refund claims. This has significantly improved fraud investigation speed and accuracy.

AI is also powering personalized customer interactions. With 8 million loyalty program members and 10 million pets, the company uses machine learning to recommend tailored pet care solutions across its retail, veterinary, and grooming services. This ensures customers receive relevant, stage-specific pet care guidance.

The company’s veterinary practices are using AI to reduce administrative tasks, allowing clinicians to focus more on patient care. AI-powered transcription services assist during consultations and operations, while scheduling automation improves efficiency, enhancing clinical focus, and aligning with the company’s mission of better pet care.

By integrating AI agents, Pets at Home has enhanced fraud detection, improved personalization, and streamlined veterinary operations, driving innovation and efficiency across its ecosystem.

Amey embraces AI agents for a safer, more connected workforce

Amey, a UK-based engineering firm, plays a vital role in designing, maintaining, operating, and building the country’s infrastructure. With services impacting 75% of the UK population daily, ensuring safety and efficiency is a top priority.

Access to safety information has long been a challenge for frontline workers, who previously had to stop tasks and manually sift through folders full of paper documents for relevant details. Without regular access to laptops or computers, Amey opted to democratize information access for its workforce with mobile-friendly AI-powered agents.

Now, 99% of its 118 million files are stored on SharePoint, and AI allows employees to retrieve answers instantly through a chat interface. No more digging through folders—critical safety information is now just a few taps away, preventing issues and resolving others faster.

The AI system boosts efficiency and safety by providing instant access to essential information, real-time troubleshooting, and multilingual support while maintaining English documentation. By filling gaps where supervisors aren’t always available, it reduces risks and empowers employees to work more confidently and get home safely every day.

With AI now embedded in everyday operations, Amey is setting new standards for workplace safety and efficiency, proving that technology is a powerful ally in protecting and empowering its workforce.

Nationwide streamlines operations and cuts response times with generative AI

Nationwide, the world’s largest building society, serves 17 million customers across more than 600 UK branches. After merging with around 250 smaller societies, it faced a tangled web of data. By applying Microsoft Azure, Azure Databricks, and Teradata’s VantageCloud, it streamlined everything into a powerful, centralized platform, empowering employees to access a complete view of customer needs in seconds, delivering faster, more personalized service with greater efficiency.

Nationwide has built upon that infrastructure by integrating GPT-4 within Azure OpenAI Service to augment various business functions. One of the most impactful applications has been in customer correspondence, where AI-generated letters have reduced response times from 45 minutes to approximately 10–15 minutes, a 66% improvement in efficiency. AI has also been deployed to automate routine back-office tasks, allowing employees to focus on addressing more complex customer inquiries and improving overall service quality, which reflects Nationwide’s philosophy of using AI as a “copilot” to assist employees rather than as an “autopilot” to replace them.

Nationwide has established an AI Centre of Expertise and an AI Council to oversee responsible AI use, ensuring transparency and responsible standards in collaboration with Microsoft. This framework builds customer trust while guiding the expansion of AI into contact center operations, credit risk assessment, economic crime monitoring, its virtual assistant Arti, and CO₂ emissions reporting.

Be My Eyes puts AI into the hands of blind and low-vision individuals

Be My Eyes has long connected blind and low-vision people with sighted volunteers and partner companies through live video assistance. Now, with AI, it’s radically improving accessibility. In collaboration with Microsoft, Be My Eyes is making AI models more inclusive for the 340 million people worldwide with no or low vision by integrating accessibility data to serve diverse needs better.

A key innovation is Be My AI, a tool that helps users independently navigate their digital world by providing AI-powered descriptions of on-screen content. Part of Be My Eyes for Windows, Be My AI makes it easier to browse websites, use applications, or read documents. It also provides descriptions of locally stored images, offering clarity on personal photos and saved graphics. Online images can be analyzed simply by copying them to the clipboard for a detailed text description. The tool even helps users prepare for video calls by checking if they are centered in the frame and describing their background before going live.

An interactive chatbot allows users to ask follow-up questions about descriptions for a more dynamic and personalized experience. While the app is still in beta, ongoing improvements and new features will continue to expand its capabilities, allowing Be My Eyes to improve accessibility and redefine independence for blind and low-vision people.

Virgin Money’s virtual assistant is “Redi” to transform customer service

Virgin Money, serving 6.6 million retail and business banking customers, sought to enhance digital customer experience by developing “Redi,” an award-winning virtual assistant. Built using Microsoft Copilot Studio and integrated with Dynamics 365 Customer Service, Redi bridges the gap between digital adoption and customer confidence.

Developed in close collaboration with frontline contact center staff and seamlessly integrated with the Dynamics 365 Knowledge Base, Redi features an intuitive digital journey that provides customers with timely and effective assistance. A core value to the company, the virtual assistant maintains Virgin Money’s distinctive brand voice, understanding colloquialisms and responding to informal language.

Virgin Money collaborated with compliance teams to ensure Redi’s interactions are clear and secure. The assistant introduces itself transparently and seamlessly transitions customers to human agents when handling complex issues, effectively triaging 90% of inquiries, boosting customer satisfaction ratings, and allowing contact center agents to focus on more complex tasks.

This strategic AI deployment exemplifies Virgin Money’s commitment to exceptional customer experience and recognition that the major role of agentic AI has in delivering that now and into the future.

AI for everyone in the UK: Decisive action

The UK’s AI journey has already been transformative, but the next era—powered by agentic AI—has the potential to be truly revolutionary. By and large, UK organizations recognize the competitive advantage AI has to offer, but have yet to fully unlock AI’s potential, citing barriers such as workforce readiness, strategic alignment, and regulatory uncertainty.

Overcoming these hurdles is challenging but certainly achievable. It requires investment not only in AI infrastructure but also in skills development. Microsoft has stepped in with full support for the UK economy, having made a multibillion-pound commitment to AI-enabled datacenters and bringing AI skills to an additional 1 million people by the end of this year, on top of the 1.5 million it has already given digital skills to.

This shared foundation is essential to putting the AI-powered economy within reach, but success will depend on how quickly and effectively businesses themselves take strategic steps to embrace AI. I posed these questions to those who attended the Microsoft AI Tour event in London, and I urge you to consider them as well: 

1. What are you trying to achieve in the next six months, and how can AI help you get there faster? 

2. How are you and your team set up to embrace the change, and what culture shifts are needed to ensure AI adoption is unencumbered? 
3. How can Microsoft and its partners be part of that journey? What do you need from us to accelerate your progress and deliver real outcomes? 

Together, we have the opportunity to shape an AI-powered future where businesses flourish, employees thrive, and the UK cements its position as a global leader in innovation. The time to act is now.

Find the resources to support your AI journey 

• Advance your AI transformation with AI business resources
• Microsoft Agents of Change
• ‘AI divide’ across UK organizations risks growth for many, new Microsoft research reveals

The post The UK’s opportunity to seize growth in the age of agentic AI appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

Sydney, Australia, recently played hosts to the Microsoft AI Tour, bringing together innovators, industry leaders, and government representatives to reinforce the extraordinary opportunity AI represents for Australia and discuss how we can shape the future of the country’s AI economy.

Microsoft also launched the first New Zealand hyperscale cloud in Aotearoa with major sustainability and skilling investments. Microsoft signed a long-term renewable energy contract and will run the latest water-free technology to cool the datacenter. The cloud region offers local data residency, enhanced security, and reduced latency, empowering New Zealand to leverage technology more efficiently at an unprecedented scale. The opening of Microsoft’s hyperscale cloud region marks the most significant milestone in the company’s nearly 40-year history in New Zealand and brings unprecedented opportunities for local organizations. 

As captured in a recent IDC study, the business potential of AI continues to accelerate across the globe, with generative AI adoption surging from 55% in 2023 to 75% in 2024. Companies are seeing a remarkable $3.7 return on investment for every $1 spent on generative AI, with deployments delivering value faster than ever—often within 13 months.¹ Recognizing AI’s transformative power, organizations are rapidly advancing their strategies, shifting from pre-built solutions to sophisticated, custom-built AI workloads within two years—highlighting AI’s pivotal role in shaping the competitive edge of the future.

Despite this rapid growth, a lack of technical and practical AI skills remains the top barrier for Australia, highlighting the need for targeted skilling to unlock AI’s full potential. Australia’s government and business leaders are both committed to closing that gap, partnering with Microsoft to provide AI and digital skills training to 1 million Australians and New Zealanders by 2026.

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AI for everyone in Australia

As Australia emerges as a leader in the global AI economy, the nation’s strengths in applications, AI datacenters, and data position it to drive transformative growth across industries. The AI Tour highlighted that AI transformation is not just about technology—it’s a collaborative effort.

From redefining insurance through the Suncorp’s AI-powered customer support tools to advancing retail innovation with Coles’ AI-as-a-service platform and improving public safety through AI solutions with the Australian Federal Police, Australian organizations are leveraging AI to reshape how they operate and serve their communities.

Businesses, governments, educators, and not-for-profits must work together to ensure AI serves all Australians safely and responsibly. With the right focus on infrastructure, skills, security, and responsible AI, the possibilities are limitless.

Brisbane Catholic Education rolls out Microsoft 365 Copilot to 12,500 educators

Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) has announced the world’s largest generative AI rollout in kindergarten through twelfth grade education, with a plan to provide Microsoft 365 Copilot to 12,500 educators and support staff. In an initial trial, educators reported saving an average of 9.3 hours per week by streamlining administrative tasks, information searches, and lesson planning.

BCE leveraged Microsoft Copilot Studio to create a generative AI tool that helps educators integrate Catholic traditions and values into the classroom. Drawing from BCE’s Catholic identity site, theological database, and religious education curricula, the tool ensures all staff, regardless of their Catholic background, can easily access guidance for applying a Catholic lens to lesson planning and life skills discussions with students.

Coles Group leverages AI to reimagine the grocery experience

Coles Group is revolutionizing the grocery business by leveraging advanced AI and cloud technologies to redefine operations and elevate customer experiences. Confronted with rising competition and shifting customer expectations, Coles turned to AI.

Among its standout AI initiatives is Tell Coles, a generative AI model that deciphers customer feedback to offer actionable insights for store managers, ensuring swift and meaningful improvements. Meanwhile, digital chef delivers hyper-personalized recipes and cooking tips in real time, powered by Microsoft Azure machine learning models.

Internally, Microsoft AI copilots provide team members with intuitive, real-time tools that streamline workflows and enhance productivity, enabling precision in inventory and operations across 850 stores, and resulting in heightened customer engagement, improved sustainability practices, and a blueprint for digital excellence in retail.

Petbarn’s AI assistant brings personalized pet care to customers

Petbarn has introduced PetAI, a generative AI solution designed to help pet owners keep their pets happy and healthy. Built with Azure OpenAI Service, Azure AI Search, and Azure App Service, PetAI acts as an intelligent assistant, offering personalized pet care advice and tailored product recommendations.

Launched on Petbarn’s website in October 2024, PetAI quickly gained traction, with thousands of customers embracing its functionality. Now integrated into the new Petbarn App, it provides a comprehensive, AI-powered approach for managing pet wellbeing, setting a new standard in personalized pet care.

Suncorp accelerates AI revolution in the insurance industry

Suncorp Group is transforming the insurance industry with AI integration across its operations. Leveraging the latest Microsoft AI capabilities at scale, Suncorp has more than 120 AI use cases in development to enhance both customer experience and employee satisfaction.

Among these innovations is Smart Knowledge, which analyzes thousands of articles to deliver relevant information to Suncorp’s contact center team, enabling faster and more accurate customer support. Additionally, Suncorp has implemented an Azure OpenAI Service-based solution that provides claims managers with a unified view of each insurance claim, reducing time spent tracking information across systems and shortening claim lifecycles by 9%.

To further improve employee experiences, Suncorp has rolled out Microsoft 365 Copilot alongside its AI+U Academy, a training initiative designed to empower staff to effectively use AI tools in their daily work. These efforts not only enhance employee satisfaction but also ensure exceptional outcomes for customers, solidifying Suncorp’s position as an industry leader in AI-powered innovation.

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) leverages AI to better protect Australians

Australia’s national policing agency, the Australian Federal Police (AFP), is expanding its partnership with Microsoft to develop custom AI solutions built on Azure AI services. With 7,000 staff members tasked with investigating federal crimes across Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, the AFP is leveraging AI to detect deepfake images and other problematic content. This work has shown particular promise in child protection, where AI has already enabled law enforcement to track child predators and rescue victims more effectively.

Along with 50 other Australian Public Service agencies, the AFP is trialing Microsoft 365 Copilot, which has demonstrated early gains in officers’ efficiency by automating document and report creation. Further, the agency is exploring how AI can safeguard officers’ mental health, using generative AI to create text summaries of sensitive material and modify graphic images to reduce their psychological impact.

To address ethical and community concerns, the AFP has established a Responsible and Ethical AI Framework, drawing on Microsoft’s principles to ensure AI is implemented with diligence, accountability, and strong human oversight. These initiatives position the AFP as a leader in responsible AI use within law enforcement.

Find the resources to support your AI journey

Australia is only beginning to unlock the immense potential of AI, yet the AI Tour in Sydney showcased how visionary Australian organizations are already revolutionizing industries, from education and policing to banking and insurance. Let’s embrace this opportunity, together.

• Explore Microsoft’s AI solutions 
• Catch up on core concepts with AI Office Hours 
• Read An Introduction to Generative AI and Safety
• Assess your AI readiness

¹IDC InfoBrief: sponsored by Microsoft, 2024 Business Opportunity of AI, IDC# US52699124, November 2024.

The post Collaborating for impact: How AI is transforming Australia and New Zealand industries appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

The technological paradigm shift driven by AI solutions is redefining what current and future success looks like for every industry and market across the world. For a region like Latin America, this opens new paths to not only propel its economies but to positively impact each community. Crucially, it also presents powerful tools to address pressing challenges like skills development and sustainability, while being able to promote inclusive growth. The pivotal role cloud and AI solutions can play on Latin America’s development is substantial.

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Companies and organizations across the region are already showing eagerness to leverage this technology and realize the potential it entails. Countries like Colombia are home to innovative AI projects. While Brazil, the largest economy in Latin America, has the potential to propel its gross domestic product (GDP) growth by 4.2% through 2030 by strongly adopting AI, according to a study commissioned by Microsoft and conducted by the consultancy FrontierView in 2020.¹ Furthermore, the Brazilian market already represents the sixth largest GitHub developer community contributing to generative AI projects globally, demonstrating its appetite for innovation.²

These two markets are setting regional cloud and AI adoption examples on the global stage. Recently, Microsoft’s AI Tour visited both countries to highlight some of the most inspiring and impactful projects and initiatives driven by local organizations, companies, and communities in collaboration with Microsoft.

Project Guacamaya tackles deforestation in Colombia with AI

According to the Andean Amazon Monitoring Project, the Amazon rainforest lost about 3 million hectares to deforestation from 2022 to 2023.³ To address this worrying threat to one of the most diverse and complex ecosystem on the planet, various institutions, including Universidad de Los Andes, Instituto Alexander von Humboldt, Instituto Sinchi, IDEAM, and Microsoft AI for Good Lab, collaborated to create Project Guacamaya, a publicly available AI-powered tool to detect deforestation and biodiversity shifts.

This unique collaboration has brought the public and private sectors, educational institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) together to create a powerful solution using satellite imagery, camera traps, and bioacoustics to track forest coverage and deforestation patterns, allowing conservationists to better understand its impact and improve prevention and mitigation efforts.

Powering world class sustainable and secure cloud and AI infrastructure

Microsoft continues to evaluate and diligently work to address sustainability and resource needs associated with infrastructure growth. An agreement signed with the Amazon Reforestation Fund operated by Brazilian-based startup Mombak will provide a total of up to 1.5 million tons of carbon removal by 2032 from native biodiversity reforestation projects across the Amazon. This project provided the foundation for the World Bank to issue a USD225 million Amazon Reforestation-Linked Outcome Bond.

Another agreement was signed with Brazilian company re.green that aims to deliver approximately 3 million tons of carbon removal credits over a 15-year period, supporting the restoration of over 16,000 hectares of forest across Brazil, including the states of Maranhão and Bahia. Such programs join initiatives such as Microsoft’s 15-year renewable energy contract signed with AES Brasil for a wind generation project through the Cajuína Wind Complex, located in Rio Grande do Norte, and the agreement with BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group (TIG) to provide Microsoft with up to 8 million nature-based carbon removal credits through 2043 to be delivered from TIG’s USD1 billion reforestation and restoration strategy in Latin America, which includes the Cerrado biome in Brazil.¹

Colombia’s financial and insurance sectors lead the way in AI adoption

As one of the oldest banks in Colombia with a history that goes back to 1875, Bancolombia brings together tradition and fierce innovation by becoming the global leader in GitHub Copilot adoption. Empowering a technical team of 4,000 people, including 3,400 software and infrastructure engineers, the bank has achieved 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. This is the most recent development in Bancolombia’s continuous digital transformation journey to serve its 15 million customers in the region.

For its part, insurance company SURA is employing AI solutions for genomic sequencing processing and clinical and genetic data analysis as part of the work carried out by its Omics Sciences Center. The Center, which aims to transform the treatment of genetic diseases affecting millions of people in the region, led the National Association of Colombian Business Persons (ANDI) to recognize SURA as the most innovative insurer in the country.⁴ The AI-powered platform has had a significant impact on improving diagnostics, personalized treatment, and scientific research by generating more than 11,500 reports related to hereditary cancer panels and exomes.

ConectAI empowers Brazilians to reap the benefits of AI

In collaboration with 26 organizations in Brazil, including non-profits, educational institutions and governments, Microsoft launched ConectAI (formerly Conecta+), a program designed to provide AI skills training to 5 million people in the country. This ambitious initiative includes collaborations with the National Service for Industrial Training in São Paulo (SENAI), the Ministry of Labor and Employment through the “School of Workers 4.0” program, the non-profit Nova Escola providing training for educators, UNICEF to bring AI skills to people between 18 and 25 years old, and the National School for Public Administration (ENAP) to foster technological innovation in the public sector, among others.

The program represents the next stage in Microsoft’s continued push to enable greater innovation and increased competitiveness for the Brazilian market. Since 2021, Microsoft has fostered digital literacy in the country by engaging with 12.7 million people through the Mais Brasil program, a commitment exemplified by the recently announced investment of BRL14.7 billion in cloud and AI infrastructure over three years, the largest single investment in the company’s 35 year history in the country. 

The stage is set for Latin America’s new phase of development through AI

The amount of talent, creativity, and ambition in Latin America has made the region a hub for innovation in recent years, one now further empowered by recent developments in AI. The projects seen during Microsoft’s AI Tour editions in Colombia and Brazil are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential and competitiveness AI and cloud technologies are unlocking across crucial industries and sectors in each country. I am convinced the coming years will bring exciting new paths for success as these tools continue to deliver unprecedented solutions to both business and social challenges when combined with the exceptional ingenuity of Latin American markets.

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 announces 14.7 billion Reais investment over three years in Cloud and AI infrastructure and provide AI training at scale to upskill 5 million people in Brazil, Microsoft News Center Brasil.

²Octoverse: The state of open source and rise of AI in 2023, The GitHub Blog.

³Proyecto Guacamaya usa modelos IA contra la deforestación, Microsoft Source.

⁴Seguros SURA, a subsidiary of Suramericana, is the most innovative insurer in Colombia according to the most recent ANDI ranking.

The post Colombia and Brazil embrace the potential of cloud and AI solutions to drive growth and tackle social challenges appeared first on The Microsoft Cloud Blog.

Dynamics 365 Business Central brings the power of AI to small and medium-sized businesses to help companies work smarter, adapt faster, and perform better. AI in Dynamics 365 Business Central improves the way work gets done, enabling you to:

• Get answers quickly and easily using natural language.
• Save time by automating tedious, repetitive tasks.
• Spark creativity with creative content ideas.
• Anticipate and overcome business challenges.

Reclaim time for important work

In a small or medium-sized business, there is often a lot to do and not many people to help get it all done, so it’s important to make the most of your limited resources to accomplish your goals. Everyday activities like tracking down documents and bringing new employees up to speed can drain your valuable time. What if you had an AI-powered assistant ready to help you find exactly what you need without the hassle?

Available in early 2024, conversational chat using Copilot in Dynamics 365 Business Central helps you answer questions quickly and easily, locate records faster, and even learn new skills—all using natural language. Save time and effort by navigating to documents without having to use traditional menus, and rapidly onboard new users with answers to questions on how, when, or why to do things. Copilot is your everyday AI companion, helping you to speed through tasks, build momentum, and free time for your most impactful work. 

Streamline month-end tasks with enhanced bank reconciliation

Reconciling bank statement transactions with your financial system has often been a tedious monthly chore. Meticulously matching every line item to new or existing accounting entries takes time (and isn’t the most exciting way to spend an afternoon.) In the past, Business Central helped by auto-matching many of the simple one-to-one transactions, but the logic wasn’t able to decipher more complex scenarios such as when multiple charges were paid in a single transaction.

Now, Copilot in Business Central makes bank reconciliation even easier by analyzing bank statements that you import into Business Central, matching more transactions, and proposing entries for transactions that weren’t auto-matched. By comparing and interpreting transaction descriptions, amounts, dates, and patterns across fields, Copilot can help you improve the accuracy of your bank reconciliation while reducing manual effort.

Unlock creativity with marketing text suggestions

Copilot in Business Central helps product managers save time and drive sales with compelling AI-generated marketing text suggestions. Using key attributes like color and material, Copilot can create product descriptions in seconds tailored to your preferred tone, format, and length. Once you’ve made any adjustments, you can easily publish to Shopify or other ecommerce platforms with just a few clicks. Discover how Copilot can help you banish writer’s block and launch new products with ease.

Boost customer service with inventory forecasting

Effective inventory management is crucial in a competitive business environment as it can significantly influence a company’s success and customer retention. This process involves balancing customer service with cost control. Maintaining low inventory reduces working capital, but risks missing sales due to stock shortages. Using AI, the Sales and Inventory Forecast extension uses past sales data to forecast future demand, helping to prevent stockouts. Once a shortfall is identified, Business Central streamlines the replenishment process by generating vendor requests, helping you keep your customers happy by fulfilling their orders on time, every time.  

Reduce risk with late payment prediction

Managing receivables effectively is vital for a business’s financial wellbeing. With the Late Payment Prediction extension, you can reduce outstanding receivables and refine your collections approach by forecasting if outstanding sales invoices are likely to be paid on time. For instance, if a payment is anticipated to be delayed, you could modify the payment terms or method for that customer. By proactively addressing potential late payments and adapting accordingly, you can minimize overdue receivables, reduce risk of non-payment, and ultimately improve your financial performance.

Improve financial stability with Cash Flow Analysis

Powered by AI, Business Central can create a comprehensive Cash Flow Analysis to help you monitor your company’s cash position. Cash flow is a critical indicator of a company’s solvency, and cash flow analysis is an important future-focused planning tool that helps you maintain control over your financial health and make proactive adjustments to meet all your financial commitments. With insights from Business Central, you can pivot quickly to safeguard your company’s fiscal wellbeing, such as obtaining loans to cover cash shortfalls or cutting back on credit when you have surplus cash.

Work smarter with Copilot in Business Central

Copilot in Business Central gives your company an edge with AI-powered innovations that are a catalyst for unleashing human potential, fostering creativity, and driving efficiency in ways previously unimaginable. The integration of AI into everyday business processes is not just about staying ahead in a competitive market, it’s about redefining what’s possible in the workplace. With Business Central, your company is empowered to navigate today’s complex business environment with agility, precision, and a renewed focus on what truly matters.

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And this transformation is not just a vision for the future. AI is demonstrating real business value and economic impact for our customers today. In fact, companies have reported significant benefits from using Microsoft AI. Things like cost savings, optimized processes, reduced emissions, and personalized customer experiences.

As every company and organization looks to lead in the new era of AI, we believe there are four imperatives that define business success: customer engagement through AI, AI-empowered employee experiences, reshaping business processes, and bending the curve on innovation.

There are so many examples of organizations across industries turning to AI to launch innovative products, accelerate development time, reimagine data and AI at scale, and transform their work culture. Today I’d like to share how a few are using the power of the Microsoft Cloud and AI technologies to achieve all of this.

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Reinventing customer engagement

Customer loyalty is key to any business’s success, and there’s persistent pressure to personalize and improve the experience people have with brands they love. This is especially true in media and entertainment, for example, as companies are always looking for ways to better connect with their audience and grow market share.

More fans are turning to digital content to connect with the game and the National Basketball Association (NBA) wanted to grow its fan base with a highly customized and comprehensive experience.

“At the NBA, we’ve partnered with Microsoft to revolutionize the fan experience. Through the power of Microsoft’s cloud and AI technologies, we are able to harness the potential of our vast array of data sources and extensive historical video archive,” said Melissa Brenner, NBA Executive Vice President, Digital Media. “This has enabled us to create more personalized and tailored fan experiences, helping drive a 50 percent growth in NBA League Pass subscribers and tripling NBA App content video views from the previous season.”

Enriching employee experiences

While delivering engaging customer experiences is a critical business outcome, there’s another audience that’s just as important: the employees who serve those customers. And AI can create better experiences and empower the employees doing the work behind the scenes.

More and more, enterprise leaders want to help their employees with automated processes, the advantages of conversational AI, and even creative work. Moveworks is filling this need with a conversational AI platform that accurately interprets what employees require, regardless of how they phrase it—and delivers quick, customized responses that reduce interruptions to work.

Thread is on a mission to make it easier for IT technicians to communicate with customers. They used Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to help automate time-draining tasks and developed a new tool that utilizes generative AI models to streamline service requests. With these solutions, Thread helped free up IT service providers to focus on what matters most—delivering incredible service to customers.

Reshaping business processes

Many companies have already built systems that address certain issues for certain functions over time, but they end up with isolated pieces of useful information that can be hard to access and combine. AI can reveal integrated insights that help anticipate and speed up the information teams need by finding and making the right connections.

Heineken has a vision to be the best-connected brewer, and it is always looking for ways technology can help its mission. They’ve been exploring AI to help update their business processes and are now developing internal chatbots to help connect employees with corporate resources, help executives access meaningful financial data, and help employees manage equipment across their supply chain. Heineken is discovering that using AI efficiently can save employee time and mental energy to deal with more significant and creative business problems. 

“Fast fashion” is a term used to describe the mass manufacturing of runway styles quickly and cheaply. However, today’s consumers are increasingly concerned with sustainability and often make their purchasing decisions accordingly. So fashion designers need to find a way to meet demand while reducing waste. I love the story of Fashable, a fashion company based in Portugal. They faced challenges of unsustainable production, excess inventory, and long production cycles. With the help of Microsoft AI, they developed an algorithm to create original clothing designs, helping match customer demand, accelerate market entry, and reduce clothing waste.

Bending the curve on innovation

Companies in every industry are eager to gain any kind of edge to stay ahead of competition. In the financial services industry, we’ve seen that one of the biggest opportunities is data: delivering the right data at the right time, while reducing complexity and increasing flexibility.

As part of our 10-year strategic partnership, Microsoft and the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) are reshaping the future of global finance. Sophisticated analytics and advanced modeling are now a critical success factor for any customer making strategic business decisions – and data is the most meaningful factor in that equation. LSEG is working with Microsoft to bring together our horizontal software capabilities with their industry-specific financial market infrastructure, data, and analytics, enabling customers to realize increased value, faster, with streamlined workflows tailored specifically to their needs. And with this data foundation, LSEG can deliver AI-powered solutions that are even more valuable for financial services organizations – generating insights that are reliable, trusted, and relevant to the task at hand.

Accelerate your AI journey responsibly

It’s clear that AI is transforming every industry and creating new possibilities and challenges for businesses of all sizes. Whether you want to improve your operations, enrich your customer experience, or foster innovation in products, services, or business models, AI can help you reach your objectives and keep you competitive. To thrive with AI, you need a clear vision, a solid strategy, and a reliable partner.

At Microsoft, we’re committed to the progress of AI guided by ethical values and believe AI systems should be responsible by design. We believe AI must be built on a foundation of security, risk management, and trust. We documented our own journey of creating AI principles, tools and best practices and shared our Responsible AI Standard playbook as a resource every customer can use to build their own Responsible AI practices, policies, and processes. Every organization has unique needs and challenges they’re looking to address with AI, and resources like the Responsible AI Standard can help you accelerate your journey.

So, how could AI help your organization? How can you save time, create better experiences, or realize new insights for your business? 

As a first step, we suggest you explore the five pillars of AI success, where you can find out how to plan and implement a successful AI strategy based on insights and best practices.

Next, build your AI skills and capabilities with this learning path, which provides business leaders with the information and tools to implement AI in their organizations. It covers how to plan, strategize, and grow AI projects in an ethical manner, so it’s a great resource.

Beyond the insights and all the stories shared here, you can also check out the Official Microsoft Blog for more information on the business opportunity of AI. The blog discusses how AI can help organizations drive economic value and solve their challenges.

We’re here to support you in your AI innovation with resources, guidance, and tools. Now the only question is, are you prepared to accelerate your AI journey?

The post AI transformation in action—how organizations are innovating today 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.

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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. 

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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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