Coca-Cola collaborates with Microsoft to boost cloud and AI initiatives

The Coca-Cola Company has announced that it is entering a five-year strategic partnership with Microsoft with the aim of aligning Coca-Cola’s core technology strategy systemwide.

The partnership also aims to enable the adoption of leading-edge technology and foster innovation and productivity globally.

Coca-Cola has pledged $1.1 billion to support its partnership with Microsoft Cloud, focusing on the cloud’s generative AI capabilities.

Throughout the partnership, both companies have said that they will jointly experiment with “groundbreaking new technology” such as Azure OpenAI Service to develop innovative generative AI use cases across various business functions. This includes testing how Copilot for Microsoft 365 could help improve workplace productivity.

“Through our long-term partnership, we’ve made significant progress to accelerate systemwide AI transformation across The Coca-Cola Company and its network of independent bottlers worldwide,” explained Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer, Microsoft.

“We’re proud to support Coca-Cola as it continues to embrace the era of AI and looks to solutions like Azure OpenAI Service and Copilot to drive innovation across every area of its business.” 

Coca-Cola has reportedly now migrated all of its applications to Microsoft Azure and has been innovating with generative AI for nearly a year. It says that it has leveraged Azure OpenAI Service to reimagine its work, including marketing to manufacturing and supply chain.

Currently, the beverage giant is researching the use of generative AI-powered digital assistants on Azure OpenAI Service as a way to help employees improve customer experiences, streamline operations, foster innovation, gain a competitive advantage, boost efficiency and uncover new growth opportunities.

“This new agreement builds on the success of Coca-Cola’s partnership strategy with Microsoft, showing our commitment to ongoing digital transformation. Our partnership with Microsoft has grown exponentially, from the $250 million agreement we initially announced in 2020 to $1.1 billion today,” noted John Murphy, President and Chief Financial Officer of The Coca-Cola Company.

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The agreement marks a milestone in Coca-Cola’s digital transformation journey, aimed at leveraging Microsoft’s cloud and AI platforms to drive efficiency and scalability. Through this partnership, Coca-Cola has a broader access to key Microsoft solutions including Microsoft 365, Power BI, Dynamics 365, Defender and Fabric.

“Our expanded partnership with Microsoft is an important next chapter in Coca-Cola’s journey toward a digital-first enterprise powered by emerging technologies. Microsoft’s capabilities help accelerate our adoption of AI to create incremental enterprise value,” added Neeraj Tolmare, senior vice president and global chief information officer for The Coca-Cola Company.