Microsoft Azure now cloud platform of choice for Coles
Australian grocer Coles has inked a strategic partnership with Microsoft. This will see the retailer, which is looking to achieve A$1 billion ($685.40 million) in cost savings by financial year 2023, move all its applications to the Microsoft Azure cloud platform.
Its use of Azure AI, meanwhile, will “improve the ability to use consumer insights to drive decision making and better meet customer needs. The partnership will provide team members with new tools to transform how they work, such as removing manual tasks for repetitive activities like stock management and price markdowns”.
Coles will also deploy Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 enterprise resource planning solution in its Coles Express and meat manufacturing businesses to “create simpler, more efficient and robust operations that empower team members”. And Microsoft will invest in the Coles innovation lab in pursuit of next-generation retail solutions.
“As a proudly Australian retailer for the past 105 years, we have constantly evolved to meet the needs of our customers – from a single general merchandise store in Melbourne to the first supermarkets and now same-day delivery to customers’ kitchen benchtops,” says Coles Chief Information and Digital Officer Roger Sniezek.
“This strategic partnership builds on our long-standing relationship with Microsoft and will enable the Smarter Selling pillar of our strategy through efficiency and pace of change. We’re very confident that Microsoft will empower us to achieve more.”