News

Vodafone Partners with Microsoft to Boost Generative AI in Europe and Africa

• By John K. Waters
• 01/22/2024

Vodafone and Microsoft have announced a 10-year strategic partnership focused on enhancing digital services for more than 300 million businesses, public sector organizations, and consumers throughout Europe and Africa.

This collaboration is set to revamp Vodafone’s customer experience by integrating Microsoft’s advanced generative AI technology and to expand Vodafone’s managed IoT connectivity platform. The initiative will also introduce new digital and financial services aimed at businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the two continents, and revitalizing Vodafone’s global data center cloud strategy.

To further these goals, Vodafone has committed to investing $1.5 billion over 10 years in cloud services and AI solutions tailored for customers and developed through its partnership with Microsoft. Microsoft, in turn, will rely on Vodafone’s extensive fixed and mobile connectivity services.

Microsoft plans to invest in Vodafone’s IoT platform, setting it up as an independent business by April 2024. This move is expected to attract fresh partnerships and clientele, fostering application development and broadening connectivity to encompass a wider array of devices, vehicles, and machines.

The partnership promises to utilize cutting-edge generative AI to craft highly personalized customer interactions across multiple channels, adhering to Vodafone’s robust framework of ethical and unbiased AI practices.

Vodafone Group's CEO, Margherita Della Valle, emphasized the partnership's role in propelling the digital evolution of the European and African markets, especially for SMEs, and enhancing consumer experiences.

"Today, Vodafone has made a bold commitment to the digital future of Europe and Africa," she said in a statement. "This unique strategic partnership with Microsoft will accelerate the digital transformation of our business customers, particularly small and medium-sized companies, and step up the quality of customer experience for consumers."

Satya Nadella, Microsoft's Chairman and CEO, echoed this sentiment.

"This new generation of AI will unlock massive new opportunities for every organization and every industry around the world," said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft. “We are delighted that together with Vodafone we will apply the latest cloud and AI technology to enhance the customer experience of hundreds of millions of people and businesses across Africa and Europe, build new products and services, and accelerate the company’s transition to the cloud."

The two companies identified five key areas of collaboration:

• Generative AI: To increase customer satisfaction, the companies will apply the power of Microsoft Azure OpenAI to deliver frictionless, real-time, proactive and hyperpersonalized experiences across all Vodafone customer touchpoints, including its digital assistant TOBi (available in 13 countries). Vodafone employees will also be able to leverage the AI capabilities of Microsoft Copilot to transform working practices, boost productivity and improve digital efficiency.
• Scaling IoT: Microsoft intends to invest in Vodafone’s new, standalone global Internet of Things (IoT)-managed connectivity platform, which connects 175 million devices and platforms worldwide. Vodafone also plans to become part of the Azure ecosystem making the IoT platform available to a vast developer and third-party community using open APIs.
• Africa digital acceleration: Microsoft intends to help further scale M-Pesa, already the largest financial technology platform in Africa, by housing it on Azure and enabling the launch of new cloud-native applications. The companies are also launching a purpose-led program that seeks to enrich the lives of 100 million consumers and 1 million SMEs across the African continent. The goal is to enhance digital literacy, skilling, and youth outreach programs, as well as offer digital services to the underserved SME market. The partnership aims to boost financial services innovation, building a community of certified developers.
• Enterprise growth: Vodafone will extend its commitment to distributing Microsoft services, including Microsoft Azure, security solutions and modern work offerings such as Microsoft Teams Phone Mobile, as part of its strategy to become Europe’s leading platform for business. This enables business customers to deploy Microsoft’s cloud-based services at pace with low adoption and running costs, as well as support the estimated 24 million SMEs across Europe through the provision of a managed platform that grows with their business.
• Cloud transformation: Vodafone will accelerate its cloud transformation by modernizing its data centers on Microsoft Azure. This will improve its responsiveness to customers, while simplifying and reducing the operational costs of its IT estate. As a result, Vodafone will be able to replace multiple physical data centers with virtual ones across Europe, simplifying and reducing the operational costs of its IT estate, as well as reducing energy requirements and helping deliver against its sustainable business strategy.