Today, Microsoft announced its first quarter earnings. One big takeaway is that we exceeded our goal to meet a $20 billion in commercial cloud annualized revenue run rate. This exciting milestone represents our continued delivery of new cloud technologies and our customers’ digital innovation. Across major industries — from finance and energy sector to retail and professional sports — organizations are betting on Microsoft to help them transform their customers’ experiences, employee productivity, operations and products. In fact, 96 percent of Fortune 500 companies have at least one of our cloud offerings, and 90 percent have at least two. I will share some of the product news and customer stories.
Last quarter, we shipped a range of cloud infrastructure and applications to give customers the foundation for new digital services. Our hybrid cloud solution, Azure Stack, is now available through hardware partners to help companies realize the benefits of an “intelligent cloud, intelligent edge.” We also introduced Azure Confidential Computing, an industry-first advancement in cloud security. Our differentiated hybrid cloud approach addresses the real-world needs of customers and is a key reason they are choosing to partner with Microsoft.
During the same period, Bank of America selected Azure for its tech infrastructure modernization and business transformation, including a goal to deliver 80 percent of its workloads in the cloud in the next few years. Also in financial services, TD Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation are using Azure and its data services to improve customer experiences. And the largest security technology company, Symantec, runs Norton security on Azure to help protect 50 million people, a key part of its hybrid cloud strategy.
From oil and gas to healthcare, industry leaders are choosing Azure. BP chose Azure to power its proprietary data lake to make better business decisions. Schlumberger’s new DrillPlan digital well construction solution relies on Azure and the Azure Stack, as well as Office 365 and Microsoft Teams. And, Haliburton’s DecisionSpace 365 digitizes the oil field with IoT on Azure. This week, we announced an alliance with PAREXEL, a leading biopharmaceutical services organization, to drive transformation in the life sciences industry powered by Azure technology. Together we’re aiming to accelerate the drug development process, reducing the time it takes to bring therapies to market and into the hands of patients.
Microsoft continues to invest in data and AI solutions that help customers convert raw information into insights and intelligent services. The new generation of Azure Machine Learning makes it easy to develop, experiment and deploy AI models on any data, at any scale. The new SQL Server 2017 is a hybrid cloud database for a company’s most important apps, with built-in AI and world-class security.
Steelcase is using Azure IoT to develop Steelcase Workplace Advisor and the Steelcase Personal Assistant app, which help organizations create workplaces that respond to the needs of people while also optimizing real estate investments. Online fashion retailer ASOS is using our global database service, Azure CosmosDB, to better serve 15 million active customers with relevant product recommendations as it introduces 5,000 new products every week. Progressive, one of the largest auto and homeowner insurance carriers, is using Microsoft AI to build its Flo Chatbot and transform the insurance quoting process. And Huawei is delivering real-time translation on the new Mate 10 series device using Microsoft Translator running on our Cognitive Services.
We are infusing AI into all our products, and this last quarter we announced Dynamics 365 AI solutions —part of our focus on business applications that modernize work processes. The first solution, already in use at HP Inc., includes an intelligent virtual agent for customer care and service. And across the board, customers of all stripes are adopting Dynamics 365 to reinvent how they do business, from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to the Seattle Seahawks. Our hometown football team is all in with Microsoft’s Cloud, Dynamics 365 and devices throughout its organization.
Fostering the modern workplace is a top priority as well. We want to empower everyone to be more creative and collaborative with Office 365, Windows 10 and security technology. In the first quarter, we advanced this effort with the introduction of Microsoft 365 F1 for the world’s 2 billion first-line workers, as well as Microsoft 365 Education, including Minecraft, for students and teachers.
From retail to automotive, we’re seeing companies leverage the power of our cloud to help their workforce collaborate. Lowe’s, a FORTUNE® 50 home improvement company, is creating a modern workplace for 260,000 employees and more personalized service in 2,200 stores, providing anytime access to productivity tools from any device, including Surface Hubs. Devon Energy, a Fortune 500 oil and natural gas exploration and production company, uses Microsoft 365 to connect field employees with engineers and petrochemical professionals a thousand miles away.
The Coca-Cola Co., the world’s largest beverage company, has selected and will deploy Windows 10 to be the foundation to safeguard its business with intelligent security built-in to modernize end user IT management processes to reduce cost, and to empower and unlock the creativity of its global workforce. Canadian Imperial Bank Corporation is deploying Windows 10 as the foundation of its modern IT workplace. The move will help empower their employees, improve efficiency and modernize end-user technology management tools and processes. Ford designers are using mixed reality to blend 3D holograms digitally with both clay models and physical production vehicles, allowing them to experiment and iterate on design much more quickly.
I am inspired every day by how our customers are embracing digital transformation to create lasting value. At Microsoft, nothing is more important than the success of their transformation, which is why we are committed to partnering at every step of their digital journey.
Judson
The post The story behind Microsoft’s earnings: Our customers’ digital innovation in the cloud appeared first on The Official Microsoft Blog.
Source: The Official Microsoft Blog