Microsoft Corp. and the Coca-Cola Company have announced a five-year strategic partnership to align Coca-Cola’s core technology strategy systemwide, enable the adoption of leading-edge technology, and foster innovation and productivity globally.
As part of the deal Coca-Cola has made a $1.1 billion commitment to the Microsoft Cloud and its generative AI capabilities, the two companies disclosed in a statement released on Tuesday.
The statement noted that the collaboration underscores Coca-Cola’s ongoing technology transformation, underpinned by the Microsoft Cloud as Coca-Cola’s globally preferred and strategic cloud and AI platform.
Through the partnership, the companies will jointly experiment with groundbreaking new technology like Azure OpenAI Service to develop innovative generative AI use cases across various business functions, the companies said. This includes testing how Copilot for Microsoft 365 could help improve workplace productivity.
Long-term partnership
Commenting on the new partnership deal, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer of Microsoft, Judson Althoff, said:
- “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.
- “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.”
- “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,” said John Murphy, President and Chief Financial Officer of the Coca-Cola Company.
As part of the deal, Coca-Cola is said to have migrated all its applications to Microsoft Azure, with most major independent bottling partners following suit. The statement added that Coca-Cola as a pioneer in AI adoption, has been innovating with generative AI for nearly a year and has already leveraged Azure OpenAI Service to reimagine everything from marketing to manufacturing and supply chain and beyond.
The company is said to be currently exploring the use of generative AI-powered digital assistants on Azure OpenAI Service to help employees improve customer experiences, streamline operations, foster innovation, gain a competitive advantage, boost efficiency, and uncover new growth opportunities.
Coca-Cola’s digital journey
Senior Vice President and Global Chief Information Officer for the Coca-Cola Company, Neeraj Tolmare, said the expanded partnership with Microsoft is an important next chapter in the company’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,” he said.
Tolmare said the agreement reflects a significant step in advancing Coca-Cola’s digital transformation, focused on providing expanded access to Microsoft’s cloud and AI platforms — as well as solutions such as Microsoft 365, Power BI, Dynamics 365, Defender and Fabric — to enhance efficiency and scalability while fostering innovation across the system.
