The Coca-Cola Company has deepened its collaboration with Microsoft Corp for a five-year strategic partnership to foster innovation and productivity globally. The beverage company has made a $1.1 billion commitment to the Microsoft Cloud and its generative AI capabilities.
The five-year partnership spotlights Coca-Cola’s ongoing technology transformation. Microsoft and The Coca-Cola Company will jointly experiment with groundbreaking new technology like Azure OpenAI Service to develop innovative generative AI use cases across various business functions, including how Copilot for Microsoft 365 could help improve workplace productivity.
Judson Althoff, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Microsoft, said they have made significant progress to accelerate system-wide AI Transformation across The Coca-Cola Company and its network of independent bottlers worldwide. “We are proud to support Coca-Cola as it continues to embrace the era of AI and looks to solutions like Azure OpenAI Service and Copilot for Microsoft 365 to drive innovation across every area of its business.”
John Murphy, president and chief financial officer of The Coca-Cola Company, said the new agreement builds on the success of Coca-Cola’s partnership strategy with Microsoft. It shows Coca-Cola’s commitment to the 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.”
Neeraj Tolmare, senior vice president and global chief information officer at The Coca-Cola Company, said the latest agreement reflects a significant step in advancing their digital transformation. “It’s 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.”
Tolmare added that their partnership with Microsoft is an important next chapter in The Coca-Cola Company’s journey toward a digital-first enterprise powered by emerging technologies. He said Microsoft’s capabilities help accelerate their adoption of AI to create incremental enterprise value.
The Coca-Cola Company said it has moved all its applications to Microsoft Azure, with major independent bottling partners following suit. As a pioneer in AI adoption, Coca-Cola 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. Moreover, The Coca-Cola Company is 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.
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