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Like the old ad campaign says: everything’s better with a Coke – even generative artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud innovation!
The Coca-Cola Company and Microsoft have announced a new five-year partnership focusing on “Coca-Cola’s core technology strategy system-wide”.
At the heart of the deal is Coca-Cola’s US$1.1 billion commitment to Microsoft’s generative AI Microsoft Cloud technologies.
The two companies will also work together on experimenting with the Azure OpenAI Service to create new uses for generative AI in business functions.
“Through our long-term partnership, we have made significant progress to accelerate system-wide AI transformation across The Coca-Cola Company and its network of independent bottlers worldwide,” said Judson Althoff, executive vice-president and chief commercial officer at Microsoft, in a statement.
“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 five-year deal demonstrates the company’s “commitment to ongoing digital transformation”.
“Our partnership with Microsoft has grown exponentially, from the US$250 million agreement we initially announced in 2020 to US$1.1 billion today,” Murphy said.
Coca-Cola and most of its bottling partners have already moved their applications to Microsoft Azure, and the company has been working on its generative AI plans for almost a year now, integrating Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI Service into strengthening its supply chain, marketing power, and manufacturing.
“Our expanded partnership with Microsoft is an important next chapter in Coca-Cola’s journey towards a digital-first enterprise powered by emerging technologies,” said Neeraj Tolmare, senior vice-president and global chief information officer for The Coca-Cola Company.
“Microsoft’s capabilities help accelerate our adoption of AI to create incremental enterprise value.”
David Hollingworth has been writing about technology for over 20 years, and has worked for a range of print and online titles in his career. He is enjoying getting to grips with cyber security, especially when it lets him talk about Lego.