FedEx and Microsoft have announced a partnership that aims to “reinvent the end-to-end commerce experience globally.”
The companies' first solution, FedEx Surround, has been designed to provide businesses with “near-real-time” analytics when it comes to shipment tracking. It's able to provide insights “down to the granular level of ZIP code,” and will also collect multiple data points, all of which will be gathered through enhanced scanning and proprietary IoT technology.
FedEx Surround service will then analyze the data, leveraging Microsoft’s broad suite of AI, machine learning and analytics solutions to do so.
At this time, FedEx Surround is being offered to any business with a supply chain. Those that depend on highly time-sensitive deliveries will also have the opportunity to use the tool.
Frederick W. Smith, chairman and CEO of FedEx shared in the announcement of the partnership: “Together with Microsoft, we will combine the immense power of technology with the vast scale of our infrastructure to help revolutionize commerce and create a network for what’s next for our customers.”
Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, echoed this sentiment, adding: “Together with FedEx, we will apply the power of Azure, Dynamics 365 and their AI capabilities to this urgent need, building new commerce experiences that transform logistics for our mutual customers around the world.”
While FedEx currently links more than 99% of the world’s gross domestic product across 220 countries and territories, Microsoft claims 95% of Fortune 500 companies trust Azure. With such promising stats behind them, there’s no doubt that small and large businesses will benefit from this partnership.
Naturally, we expect FedEx and Microsoft to announce additional solutions in the future. These solutions are also expected to leverage a number of Microsoft tools, Dynamic 365 included.
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