Microsoft and NEC Corporation announced on Tuesday that their decades-long partnership would be expanded.
The companies will use Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, NEC’s network and IT expertise, including 5G technologies, and each other’s AI and IoT solutions as part of a new multi-year strategic partnership to help enterprise customers and the public sector across multiple markets and industries accelerate their cloud adoption and digital transformation initiatives.
NEC will use Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform to provide expanded capabilities to achieve continuous digitization, assist clients with business model transformation, and create Digital Workplaces for the post-pandemic “new normal.”
The businesses will collaborate to transfer NEC’s on-premises IT architecture to Azure and deploy Azure Virtual Desktop and other Azure services among the NEC Group’s 110,000 global employees to accelerate Digital Workplace innovation and workforce transformation. This modernization builds on NEC’s existing Microsoft 365 platform to create a more secure and robust environment, allowing NEC and its clients in the commercial and public sectors in Japan and throughout the world to migrate to the cloud faster.
Through workplace and workforce transformation, the organizations will collaborate to assist improve digital services for the public sector and enterprise customers. For both public and private sector customers, faster and lower-latency data connections will deliver high-performance network experiences to create more efficient workplaces and empower employees to realize more individualized work styles.
The firms will collaborate to assist clients across industries modernize by leveraging both businesses’ assets, including Microsoft’s Intelligent Edge solutions and NEC’s private 5G networking technology. For example, in retail, the two companies will collaborate to analyze customer transaction data in real-time using AI in order to better understand buying trends, increase operational efficiency, and uncover new market opportunities.
NEC’s customer experience will be enhanced through innovative solutions, and store maintenance and operation will be more secure thanks to the combination of Azure and both businesses’ AI and IoT technologies and expertise. NEC and Microsoft also want to investigate network innovation projects based on Microsoft Azure for enterprise domains and sectors.
The firms will collaborate to expand the number of digital-focused engineers specializing in Microsoft technologies inside the NEC Group as a result of the partnership. This investment in technical skills and NEC workers’ knowledge will assist clients in achieving digital transformation success, which will benefit the market and society.
“As we’ve seen over the last year, digital adoption curves are increasing across every industry and business function,” stated Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella. “Our strategic relationship with NEC combines the power of Azure and Microsoft 365 with NEC’s services and infrastructure experience to assist public and private sector customers create resilience and evolve in this era of fast change,” says Microsoft.
NEC Corporation president and CEO Takayuki Morita remarked, “NEC is thrilled to join into this strategic relationship with Microsoft Corp.” “We will enable enterprises around the world to use digital services that are safer and more secure than ever before as they grow with digital initiatives, thanks to Microsoft’s trusted cloud and services, NEC’s experience in its own systems, and both companies’ AI and IoT technologies.”
“In the globe, and especially in Japan, the need for sustainable transformation to ensure company resiliency and growth has never been more important,” said Hitoshi Yoshida, president and CEO of Microsoft Japan. “Our collaboration will aid the industry’s cloud-based digital transformation and data migration, as well as Japan’s sustained global success, resulting in increased economic and societal prosperity.”
This announcement is founded on Microsoft and NEC’s long history of close partnership, which spans more than 40 years.
