The transformation of employee workstations (Digital Workspace) is a field that we already cover extensively with Microsoft, for instance via Office 365 (Business Together Microsoft). Our offer will be expanded from end to end via a greater combination of solutions from Microsoft and Orange Business. The aim is to provide a “total workspace” based around Microsoft 365 solutions, combining tools to enhance productivity, collaboration, communication, security and analytics, along with vertical solutions and services to respond as closely as possible to business needs and to the operational requirements of businesses.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a field in which Orange Business and Microsoft joined forces in late September 2017, with Datavenue modular solutions on one side and the Azure IoT Suite on the other. Industrial partners were first in line. The leading major customer, e.l.m leblanc, which manufactures gas water heaters and boilers, thus headed successfully for industry 4.0. This partnership signed in late 2017 has now been strengthened. Consequently, be on the lookout for further announcements in the IoT field, with the establishment of Microsoft-OBS teams dedicated to the co-creation of IoT and cognitive solutions based on Azure.
In the field of business applications and customer relations management (CRM), we are keeping the present and the future in mind through ever-more advanced solutions built around Dynamics 365 CRM and contact offers from Orange Business. In the future, we will do so through artificial intelligence and one of its most promising applications in the CRM field, bots; more specifically chatbots, which interact with users to help and advise them. AI and bots are set to play an increasingly large role in business life, and not just in the field of customer relations.
Another key area at the heart of this shift is the cloud, with upcoming information management offers from Orange Business dedicated to Microsoft’s Azure Cloud (Managed Services). Businesses will thus be able to entrust us with managing their cloud services and infrastructure. This is an important step for professionals that do not have the resources, the time, or the know-how required to manage their Azure Cloud in-house. Software development is not being left behind, with the development of mobile solutions connecting Azure Cloud applications and the use of Xamarin. Xamarin helps to make .NET interoperable with all major mobile platforms on the market.
The last point of note, closer ties in cybersecurity and data protection solutions to protect user data (in particular offers involving “Active Directory”). These factors have always been crucial for both Orange Business / Orange Cyberdefense and Microsoft in this partnership.
Businesses are headed for digital transformation with Orange Business!
Graduated from HEC Paris, Vincent Lahoche has more than 20 years of experience in marketing, partnership and business development in the telecommunication sector (mobile, internet, BToC and BToB). He is now Vice President of Technology Partnership in charge of business development and technology partnership strategy with Business Units and distribution channels.