The current macro economy is challenging for the business, but economies of scale will maximize the value of their digital investments. As businesses navigate uncertainty and shape the future, "doing more with less" is more important than ever. Cloud technologies, including the Internet of Things and machine learning, provide businesses with unparalleled agility and efficiency, accelerate innovation, and make security more comprehensive, while driving growth and advancing sustainability commitments.

Companies are helping people harness digital capabilities to improve work and life: German automaker Mercedes-Benz is simulating and improving car production processes in the Microsoft cloud indefinitely, which is expected to increase vehicle production efficiency by 20 percent by 2025. To give joint customers more choice, Cisco and Microsoft have teamed up to offer native Microsoft Teams capabilities on Cisco Room and Desk devices. 3M offers a Post-It® app in the Teams app store that allows users to digitize handwritten notes. Through a redesigned global app that runs on Microsoft's intelligent cloud Azure, the NBA offers fans new personalization features, such as the full content of every NBA game, behind-the-scenes interviews with players and teams, and more. Just last week, the Swiss bank announced that it will move more than 50 percent of its applications to Microsoft Azure as its primary cloud platform to further modernize its global technology assets.

Mercedes-benz and Microsoft join forces: The new MO360 data platform makes car production more efficient, flexible and sustainable. From left to right: Judson Althoff, Executive Vice President Worldwide and Chief Business Officer, Microsoft; Jan Brecht, Chief Information Officer, Mercedes-Benz; and Jorg Burzer, member of the Mercedes-Benz Management Board responsible for production and supply chain Management

Industry leaders add to public cloud to unlock economies of scale

McLaren Automotive, a well-known racing brand committed to providing excellent customer service, uses Azure for production and development systems and can save up to 70% in costs by setting aside 1 or 3 years of resources for dedicated use. Mars, a global manufacturer, runs approximately 10,000 cloud processes and 4,000 applications and uses the Power Platform to automate processes including internal corporate approvals. Czech telecom company O2 Czech Republic moved workloads from on-premises infrastructure to Azure, resulting in a 30% reduction in total cost of ownership. Taiwan-based manufacturer Inventec is increasing productivity with Azure iot, machine learning and 5G services, cutting deployment time for AI and automated optical inspection applications in half and reducing maintenance by 25 percent. With Power BI, Denmark-based GN has improved data quality by about 50% in just three quarters. Greek energy company Hellenic Petroleum's cloud migration journey is still underway, but its IT infrastructure costs have been reduced by 30% after migrating 50% of its load to Azure. With Azure, Bahrain Public Transport Company has improved on-time performance and reliability while reducing costs by 30%.

Companies reinvent their operations to win a green future

Coca-Cola Hellenic is embracing the industrial metaverse with HoloLens and Microsoft Mesh, seeing the entire production line in action through a visual bottling facility. The technology also helps companies reduce energy consumption based on machine operating conditions and carbon emissions insights. Equinor, a Norwegian-based energy company, is designing products and simulating their effectiveness before applying them to the physical world. Through Microsoft Energy Data Services and Microsoft Intelligent Cloud Azure, Equinor breaks down data silos and streamlines operations for a low-carbon future. German energy company E.ON is using Azure Data Factory and Azure machine learning to speed up model training by 50% to accelerate the rollout of sustainable district heating and cooling networks. Telstra wants data insights from the Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability to help its corporate customers in Australia accelerate sustainability and business growth. Ontario Power Generation, based in Canada, selected Microsoft's Intelligent Cloud Azure to modernize its applications and IT infrastructure and ultimately reduce carbon emissions by accelerating cloud migration and transforming its business operations.

Building Bridges between the real world and the digital world

Barclays, a U.K.-based bank, is deploying Microsoft Teams to bring its global workforce closer together. Unity is partnering with Microsoft to enable digital creators, 3D artists, and developers to build and run real-time 3D experiences on Microsoft's intelligent cloud Azure and more easily publish on Xbox and PC to reach the gaming and non-gaming communities. Nissan chose HoloLens 2 and Dynamics 365 Guides to help operators learn, reducing the workload of instructors. Luxembourg-based SES used Viva Insights to reduce meeting time by 100,000 hours a year; Following the implementation of the No Meeting Wednesday program, 70% of SES employees feel more productive. With games and real-time analytics developed with SharePoint Spaces and Microsoft Power Platform's low-code capabilities, ESPN employees are leveraging virtual communities for career growth. Australia-based Bank of Queensland is using Microsoft Cloud for Financial Services and Surface to provide a more personalized and intuitive experience for customers and bank staff.

Digital capabilities drive social inclusion

SEEDS, based in India, uses smart models to generate heatwave risk information for vulnerable communities. NWEA, a non-profit organization, has created ways to improve accessible math assessments for visually impaired students. With Azure Cognition, Twitter is making live audio conversations accessible to deaf or hearing-impaired users, and Sweden's national public television broadcaster SVT is improving accessibility of public news to better serve viewers in 21 regions.

Despite serious economic and social challenges, businesses across industries are still struggling to adapt to changing market dynamics to meet customer needs. A solid digital foundation has played a big role in helping it innovate quickly and deliver key business outcomes. Many customers are bucking the trend in the current environment. We also look forward to working with them to innovate and build a strong foundation for future success."