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Microsoft Ignite 2016: AI, CRM Will Drive Customer Experience; Adobe Partnership a Go

by Dann Anthony Maurno
Assistant Editor, MSDW
At Ignite 2016 today, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen announced that Adobe will make Microsoft Azure the preferred cloud platform for the Adobe Marketing Cloud. Furthermore, Adobe Marketing Cloud will become the preferred digital marketing solution for Dynamics 365 Enterprise.

Elsewhere in his address, Nadella talked about AI in towering terms, describing it as core to Microsoft's mission to ensure that it "is democratizing AI for every person and organization to help solve society's most pressing challenges." So, Microsoft is infusing intelligence into everything it delivers, says Nadella, from applications to infrastructure.

Microsoft to Adobe: "You were smart, partnering with us!"

In speaking of the Adobe alliance, Nadella complemented Adobe's Narayen by saying "[I]t marks the core of the product transformation and the business transformation that you are leading." Adobe's marketing solutions jockey hard for their industry position, and a Microsoft partnership is, frankly, a strong leg up.

Through its strategic cloud partnership with Adobe, Adobe will bring its Marketing, Creative and Document Cloud services to Azure; in turn, Microsoft will make Adobe Marketing Cloud its preferred digital marketing solution for Dynamics 365 Enterprise. Data models will be extensible to enterprise customers as well as ISVs and partners.

As Microsoft's Judson Althoff, executive vice president of the Worldwide Commercial Business described it, the companies together will help businesses using cloud and data to deliver "compelling and personalized experiences" through every phase of customer relations.

"The transformation that I have described is one that Microsoft has already completed, and which more than 85 percent ...

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About Dann Anthony Maurno

Dann Anthony Maurno is a seasoned business journalist who began his career as International Marketing Manager with Lilly Software, then moved on as a freelancer to write for such prestigious clients as CFO Magazine; Compliance Week;Manufacturing Business Technology; Decision Resources, Inc.; The Economist Intelligence Unit; and corporate clients such as Iron Mountain, Microsoft and SAP. He is the co-author of Thin Air: How Wireless Technology Supports Lean Initiatives(CRC/Productivity Press, 2010).