Let’s face it, I’m an unapologetic retail fanatic and nothing has excited me more than my anticipation about the general availability (GA) announcement for Microsoft Cloud for Retail. This is a truly exciting moment for retail and, especially, our own retail clients.

Just imagine how a fully integrated suite of solutions, including Azure, Azure IoT Edge, Microsoft 365, Dynamics 365, Microsoft Teams and Power Platform could help to simplify all the myriad and complicated challenges facing your retail organizations.

As Shelley Bransten, Corporate Vice President, WW Retail & Consumer Goods Industries, Microsoft, adds, “We’re excited to see the emergence of the cloud as the business platform for the digital economy. We see Microsoft Cloud for Retail as the vehicle to drive innovation for retailers looking to build their own digital capability today and tomorrow.”

This should be music to the ears of many in the retail industry. Microsoft Cloud for Retail allows retailers to do four important things:

• Maximize the value of their data, their most important asset
• Empower retail store associates (after all +80% of the workforce are on the front line)
• Elevate the shopping experience
• Build a real-time, sustainable supply chain

It’s no accident that data is the first bullet in the list. We all think that now is the time for retailers to harness their data and break down their silos if they want to get true value and actionable insights out of their data. Microsoft Cloud for Retail brings together different data sources across the retail value chain and uniquely connects customers, employees, and data together through a set of capabilities that delivers more relevant personalized experiences and operational excellence for sustained profitability.

One of the ways Accenture and Avanade work to bring this to life with Microsoft is through the ai.RETAIL solution, which brings together a portfolio of data and analytics products designed to accelerate speed to value by solving real business problems. We use ai.RETAIL to connect the dots between marketing, supply chain and merchandising.

Jill Standish, Global Retail Lead at Accenture, sums up our joint commitment this way, “Accenture, Avanade and Microsoft’s combined retail industry experience, global scale and joint solution development help retailers reset responsibly to harness the power of change. Together, we empower enterprises to thrive in the era of digital disruption.”

As the largest dedicated Microsoft partner, Avanade is uniquely positioned to unlock the power of industry cloud and personalize it to your organization. And by combining our resources with Accenture and Microsoft we can help you capitalize on the Cloud Continuum, from public to edge and everything in between, to support online growth, omnichannel experiences, supply chain flexibility and workforce empowerment.

We think there’s so much to shout about with this rollout. It’s been hard to contain our excitement, but the good news is we don’t have to any longer! We’re ready to talk and shout and sing about it…well, maybe not sing.

Better to read through blog posts from Microsoft’s Shelley Bransten (Microsoft Cloud for Retail is now generally available) and Robbee Minicola (Microsoft Cloud for Retail and the role of partners) explaining the general availability rollout and what it means for retailers. Stay tuned for much more to come about Microsoft Cloud for Retail.

Find out more about the Microsoft Cloud for Retail and how Avanade can personalize it for your organization.