As home-grown e-commerce major Flipkart completes 10 years in the Indian online retail space, it aims to transform its business through a strategic partnership with Microsoft. The deal will allow Flipkart to adopt Microsoft's Azure as its exclusive public-cloud platform.
The company plans to leverage Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine-learning and analytics capabilities in Azure, such as Cortana Intelligence Suite and Power BI, to optimise its data for merchandising, advertising, marketing and customer service. Flipkart hopes that the platform will be helpful to the company in giving insights about its business and through it the company will be successful in giving relevant and personalised experiences to its customers.
“When we started Flipkart 10 years back, it was not possible for people in remote areas of the country to get access to scores of quality products and get them delivered at their doorsteps. We have now made it possible and now as we complete 10 years of our existence, we will try to leverage Microsoft’s AI technologies in different ways," said Binny Bansal, Group CEO and co-founder Flipkart. "For instance, for a shoe-buyer, we would be able to recommend new types of shoes based on their past orders. When I was in IIT Delhi in early 2000s, there was a course on Artificial Intelligence but no one was interested in it. However, today it has become real and now using Microsoft’s technology, we would be able to scale our e-commerce business and make the whole experience more enriching for our customers.”
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who was on his first visit to the IT city after taking over the reigns of the company in 2014, said he was amazed by the entrepreneurial energy among start ups in India. "I am excited by the fact that Microsoft’s start up Accelerator Programme in Bengaluru had around 2,000 start ups and many organisations had chosen our Azure platform. The partnership with Flipkart is just the start and we hope to partner with many more innovative companies in India in the near future,” said Nadella. "We are also looking at partnering with many Indian states and are working with state governments of Andhra Pradesh, Punjab government besides other government set ups," he added.
The Microsoft CEO also spoke about Augmented Reality and how it was the ultimate computer. “I still recall seeing its use at Cleveland Clinic in the United States for Anatomy classes. Augmented Reality had the capability to give a full 360 degree immersive view,” remarked Nadella.
Nandan Nilekani, former Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, who too was present at the event, said speed and scale were very important for the Aadhar platform and more than one billion people had been covered by it in the country. “We wanted to see how we can layer APIs (Application Programming Interface) on the platform such as biometric identification, building KYC capabilities, digital signatures and now the digital locker on it, etc. The platform has been supported by both the governments and it can also be leveraged by private organisations to grow their business,” said Nilekani.
