FedEx, Microsoft sign multi-year pact to offer digital logistics solutions

Memphis headquartered delivery services company FedEx has signed a long-term deal with technology major Microsoft to provide digital logistics solutions to its customers.

As a first step of the collaboration, the companies have launched a supply chain solution, FedEx Surround, which will allow shipment tracking and inventory management using artificial intelligence (AI) and real time analytics, as per a statement.

FedEx will onboard Microsoft’s intelligent cloud solutions with Azure and Dynamics 365 softwares to provide data and analytics solutions, it said.

“Together with Microsoft, we will combine the immense power of technology with the vast scale of our infrastructure to help revolutionise commerce and create a network for what’s next for our customers,” Frederick Smith, chairman and CEO of FedEx, said.

Through this association, the two dominant players in their respective sectors, aim to have an “unprecedented level of control and insight into the global movement of goods”, the statement said.

“Now more than ever, organisations are counting on an efficient and capable supply chain to remain competitive and open for business. Together with FedEx, we will apply the power of Azure, Dynamics 365 and their AI capabilities to this urgent need, building new commerce experiences that transform logistics for our mutual customers around the world,” Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, said.

FedEx provides transportation, ecommerce and logistics services, and claims to have a network across 220 countries. It currently employs about 4,75,000 people.

In April, Redmond headquartered Microsoft, which provides digital transformation services, placed its revenue guidance in the range of $35.85 billion-$36.8 billion for the final quarter of FY20, with a flat revenue growth. In the third quarter of the year, the firm posted a robust 15% year-on-year growth in revenues to $35 billion.