Bharat Petroleum partners with Microsoft to step up digital transformation

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) has announced a seven-year partnership with Microsoft to accelerate its digital transformation and offer enhanced experiences to its customers.

Microsoft said it will provide infrastructure-as-a-service (IAAS), platform-as-a-service (PAAS), network and security services on the cloud, including Azure native services on Azure data factory, application programming interface (API), internet of things (IoT), and analytics.

The partnership is part of BPCL’s digital transformation effort, called ‘Project Anubhav’, through which the company wants to deliver a consistent customer experience across all its divisions.

Rahul Tandon, chief general manager (Project Anubhav) at BPCL said, “Through our cloud-based digital transformation project, we are focused to build innovative and customer friendly solutions which are increasingly interconnected, smart, always available, and provide a single window of BPCL services to customers seamlessly.” 

Both companies have also been working closely to provide a secure collaboration experience for BPCL’s employee ecosystem across the country, with Microsoft Teams and the workplace productivity suite.

"Bringing together BPCL's operational expertise with Microsoft's cloud and AI capabilities, our partnership will help fortify BPCL's business operations with trust and security at the core," said Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India.

The partnership will focus on creating a digital customer experience for BPCL customers via UFill, a fueling solution powered by Microsoft Azure, which improves the fueling experience of customers by providing them more control and making the process transparent. 

Also read: Bharat Petroleum ties up with SAP India to drive digital transformation in customer engagement

Further, BPCL said its digital nerve center, called IRIS, will remotely monitor thousands of sensors, integrating its fuel stations, retail terminals, bottling plants, consumer pumps, RDI (Railway Diesel Installations), and VTS (Vehicle Tracking System) systems, to ensure the company's entire supply chain is tamper-proof and delivers a quality experience.

BPCL is also building a conversational AI platform, called chatbot Urja, to provide access to anytime, anywhere customer support across its platforms. It will leverage Azure Analytics and allow customers to access the chatbot on WhatsApp and Facebook. 

BPCL is one of the leading oil and gas companies in India with over 19,000 retail outlets. The company has been working with various companies such as SAP, Salesforce, Accenture, and Deloitte to step up its digital transformation efforts.