NEC Expanding Partnership with Microsoft for Digital Transformation Among Customer Base

REDMOND, Wash. and TOKYO — NEC is expanding its partnership with Microsoft to help enterprises accelerate their cloud adoptions and digital transformations.

The new multi-year strategic partnership builds on the companies’ over 40-year collaboration and leverages Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, and NEC’s network and IT expertise, including 5G technologies, as well as each partner’s artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, according to Microsoft last month.

Under the deal, NEC will adopt Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud platform to deliver enhanced capabilities to drive sustained digitalization, help customers transform their business models, and build digital workplaces for the post-pandemic “new normal.”

The companies will work together to “double” the number of digital-focused engineers within the NEC who specialize in Microsoft technologies. The investment will “help ensure customers’ digital transformation success.” 

NEC’s on-premises IT environment will be migrated to Microsoft Azure, and Azure Virtual Desktop and other Azure products will be deployed among NEC’s 110,000 employees worldwide. The move will build on NEC’s existing Microsoft 365 platform and ultimately help accelerate cloud migration for NEC’s customers.

The partners plan to use their combined assets, including Microsoft’s Intelligent Edge solutions and NEC’s private 5G networking technologies, to help customers across industries transform. 

For example, in retail, they will work together to analyze customer transaction data in real-time using AI to better understand buying patterns, improve operational efficiency, and identify new market opportunities. Their AI and IoT technologies and expertise will also improve security maintenance and the operation of stores.

“As we’ve seen over the past year, digital adoption curves are accelerating across every industry and business function,” said Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft. 

Nadella said the partnership will help customers “build resilience and transform during this era of rapid change.”

“We will enable companies globally to use digital services that are safer and more secure than ever before as they progress with digital initiatives,” said Takayuki Morita, president and CEO of NEC.