EY announced astrategic business relationship with Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) to deliver new and innovative services through their digital-age strengths to companies around the world.  The services will utilize EY’s practices in analytics, cyber security, digital enterprise strategy, digital and emerging technology enablement, people services, and program management to deliver new offerings using Microsoft’s cloud and data platforms.  The goal is to help customers remove barriers to digital adoption, improve employee experience at work, and maximize companies’ return on their investment in digital technologies.

“By using the combined forces of EY and Microsoft, companies can accelerate into a highly digitally-enabled enterprise and optimize the investments in software they have made over the years,” said EY Global Chairman and CEO Mark Weinberger. “This is all about helping companies improve their return on investment as they move to a more analytical, automated, cloud-based environment.”

The core of the relationship focuses on the vast number of users with Microsoft product experience and brings EY’s business, digital, analytic, and program management experience to companies in a way that is familiar, yet allows them to transition to a more powerful cloud-based experience to realize enhanced business outcomes.  The alliance will focus on:

• Jointly delivering business services using Microsoft technologies and EY’s business and technology skills, including advanced program management and purpose-led transformation
• Combining Microsoft technologies and EY expertise to advance cybersecurity across industries
• Deploying a variety of enterprise products on Microsoft Azure, with EY collaborating closely with Microsoft Consulting Services
• Using Azure based applications to harvest near-term value out of software and data that reside currently within customers’ existing operations
• Establishing co-innovation capabilities on a host of advanced management science applications and driving customers’ business advantage from the “internet of things”

“Bringing together EY’s advisory services with Microsoft’s trusted cloud capabilities will help customers turn data insights into action, deliver measurable business outcomes and accelerate their transformations,” said Kevin Turner, chief operating officer, Microsoft. “Together we will help customers realize the full benefits of their investments more quickly and utilize technology for strategic advantage.”

Offerings currently available from EY using Microsoft technologies include:

• Program Performance Center, a scalable service to enable insightful portfolio and program optimization across the enterprise, combining Microsoft Azure, SQL Server, and productivity tools such as Project Server and Power BI with EY’s integrated suite of program management processes, data capture, and analysis protocols
• Trusted Cloud, a risk-based cybersecurity approach that combines Microsoft cloud technologies, including Azure and Office 365, with real-time visibility for improved security across the cloud environment
• 3D Spend Analytics, a predictive, platform-based analytics service that uses Microsoft technologies such as SQL Server, SharePoint, HPC, HD Insight Hadoop, Azure, and Azure Machine Learning to help companies assess spend composition and integrity, identify risks and opportunities, predict patterns, and plan for optimized future spend
• Digital Program Activation based on EY’s Future of Work methods, which combines digital strategy, user-centered design, analytics, and consumer marketing with Microsoft technologies to help improve employee experience, address barriers to digital adoption, and generate improved ROI of digital technologies in the workplace.

“As one of Microsoft’s largest customers and business service providers, EY brings a unique ability to understand the business impact of Microsoft technologies and services,” said Carmine Di Sibio, EY Global Managing Partner for Client Service.  “As this relationship accelerates, EY and Microsoft expect to develop and launch a series of new business-driven digital offerings to help customers achieve their potential in a better working world.”

Under the umbrella of their new arrangement, EY and Microsoft will release an expanding portfolio of industry-driven digital services as they continue to drive joint market presence and customer bottom-line impact around the world.