The Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform—Unleash your information and speed up your transformation

Canopius, a worldwide specialty and P&C (re)insurance coverage enterprise, knew its success hinged on its skill to entry all its information however that its present infrastructure was hurting, not serving to, its skill to take action. It needed to capitalize on its information for elevated productiveness and it needed a cloud platform able to dealing with superior applied sciences with ease. In easy phrases, Canopius needed a knowledge platform that would actually allow its success, right this moment and effectively into the long run.

Like so many different firms right this moment, it confronted a choice: replace its {hardware} or put money into a contemporary platform.

Ultimately, Canopius wager on itself and its future. Drawn to the transformative potential of generative AI, it migrated its information to Microsoft Azure and adopted a mix of our latest, strongest companies. The outcome? An skill to pivot shortly to altering market situations. An IT workforce that, armed with the fitting instruments and applied sciences, may focus solely on innovation. And, with full entry to its distinctive information, a real aggressive benefit. Enter the Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform.

Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform

Create your trusted information and AI resolution

Get to know the Microsoft Intelligent Data Platform

The Intelligent Data Platform is an concept that was born out of numerous conversations with prospects like Canopius who need, as soon as and for all, to get their information home in an effort to acquire a aggressive edge. They know their information holds the important thing to their success. They need to implement AI instruments. But after 15 or extra years of information and cloud investments, they discover their ambition is restricted by the very options they’ve constructed over time. Patch after patch, their information property has turn into fragmented, laborious to handle, and incapable of AI era-workloads.

Even when prospects know their infrastructure wants upgrading, many discover it tough to make the swap—and for good causes. First, fixing a damaged or outdated information platform and futureproofing a knowledge platform are two distinct and sizable issues to unravel. Second, I’ll be the primary to confess our business doesn’t at all times make it straightforward to decide on. Azure alone affords greater than 300 merchandise, with extra on the near-term horizon, and we don’t typically current full options as a result of the fact is one dimension won’t ever match all. Third, prospects typically have favourite merchandise and want reassurances these merchandise will interoperate with different merchandise. It’s pure for options to turn into extra specialised and thereby extra fragmented over time. And lastly, migrating information accrued over years, typically many years, is an train that may really feel dangerous even to essentially the most skilled IT skilled. These are all legitimate issues and roadblocks to progress.

With the emergence of generative AI, the unique thought of the Intelligent Data Platform has morphed into what I regard now as our strongest, easiest suggestion for a cloud resolution able to fixing information fragmentation issues of the previous and current, and stands able to empower uncapped innovation for even essentially the most formidable organizations. Generative AI adjustments a knowledge technique: information options created right this moment should be designed with foresight to make sure they will simply handle spikes in information, new workloads and new applied sciences for a few years to come back.

The suggestion is that this: migrate to among the most superior, AI-ready databases available on the market right this moment, benefit from built-in superior analytics and the most recent AI instruments, and put money into a complete, end-to-end safety resolution.

The latest applied sciences and merchandise available on the market right this moment have been constructed with the long run in thoughts—future information necessities and geo-economic environments. To deal with innovation, firms want entry to the richness of their information and roadblocks eliminated, like interoperability and safety issues. That’s desk stakes. They additionally want sooner, higher entry to their information and instruments to empower innovation and transformation.  

This four-workload assemble works regardless of which cloud vendor you select, so long as the applied sciences inside are constructed for future information calls for, interoperability, and safety. For prospects, present and new, occupied with migrating to Azure or adopting a whole clever information platform, we advocate the next: 

When mixed, these merchandise rework right into a futureproofed resolution that makes highly effective resolution making, organizational efficiency, and limitless innovation potential. 

Data is the foreign money of AI

Data is the important thing to each group’s success, and that has taken on a complete new stage of significance within the period of AI the place information acts because the foreign money of AI innovation. Large language fashions can perceive the world’s information at a foundational stage, however they will’t perceive your online business.  

A number of months in the past, I linked with a buyer—in reality, the Chief Executive Officer of a big firm—who requested if he ought to pause the work his IT division was doing to combine and modernize their information property since, now, it’s all about AI. I appreciated his query, however my reply was: no, it’s precisely the alternative. So typically, a brand new expertise’s arrival is supposed to switch one thing older. That isn’t the case right here. A completely built-in, fashionable information property is the bedrock of an innovation engine. A contemporary property makes it potential to entry all of your information. And it’s your information, when utilized to AI concepts and innovations, that may create magical outcomes and transformational experiences.

For Epiroc, the Swedish producer that provides mining and development industries with superior gear, instruments, and companies, metal is crucial to the success of their enterprise. The firm needed to constantly ship a product of top quality and enhance efficiencies however, in a world the place there are greater than 3,500 grades of metal, it wanted to create company-wide finest practices for information sharing and a repeatable course of to get the output it needed. Microsoft partnered with Epiroc to create an enterprise-scale machine studying AI manufacturing unit as a part of a broader, fashionable Intelligent Data Platform. Since it had already taken the step to modernize its information property on Azure, establishing an enterprise-scale AI manufacturing unit was fast and straightforward. And the outcome? A constant, high quality product, elevated organizational efficiencies, and lowered waste.

Unmatched alternative with our associate ecosystem

I just lately spoke with one other buyer who efficiently migrated to Azure and seamlessly built-in Databricks into their new information platform. And a special associate, already on Azure however eager to put money into AI, built-in Azure AI merchandise and Adobe with already spectacular outcomes. 

Every group deserves alternative. We don’t discuss it as typically as we should always, however these utilizing and managing a knowledge platform have to belief that it’s going to serve their wants right this moment and sooner or later. We acknowledge this and need to empower each group’s success, regardless of their legacy preferences, and our associate ecosystem affords unbelievable capabilities we’re anticipating our prospects to benefit from. For this cause, we’ve invested on this rising ecosystem of trusted companions whose merchandise absolutely combine with ours, and we’ll proceed doing so. As a former associate myself, I firmly imagine flexibility to decide on one of the best resolution for the job ought to at all times be a required function of a robust platform.  

All clouds welcome

Data circumstances or preferences shouldn’t be a barrier, both. There are unbelievable advantages to adopting an all-cloud setting as a part of a contemporary information technique. But we acknowledge prospects might want or want to decide on an setting that features a number of clouds or a mixture of cloud and on-premises. The Intelligent Data Platform and all of the merchandise inside it are profitable in any adaptive cloud situation.

Unleash your information for daring transformation

A key a part of the Intelligent Data Platform, Azure AI, makes constructing data-informed concepts and experiences straightforward. Last 12 months, we launched Azure AI Studio, a one-stop-shop for generative AI creation providing mannequin choice, information, safety features, and DevOps in a single interface. We immediately linked Fabric to Azure AI Studio which, for patrons, means they will begin constructing AI apps with out requiring handbook information duplication or further integration. We additionally constructed and tuned Azure Cosmos DB and Azure SQL DB Hyperscale for generative AI innovation. With hyperscale efficiency, built-in AI together with vector search and copilots, and multi-layered AI-powered safety embedded into the database, these databases unify, energy, and defend the platform.  

For over a 12 months, generative AI has captured imaginations and a focus. In this time, we’ve realized that AI’s potential involves life on the intersection of a company’s information and concepts. The world’s been producing and storing unbelievable quantities of information for thus lengthy, ready for the day expertise would catch up and simplify the method of utilizing the info in daring, significant methods.  

That day has arrived. The Intelligent Data Platform is the perfect information and AI basis for each group’s success, right this moment and tomorrow.  

Learn extra about connecting your information

¹Microsoft Customer Story-Canopius permits information & AI innovation by constructing a robust basis with Azure.

²Microsoft Customer Story-Epiroc advances manufacturing innovation with Azure Machine Learning and Azure Data Factory.

³According to the World Steel Association, there are over 3,500 totally different grades of metal. About metal – worldsteel.org.