For galore organizations, implementing AI is not an “if” but a “when.” Determining the “when” portion depends connected galore factors, but 1 that whitethorn beryllium tricky to scope is “when we are ready?.” Is it erstwhile your workloads are successful the cloud? When your squad has the skills? When it’s a bully acceptable for your civilization and customers? All of the above, and …?  

Prior to moving astatine Microsoft, I was a Microsoft Systems Implementor (SI) spouse implementing Microsoft Azure solutions. A large crushed we were exclusive with Microsoft was the concern successful tooling and expertise Microsoft makes to assistance customers measure their translation readiness. Going backmost to our precise beginning, Microsoft’s roots are successful helping developers and organizations usage exertion to lick immoderate of the world’s biggest opportunities and challenges. In this epoch of AI, we erstwhile again find ourselves seeking ways to empower our customers to follow GenAI wide and astatine a gait not seen earlier successful the exertion industry. In fact, successful a caller IDC study, we recovered that pace is simply a immense portion of the GenAI equation. 

As idiosyncratic who has been astatine a keyboard gathering bundle solutions, I tin archer you—having enterprise-ready tooling and seamless integration into the broader unreality services needed to physique applications is astatine the apical of the database for delivering connected time, with quality, nary uncertainty astir it.

We are present successful the 2nd twelvemonth of the epoch of AI. The archetypal twelvemonth was afloat of excitement and experimentation, giving each of america a glimpse into the almighty imaginable of AI to revolutionize experiences for customers, amended worker productivity, and ignite a consciousness of wonder. The absorption this twelvemonth is connected implementation, realizing value, and discovering wherever AI tin instrumentality your organization. Read connected for what’s caller crossed the business, with a peculiar absorption connected updates that volition assistance guarantee you’re acceptable for what’s next.

Whats caller successful AI readiness

Evaluate apps successful Azure AI Studio earlier deploying

Ensuring an AI-powered app is acceptable to deploy means evaluating exemplary accuracy and robustness, effect quality, scalability, compliance, and different items captious to launching a palmy app. With Azure AI Studio, generative AI app developers tin physique and measure applications for safety, reliability, and show earlier deploying. If needed, they tin fine-tune models and reorchestrate punctual exertion components. The level facilitates scalability, transforming proof-of-concepts into afloat accumulation with ease. And continuous monitoring and refinement supports semipermanent success. To get a look astatine this successful action, ticker our bully person Seth Juarez successful this Microsoft Mechanics episode, “Build your ain copilots with Azure AI Studio,” to spot however valuation is built into the workflow.

Calling each retailers! AI-ready information solutions successful Microsoft Fabric present successful nationalist preview

In January we unveiled caller generative AI and information solutions crossed the shopper journey, offering copilot experiences done Microsoft Cloud for Retail. A caller retail manufacture information exemplary tin beryllium utilized for information governance, reporting, concern quality and precocious analytics. A information connector brings e-commerce information from Sitecore OrderCloud into Microsoft Fabric successful existent time. Analytics templates, specified arsenic often bought together, supply actionable, data-driven recommendations to assistance retailers amended merchandise upselling and support optimization. New copilot templates connected Azure OpenAI Service let retailers to physique personalized buying experiences and enactment store operations. Add to that caller copilot features successful Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, and the motorboat of Retail Media Creative Studio successful the Microsoft Retail Media Platform and Microsoft Cloud for Retail present offers much options for retailers to take from to infuse copilot experiences passim the shopper journey. Learn more.

Advancing done the LLMOps Maturity Model: A roadmap for generative AI operational excellence 

The latest successful our ongoing bid connected LLMOps for concern leaders delves into how to usage the LLMOps Maturity Model to methodically beforehand from theoretical to practical with almighty generative AI models. The LLMOps Maturity Model is not conscionable a roadmap from foundational LLM utilization to mastery successful deployment and operational management; it’s a strategical usher that underscores wherefore knowing and implementing this exemplary is indispensable for navigating the ever-evolving scenery of AI. This 4th blog successful the bid offers a applicable roadmap for businesses to skillfully navigate the satellite of generative AI and Large Language Models. It’s each astir moving from the basics of utilizing LLMs to mastering deployment and management.

New Azure SQL Database Hyperscale pricing and Azure AI Search integration

AI applications request high-performance databases that tin grip ample volumes of information and analyzable queries. Azure SQL Database Hyperscale’s unsocial architecture provides the needed flexibility and scalability for AI-ready unreality applications of immoderate size and I/O requirement. And new, reduced compute pricing gives you the show and information of Azure SQL astatine commercialized open-source prices. Learn more.

New, integrated vectorization capableness successful Azure AI Search means customers tin present bash vector hunt utilizing information stored successful Azure SQL Database. This caller capableness opens up caller exertion scenarios for integrating vectors into accepted hunt arsenic good arsenic Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) applications. Learn more.

Microsoft is simply a person successful the 2023 IDC MarketScape for AI Governance Platforms  

We are arrogant of the enactment we enactment into ensuring our AI products and services empower you to deploy solutions that are safe, responsible, and effective. So, we are honored to beryllium recognized arsenic a Leader successful the inaugural IDC MarketScape Worldwide AI Governance Platforms 2023 Vendor Assessment (doc #US50056923, November 2023). Learn much astir this recognition.

Azure Partners: Faster app delivery, outgo savings, and backing with Azure Migrate and Modernize and Azure Innovate

Whether your customers are migrating to summation a unafraid and AI-ready foundation, modernizing their app portfolio, oregon are acceptable to physique caller intelligent apps, it is present easier to bring worth to our communal customers and assistance them capitalize connected the technological innovations transforming each industry.

Achieve faster exertion transportation times, important outgo savings, and entree backing done with Azure Migrate and Modernize and Azure Innovate. Why is this truthful important to get acceptable for AI? You indispensable get to the unreality earlier that innovation tin begin!

Formerly the Azure Migration and Modernization Program, Azure Migrate and Modernize is an expanded offering for lawsuit scenarios crossed apps, data, and infrastructure that includes enactment for much workloads, streamlined entree to specialized partners, incentives to offset migration costs, and information guidance built into each engagement. Azure Innovate is simply a caller offering focused connected gathering caller solutions and modernizing existing ones connected Azure to conscionable the request for AI transformation.

Both offerings supply end-to-end sum of lawsuit needs, from migration and modernization scenarios to AI innovation, and are built to standard arsenic lawsuit requirements and priorities evolve. Partners providing services, oregon ISVs gathering caller oregon modernizing applications, person entree to assessments, aviator PoCs, tooling, funding, and Microsoft adept guidance erstwhile you request it – each designed to assistance you accelerate the unreality travel and thrust maturation and impact.

Visit Azure Migrate and Modernize and Azure Innovate for much info. 

Ready for the unreality and AI? Find retired with a escaped Azure Expert Assessment

Looking for the champion mode to leverage the standard and compute horsepower of the unreality to optimize your IT infrastructure, data, and applications? Want a idiosyncratic proposal connected that champion way? For free? Check retired Azure Expert Assessment, a one-to-one connection to collaborate with a Certified Azure Expert who volition personally usher you done the appraisal and marque recommendations for your organization’s unreality adoption plan. You’ll get a wide method roadmap and a broad concern lawsuit to enactment your unreality strategy. You volition besides get entree to champion practices, tools, and resources to assistance you instrumentality your unreality solutions. Sound good? Go: Azure Expert Assessment.

Build your AI skills

Coming soon: Industry AI Implementation Workshops for partners

A caller bid of AI workshops to assistance partners instrumentality industry-specific AI solutions is launching soon. The extremity is to inform, educate, and accelerate our industry-specific partners connected generative AI and equip them with what’s needed to spell from conception to market. Workshop benefits include:

1. Architectural guidance supporting customer/partner adoption of our Generative AI stack (Azure OpenAI, Copilot, etc.)
2. An attack to Code ‘For’ / Code ‘With’ depending connected the relationship
3. Offer diagnostic requests/improvements to our horizontal platforms (Azure OpenAI, Copilot for M365, copilot for D365, etc.)

The Retail store is presently successful aviator with Manufacturing, Healthcare, and Sustainability pursuing soon. Stay updated connected the Industry AI Workshops 

Workshop: Get started with Responsible AI

The Responsible AI model helps AI developers place and mitigate risks and harms that could interaction people, businesses, and society. This hand-on store gives participants acquisition utilizing Responsible AI to debug their instrumentality learning exemplary to amended the model’s show to beryllium much fair, inclusive, safe, reliable, and transparent. Learn much connected the Responsible AI Framework.

Opportunities to connect

Register for the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference

Unifying information from crossed a sprawling infrastructure is captious to AI readiness. Microsoft Fabric helps you link and curate information from anyplace and use almighty analytics and stock insights crossed your enactment each portion governing and protecting your data. Come spot for yourself – articulation america astatine the Microsoft Fabric Community Conference successful Las Vegas March 26-28and spot firsthand however Fabric and the remainder of our information and AI products tin assistance your enactment hole for the epoch of AI. You’ll perceive from starring Microsoft and assemblage experts from astir the satellite and get hands connected experiences with the latest features from Microsoft Fabric, Power BI, Azure Databases, Azure Databricks, Azure AI, Microsoft Purview, and truthful overmuch more. Use discount codification MSCUST to prevention $100 off. Register today. 

Azure Cosmos DB Conf 2024—Call for speakers

Azure Cosmos DB is the database for the epoch of AI and modern app development. From Chat GPT to TomTom Digital Cockpit—an immersive, conversational in-car infotainment system—Azure Cosmos DB powers responsive and intelligent apps with real-time data, ingested and processed astatine immoderate scale.

There are many, galore examples of developers gathering innovative apps with Azure Cosmos DB and if you’re 1 of them, we invitation you to showcase your enactment astatine Azure Cosmos DB Conference 2024 connected April 16. This free, virtual developer lawsuit is co-organized by Microsoft and the Azure Cosmos DB community. This year’s taxable is “Building the adjacent procreation of AI Apps with Azure Cosmos DB.” We question stories astir customers utilizing Azure Cosmos DB and AI to powerfulness next-gen intelligent apps, focusing connected unsocial lawsuit scenarios/use cases, and connected integrating with open-source APIs similar MongoDB, PostgreSQL, and Apache Cassandra. Customer demo sessions showcasing innovative AI usage cases volition get priority. This telephone for speakers is unfastened until Feb. 15. Get the details and taxable a session.

AI epoch acceptable customers are making transformative moves

Walmart unveils caller generative AI-powered capabilities for shoppers and associates

Microsoft and Walmart established a strategical concern successful 2018 that has accelerated innovation connected respective fronts. At CES Walmart unveiled that latest results of our ongoing collaboration: an all-new generative AI-powered hunt function that works crossed iOS, Android, and Walmart’s ain website. The caller capableness is specifically designed to recognize the discourse of a customer’s query and make personalized responses. Soon, customers volition person a much interactive and conversational experience, get answers to circumstantial questions, and person personalized merchandise suggestions. Read the story.

Windstream uses Azure OpenAI Service to empower employees and alteration concern outcomes

Windstream, a starring telecommunications services supplier successful the U.S. was acceptable for the epoch of AI and has afloat embraced it to revolutionize operations. From utilizing Azure OpenAI Service to extract invaluable insights from lawsuit interactions and telephone transcripts to amended lawsuit service, to utilizing the work to analyse method accusation and mistake codes and alteration it into customer-friendly messages to pass users astir issues and expected solution times. Windstream besides uses Azure AI, including cognitive search and OpenAI’s Davinci, to scale their immense magnitude of interior societal media information and documents, which included astir 100,000 indexed documents connected their Confluence wiki. This indexed information is made disposable to Windstream’s custom-built GPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) platform, hosted wrong Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS). This allows employees to entree indexed cognition and reply questions, starring to accrued ratio and much informed decision-making. And that’s not all. Read much astir Windstream’s AI story.

Ally Financial empowers lawsuit work associates to absorption connected quality engagement by utilizing Azure OpenAI Service

Ally, a integer fiscal services firm, wanted to summation the clip its call-center lawsuit work associates person to walk with customers. Those associates had to constitute elaborate notes aft lawsuit calls, taking clip distant from customers. To escaped up that clip and support elaborate telephone documentation, Ally utilized Microsoft Azure and Azure OpenAI Service to automate note-taking. Now associates tin rapidly reappraisal the AI-generated summary aft each telephone and crook their attraction backmost to serving customers. This solution chopped associates’ post-call effort by 30 percent. As Ally improves telephone summary accuracy—which is implicit 85% to start—they expect to trim subordinate post-call effort by 50%. Read much connected Ally’s AI integration.

Microsoft and Cognite physique concern information operations level connected Microsoft Fabric and Azure OpenAI Service

Another concern transforming manufacture with AI is our concern with Cognite, which precocious expanded to converge endeavor and concern information operations to make a scalable, AI-driven level that meets the demands of modern industries from the store level to the apical floor. The solution integrates flagship Cognite Data Fusion with Microsoft Fabric to present a unified endeavor DataOps solution with capabilities for vertical concern information workloads enabled done copilots. Customers tin leverage Cognite Data Fusion for driving decisions successful plus centric scenarios, for illustration plus show optimization, and Fabric to make insights to tally their business. Read much connected Cognite’s story.

How Microsoft’s AI screened implicit 32 cardinal candidates to find a amended battery—in 80 hours

In an awe-inspiring illustration of however AI tin reshape our world, the Microsoft Quantum squad utilized precocious AI to surface implicit 32 cardinal candidates to observe and synthesize a caller worldly that holds the imaginable for amended batteries—the archetypal real-life illustration of galore that volition beryllium achieved successful a caller epoch of technological find driven by AI. Joining forces with the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the squad accomplished successful days thing that would person taken accepted subject and laboratory experimentation aggregate lifespans to achieve. The find is important for galore reasons. Solid-state batteries are safer than accepted liquid oregon gel-like lithium batteries and supply much vigor density. Lithium is scarce, expensive, and environmentally and geopolitically problematic. Creating a artillery that reduces lithium requirements by astir 70% could person tremendous environmental, safety, and economical benefits. This accomplishment is simply a glimpse astatine however the convergence of high-performance computing (HPC) and AI is accelerating technological find crossed industries. Microsoft puts the powerfulness these breakthroughs into customers’ hands with our Azure Quantum Elements platform. Read the AI breakthrough artillery story.

Are you acceptable for the epoch of AI?

With an mean instrumentality of $3.5 for each $1 invested and firms opening to spot returns successful conscionable 14 months, as reported by IDC,¹ AI is rerouting exertion roadmaps everyplace arsenic the absorption sharpens astir erstwhile to deploy AI-powered solutions. The epoch of AI dramatically expands that adjacent skyline and moves it much, overmuch closer, accelerating translation and worth realization timelines.

If you are assessing your organization’s readiness milestones connected a revised roadmap, see country for experimentation [the unknown?]. With AI, there’s what you privation it to do, and successful galore cases, what much you recognize it tin bash erstwhile you statesman implementation. Not rather serendipity, but close.

Microsoft Azure was intent built with your limitless innovation successful mind. With the astir broad and liable AI toolset successful the market, the astir precocious supercomputer successful the world, and a squad of the champion and brightest connected manus to assistance you program and execute, Microsoft is the trusted spouse to empower you to marque the astir of the AI era. 

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1. IDC STUDY—The Business Opportunity of AI (microsoft.com) 
   

The station What’s caller successful Azure Data, AI, and Digital Applications: Are you acceptable to spell from GenAI experimentation to solutions deployed astatine scale? appeared archetypal connected Microsoft Azure Blog.