May 9, 2024
Currys Selects Accenture and Microsoft to Accelerate Adoption of Generative AI
Strategic collaboration to boost productivity through improved business operations and drive growth through enhanced customer shopping and employee workplace experiences
LONDON and REDMOND, Wash.; May 9, 2024 – Currys plc (LSE: CURY), a leading international omnichannel retailer of technology products and services, has selected Accenture (NYSE: ACN) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) to deliver its core cloud technology infrastructure that will enable the retailer to leverage the latest AI technologies to enhance operations, elevate the shopping experience, and improve the colleague experience for its 25,000 people.
Accenture and Microsoft, together with their joint venture Avanade, will work closely with Currys to modernize, secure and simplify its technology estate, enabling Currys to accelerate the adoption of Microsoft AI technologies such as Azure OpenAI Service.
By leveraging these Microsoft AI technologies, Currys can unlock value across every part of the business. Among the expected benefits, include:
- Making it easier to shop: Through personalized relevant product information and suggestions tailored to the consumer’s needs in the moment.
- Building customers for life: By providing Currys’ customers with an improved post-sales experience and warranty services.
- Enhance the colleague experience: By equipping colleagues with faster and easier access to information such as product availability, delivery costs and add-on services so they can better serve customers, while also identifying potential cross and upselling opportunities.
- Drive future growth and profitability: Through integrating AI into marketing, HR, finance and legal processes, Currys will benefit from increased productivity across core business functions. The retailer will look to harness AI for opportunities to improve omnichannel experiences.
The transition will also accelerate Currys’ journey to net zero emissions by 2040 by moving nine existing data centres with more than 2000 servers and 200 applications onto Azure to create a more energy efficient infrastructure.
Alex Baldock, Group CEO, Currys plc said, “AI is the biggest technological leap of our life time. Currys exists to help everyone enjoy amazing technology, so as well as bringing the benefits of AI to millions of customers, we’ll do the same to our own business. We couldn’t have better partners for this, and together we aim to put Currys at the forefront of digital transformation in retail. We’re just starting out here, but the possibilities are vast. I’m looking forward to unlocking big benefits for our colleagues, customers and shareholders.”
Julie Sweet, chair and CEO, Accenture, said, “Building a strong digital core will enable Currys to take its customer service and employee experience to the next level, and more quickly harness the potential of AI and generative AI to drive its ongoing reinvention. Together with Microsoft, we are helping Currys raise the bar in the retail industry, reach new frontiers of performance and efficiency, and create new value and growth.”
Ralph Haupter, President, EMEA at Microsoft said “AI is rapidly unlocking new opportunities for every organisation and every industry around the world. By deploying the latest cloud and AI technologies, Currys can enhance the shopping experience for millions of customers, both in-store and online, whilst ensuring its 25,000 employees have the insights at their fingertips to unlock value across the entire business.”
About Currys plc
Currys plc is a leading omnichannel retailer of technology products and services, operating online and through 727 stores in 6 countries. We Help Everyone Enjoy Amazing Technology, however they choose to shop with us.
In the UK & Ireland we trade as Currys and in the UK we operate our own mobile virtual network, iD Mobile. In the Nordics we trade under the Elkjøp brand. We’re the market leader in all markets, able to serve all households and employing almost 25,000 capable and committed colleagues.
We help everyone enjoy amazing technology. We believe in the power of technology to improve lives, helping people stay connected, productive, fit, clean, healthy, and entertained. We're here to help everyone enjoy those benefits and, with our scale and expertise, we’re uniquely placed to do so.
Our full range of services and support makes it easy for our customers to discover, choose, afford and enjoy the right technology to the full. The Group's operations include Europe’s largest technology repair facility, a sourcing office in Hong Kong and an extensive distribution network, centred on Newark in the UK and Jönköping in Sweden, enabling fast and efficient delivery to stores and homes.
We're a leader in giving technology a longer life through reuse, repair and recycling. We're reducing our impact on the environment in our operations and our wider value chain and we will achieve net zero emissions by 2040. We offer customers products that help them save energy, reduce waste and save water, and we partner with charitable organisations to bring the benefits of amazing technology to those who might otherwise be excluded.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with approximately 742,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. We are uniquely able to deliver tangible outcomes because of our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song. These capabilities, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at www.accenture.com.
Microsoft
(Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
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Contacts:
Matthew Hubbard
Currys
matthew.hubbard01@currys.co.uk
Tara Burns
Accenture
+44 7850 435 158
tara.burns@accenture.com
Microsoft - Assembly Media Limited
mscommercial@assemblyinc.com
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