We’ve recently seen big wins for Microsoft in the area of getting companies and government agencies to adopt the Office 365 platform for use by employees. Now the company is announcing its latest victory, this time down in Australia.
Microsoft has teamed with retailer Coles to bring Office 365 to more than 100,000 employees, in 2,300 locations. The announcement was made today during the National Retail Foundation show in New York City.
The move goes a bit further, as the retailer envisions a “connected fitting room”. “In many retail stores, associates and managers have little insight into what the potential intelligence fitting room can provide their business. For example, a customer may try on a pair of jeans, find that they don’t fit, and leave them behind without the retailer ever knowing anyone was there — or associates and managers knowing the store just lost a sale. And a pile of un-purchased clothing on the dressing room floor doesn’t tell the store manager if the customer wanted a different size, didn’t like the style, or just got impatient trying to flag down a sales associate for help”, says Microsoft’s Olivia Chen.
Ignoring the rather obvious implications of Microsoft watching you in the fitting room, it’s a nice win for the company and another strike it has thrown against Google Apps.
Further reading: Microsoft, Office 365
