BP selects Microsoft Azure for company-wide platform as part of its modernisation programme

Microsoft today announces that BP, a leading global energy company, has selected Microsoft Azure as part of its global cloud computing strategy.

The agreement will see BP move advanced workloads to Azure out of existing corporate data centres as part of the company’s modernisation and transformation agenda – an agenda which is designed to deliver a sustainable step change in the company’s long-term performance.

By moving its proprietary data lake to Microsoft’s cloud platform, and utilizing Azure services, with state-of-the-art visualisation and predictive tools, BP will enable rapid data analysis, with faster insights and decision-making.

“We have been impressed with Microsoft Azure Platform-as-a-Service, and its building block approach, particularly for our advanced workload requirements,” says Steve Fortune, Group CIO of BP.

“The Microsoft cloud provides the hyper scale needed for global businesses like BP to innovate quickly”, says Cindy Rose, Chief Executive of Microsoft UK. “Microsoft Azure will help BP unlock the power of its data to deliver actionable insights in support of their business.”

BP’s decision to choose Azure comes just weeks after the owner of British Gas announced it was supporting its business with a number of Microsoft’s cloud services to ensure staff have the latest technology to help customers.

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Centrica, the international energy and services company which also runs plumbing firm DynoRod and US energy retailer Direct Energy, is moving its UK data centre to Microsoft Azure. It is also rolling out Office 365 to empower employees and enable global collaboration, and Dynamics 365 to improve their service in the field.

The Ministry of Defence, which employs around 250,000 people, has also signed up to use Azure, along with South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, the country’s largest mental health trust, and ClearBank, the UK’s first new clearing bank in more than 250 years, among others.