Microsoft teams up with Wirehive to help digital agencies move to the cloud and use new technology

Microsoft has teamed up with UK cloud consultancy Wirehive to help digital agencies evolve by building new services on Azure.

There are around 25,000 digital agencies in this country, which advise businesses on a range of topics, such as marketing and adopting technology. These agencies offer a gateway to the many companies who are thinking about digitally transforming to meet the business needs of the 21st century but are unsure of where to begin.

Wirehive, which is based in Farnborough, assists those firms in moving work and applications to Microsoft’s cloud platform, Azure, and using artificial intelligence and bots.

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“The UK is the digital capital of Europe. The country is a leader in technology investment, digital skills, talent and collaboration, and the businesses leading this charge are digital agencies,” said Wirehive Chief Executive Robert Belgrave. “Agencies are dictating the future technology investments of UK businesses in a way never seen before.”

Joe Macri, Vice-President of UK Commercial Partners at Microsoft, added: “In this era of disruption, there is a clear opportunity, and more ways than ever, for our partners to create new solutions using intelligent technology like Azure AI and it’s great to begin on this journey with Wirehive.

“As part of our partnership, we have already created a go-to-market plan to empower digital agencies with the relevant tools, signing up more than 200 agencies to the Microsoft Partner Programme as a result. It really is great to see these results at such an early stage in our relationship and I look forward to working with Robert and the team on even more exciting projects.”

Wirehive has partnered with brand experience agency Rufus Leonard and worked with mobile software developers Matchbox, among others, to help businesses embrace technology.

One of those is The Gym Group, which has moved many customer-facing systems to Azure. The company is also using Power BI to gain greater understanding of the people who use its 100+ gyms across Britain.

A survey by Microsoft, Goldsmiths, University of London and YouGov last year found that failing to introduce artificial intelligence, machine learning, cloud computing and other modern ways of working could see companies falling behind their rivals and leaving them increasingly out of touch with their customers.

A recent study of 150 CEOs by KPMG found that 95% agreed digital transformation was more of an opportunity and less of a threat, while 71% believed artificial intelligence will create more jobs in the short term.