C.H. Robinson announces alliance with Microsoft to digitally transform the supply chain of the future

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. and REDMOND, Wash., July 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- C.H. Robinson and Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced they are joining forces to digitally transform supply chains of the future by combining the power of C.H. Robinson's Navisphere®, Microsoft Azure and Azure IoT to meet the changing demands of evolving global supply chains. Through this alliance, the companies aim to enable real-time visibility for C.H. Robinson customers. 

"The pace of change we're seeing in the supply-chain industry today is unparalleled. Being able to quickly scale and adapt our technology is what helps give our customers a competitive advantage," said Chris O'Brien, chief commercial officer, C.H. Robinson. "As we continue to invest and enhance our technology built by and for supply-chain experts, we look to partner with other best-in-class companies that bring the most value to our customers. Through Microsoft's Azure cloud platform, we gain more scalability, premier data security and increased application speed, which benefit our customers and carriers around the world."

Through this collaboration, Navisphere — C.H. Robinson's global multimodal transportation management platform — will now leverage Azure IoT Central to integrate IoT device monitoring that measures factors such as temperature, shock, tilt, humidity, light and pressure in shipments to give customers an even more detailed level of intelligence about goods as they move through the supply chain. Together, C.H. Robinson and Microsoft work with many of the Fortune 250 companies, which means this alliance makes it even easier to scale and develop new solutions to provide the world's largest shippers with greater supply-chain efficiency, real-time insights and visibility.

"We are committed to providing customers with a trusted, easy-to-use platform so they can build seamless, smart and secure solutions regardless of where they are on their IoT journey," said Sam George, corporate vice president, Azure IoT, Microsoft. "We're thrilled to collaborate with C.H. Robinson as it transforms the supply-chain industry by leveraging our Microsoft Azure and Azure IoT solutions."

The new collaboration builds on C.H. Robinson and Microsoft's already rich history of working together. Navisphere is currently used across Microsoft's global supply chain, giving the company real-time visibility into inventory, at rest or in motion anywhere in the world. In addition, in collaboration with Microsoft, C.H. Robinson built Navisphere Vision, a global real-time visibility product that leverages Azure IoT solutions, machine learning and predictive analytics to assess potential disruptions across supply chains.

Through C.H. Robinson's TMC division and Navisphere Vision, Microsoft is driving innovations in its own supply chain to provide more predictability and proactive decision-making to its various business groups.

"The supply chain of the future is smarter, less volatile and can be navigated with a new level of visibility thanks to the power of this relationship. Through this collaboration, our customers receive a greater competitive edge, as well as industry-leading insights and expertise," said Jordan Kass, president of Managed Services at C.H. Robinson.

In addition to C.H. Robinson's innovation on Azure, the company is also leveraging  Dynamics 365 and Power BI to streamline its customer relationship management (CRM) platform, supporting C.H. Robinson's commitment to customer centricity from small business to the world's largest shippers. As part of its relationship with Microsoft, C.H. Robinson will integrate its real-time pricing, execution and transportation management tools into Dynamics 365, making these digitally-driven logistics capabilities available to Microsoft customers.

About C.H. Robinson

C.H. Robinson solves logistics problems for companies across the globe and across industries, from the simple to the most complex. With nearly $20 billion in freight under management and 18 million shipments annually, we are one of the world's largest logistics platforms. Our global suite of services accelerates trade to seamlessly deliver the products and goods that drive the world's economy. With the combination of our multimodal transportation management system and expertise, we use our information advantage to deliver smarter solutions for our more than 119,000 customers and 78,000 contract carriers. Our technology is built by and for supply chain experts to bring faster, more meaningful improvements to our customers' businesses. As a responsible global citizen, we are also proud to contribute millions of dollars to support causes that matter to our company, our Foundation and our employees. For more information, visit us at www.chrobinson.com (Nasdaq: CHRW).

About Microsoft 

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. 

SOURCE Microsoft Corporation