Microsoft, Adobe And SAP Bolsters New Capabilities In ODI

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) recently disclosed additional information as part of the Open Data Initiative (“ODI”) at Adobe Summit. The partnership commenced in September last year, when Microsoft announced partnership with Adobe and SAP (NYSE:SAP) as part of new ODI at its Ignite conference at Orlando, FL.

As the name suggests, the initiative is aimed to add value to data and obtain more effective consumer data insights. The ODI focuses on bolstering interoperability between the applications and platforms of these three partners.

The new approach involves publishing, enriching and segregating initial data exchange among Dynamics 365 and Office 365, Adobe’s Experience Cloud and Experience Platform, and SAP’s S/4HANA and C/4HANA platforms through common data architecture.

The Open Data Initiatives is aimed at removing data silos in order to aid organizations in handling data better along with providing support and security measures to their customers.

Each of the three companies involved will benefit from robust data driven insights consequently strengthening the respective customer experience management (“CXM”) platforms.

Azure Platform Driving Growth

Notably the “common data lake service” will leverage Azure cloud platform. This unified data store will enable customers their choice of development tools and applications to build and deploy services in Azure.

The fact that the data service is deployed on Azure provides the developers with a secure and privacy compliant infrastructure.

Bottom Line

Shares of Microsoft have returned 28.1% year over year, substantially outperforming the industry’s rally of 24.4%. This outperformance can primarily be attributed to its rapidly expanding efforts in AI and IoT based developments. Undisturbed focus on Azure remains a key catalyst.

Consumer data holds immense potential in this digital era, particularly for retail companies. The new initiative is already witnessing support from notable retail players, including the likes of Walmart (NYSE:WMT), The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO) and Unilever (LON:ULVR), among others.

We believe as more companies join the initiative, the common data platform will gain more strength and businesses..

Zacks Rank

Currently, Microsoft carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A better-ranked stock in the broader technology sector is Guidewire Software, Inc. (NYSE:GWRE) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Guidewire Software has a long-term earnings growth rate of 8%.

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