FedEx and Microsoft on Monday announced the next solution as part of their multi year collaboration to transform commerce, supply chains and logistics.

FedEx and Microsoft will bring together FedEx network intelligence with capabilities from Microsoft Dynamics 365 to introduce a cross-platform “logistics as a service” for retailers, merchants and brands.

The goal is to help brands access new information and capabilities to better fulfill, ship and service customer orders while easily integrating with their existing e-commerce platforms.

This cross-platform approach helps brands deliver experiences directly to their customers including faster, more cost-effective delivery; near real-time delivery status communications; and convenient, frictionless returns with approximately 60,000 drop-off locations and printerless QR codes.

For brands facing increased pressure to build affinity while managing higher order volumes, ensuring cost-effective fulfillment and reducing costly customer service calls, this new technology brings unprecedented opportunity to leverage existing systems of record, optimize fulfillment and deliver on their order promises with increased precision, while benefiting from a more complete view of their customer. Raj Subramaniam, president and COO of FedEx Corp. said:

“Nearly two years ago we set out on a mission with Microsoft to transform the commerce ecosystem. In that time, we’ve made significant progress, leveraging Microsoft Azure technology with our FedEx Surround solution, which provides critical support in enabling advanced monitoring of time-sensitive priority shipments.”

He added:

“This next phase of our collaboration will continue to connect the unmatched supply chain insights from the FedEx network with the Microsoft Cloud to improve e-commerce experiences for brands, merchants and consumers.”

Seamless FedEx data integration with Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management is expected to be available to customers in the U.S. in the second half of 2022.