Microsoft is teaming up with India’s Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) to help the company accelerate its digital transformation and shape the future of oil and gas innovation. The firms have agreed to seven-year cooperation to adopt digital, which will include building IoT-enabled supply chains and monitoring millions of sensors across 19,000+ fuel stations.

The partnership between the two firms aims to leverage the potential of Microsoft’s cloud to address difficulties in the oil and gas industry, allowing BPCL to speed up the modernization of its technology infrastructure.

Microsoft will deliver infrastructure as a service (IAAS), platform as a service (PAAS), and network and security services on the cloud throughout the term of a seven-year partnership, including Azure native services on Azure Data Factory, API, IoT, and analytics. BPCL’s cloud transformation will be fueled by Microsoft’s secure cloud platform, which puts data protection first and provides the analytics needed to transform operations, establish better supply chains, and boost customer engagement.

Both companies have also been working closely to provide a secure collaboration experience for BPCL’s employee ecosystem across the country, with Microsoft Teams and the workplace productivity suite.

Through UFill, a fueling solution powered by Microsoft Azure, Microsoft will assist BPCL in creating a digital customer experience for BPCL customers. Customers do not need to check at zero or final readings or perform any other offline manual interventions with UFill.

Microsoft is also assisting BPCL in digitally transforming its backend operations by utilizing Microsoft Azure to enable IoT-powered supply chains. IRIS, BPCL’s Digital Nerve Centre, will remotely monitor thousands of sensors across 19,000+ fuel stations, retail terminals, bottling plants, consumer pumps, RDI (Railway Diesel Installations) and VTS (Vehicle Tracking System) systems to ensure BPCL’s entire supply chain is tamper-proof and delivers 100% quality.

BPCL is also using Azure to develop a conversational AI platform. Urja, a chatbot, will provide access to customer support across platforms at any time and from any location. Customers may use Urja on any platform they want, including WhatsApp and Facebook, giving them the freedom and convenience of instant access.

Microsoft has been one of the undisputed global leaders in technology for decades altogether and BPCL is proud of taking this partnership forward now in the cloud domain. Through our cloud-based digital transformation project, we are focused to build innovative and customer-friendly solutions which are increasingly interconnected, smart, always available and provide a single window of BPCL services to customers seamlessly. We look forward to unlocking value for the organization by availing world-class scalable infrastructure, crashing our time to market and reimagining the way our customers interact with BPCL.

Rahul Tandon, Chief General Manager (Project Anubhav), BPCL

BPCL is one of the most respected public sector companies in the country and we are honored to work together to define the next frontiers of data-driven innovation and customer engagement in the oil and gas industry. Bringing together BPCL’s operational expertise with Microsoft’s cloud and AI capabilities, our partnership will help fortify BPCL’s business operations with trust and security at the core.

Anant Maheshwari, President, of Microsoft India