Company announces strategic partnership with industry leaders Microsoft and Adobe to launch second phase of digital transformation at the intersection of health and technology

Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. announced an expansion of its strategic partnership with Microsoft and Adobe to launch a world-class digital experience and customer insights platform to deliver personalized healthcare and shopping offerings. It will provide Walgreens and Boots customers with products and services from its global pharmacy and retail businesses wherever, whenever and however they may want them. Establishing this platform will advance WBA into the second phase of its digital transformation, one of its key strategic priorities.

“At WBA, our mission is to deliver extraordinary experiences that enrich our customers’ lives. Capabilities to combine previously disparate customer data sets, including information from more than 100 million members of our loyalty programs, into more singular, unified view of the customer – powered by these modern technology platforms – will enable us to truly personalize our omnichannel healthcare and retail offering,” said Vineet Mehra, global chief marketing officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance. “This digital magic coupled with the valued knowledge and quality of care provided by our pharmacists and team members is what allows us to best serve our customers.”

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For more than a century, WBA’s iconic brands, including Walgreens and Boots, have earned the trust of patients and customers by serving their needs in some of the most personal categories – health, wellness and beauty. The strategic partnership with Microsoft and Adobe allows WBA to harness insights to deliver more engaging and personalized experiences, while respecting and protecting privacy choices of patients and customers. This can help increase access to key services within pharmacy and beauty, among other categories, while driving convenience and providing more options to address daily needs. Data privacy and security are fundamental design principles in the development of the technology, underscored by Microsoft’s investments in building a trusted cloud platform.

For example, with this new personalization platform, Walgreens will launch an individually tailored prescription experience for patients at Walgreens,  and Boots will launch a bespoke beauty experience for customers by enabling Boots Beauty Consultants to provide custom product recommendations. This new platform will also dramatically enhance WBA’s marketing effectiveness and power the company’s strategic initiative around mass personalization – delivering the right offers and content to the right customer, in the right context, at the right time and through the right channels.

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Personalized Customer Experiences

The strategic partnership with Microsoft and Adobe is the cornerstone for these new WBA customer experiences, connecting WBA’s wealth of knowledge related to serving customers in the health, wellness and beauty categories. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Insights will serve as WBA’s Customer Data Platform (CDP) to provide a unified, 360-degree view of the customer and unlock insights that power personalized customer experiences. Adobe’s Customer Experience Management (CXM) solutions will enable the company to deliver those unmatched customer experiences, with the industry’s only end-to-end solution for analytics, content management, personalization, campaign orchestration and more.

“There’s no denying that the retail industry has been in a constant state of change over the past several years and consumers expect personalized interactions, connected online and in-store experiences, and high-quality customer service when they shop,” said Shelley Bransten, CVP Retail and Consumer Goods Industries, Microsoft. “Through this strategic partnership, Walgreens Boots Alliance is transforming the future of retail, health and beauty, creating digital experiences that make shopping fun and rewarding. Dynamics 365, Power Platform and Adobe’s Experience Cloud will provide deep insights and a single view of the customer, enabling the nurturing of customer relationships on one platform for highly tailored experiences.”

“Adobe has been a strategic partner for global brands in their digital transformation,” said Anil Chakravarthy, executive vice president and general manager, Digital Experience Business, Adobe. “COVID-19 has created a world that is more digital, while redefining the value of physical stores. Walgreens Boots Alliance, a global leader in retail and wholesale pharmacy, is taking this head on and paving the way for its next chapter. With Adobe Experience Cloud, WBA will be able to activate customer data and personalize experiences, while better blending online and offline customer experiences.”

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