Latest news with #MicrosoftAzureOpenAIService
Business Wire
20-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Grant Thornton launches new tool, pairing skilled professionals with powerful AI agents
CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Grant Thornton, one of America's largest providers of end-to-end audit, assurance, tax and advisory services, announced today the launch of a new, proprietary artificial intelligence solution, CompliAI ™. CompliAI is part of a broader transformation in how Grant Thornton's professionals help clients control and assess risks and address their most pressing business needs. Grant Thornton developed CompliAI using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, allowing it to operate as a fully integrated web application that enhances and streamlines the compliance process for service delivery teams. The platform uses advanced AI capabilities, including GenAI Assistants and a GPT Model Series. Grant Thornton's professionals can now conduct tasks in minutes that would have traditionally taken days or weeks, which means clients can enjoy high quality operational insights more quickly and cost-effectively. 'CompliAI is the beginning of Grant Thornton's wider adoption of AI and next generation solutions,' said Jim Peko, CEO of Grant Thornton Advisors LLC. 'We are seamlessly integrating new technology into daily workflows and using it to make data-driven decisions — while also building AI into a range of services that help clients gain a distinct competitive advantage.' Peko adds that: 'The result will be world class service, further establishing us as the provider of choice for clients and professionals alike.' 'This new tool helps our professionals focus more of their time on meaningful engagement with our clients and provides more rapid insights,' said Mike Kempe, chief information officer of Grant Thornton Advisors LLC. 'Our firm is laser focused on giving our people what they need to drive additional value.' "We are pleased to see Grant Thornton's successful rollout of CompliAI,' said Brian Willson, vice president at Microsoft. 'It's a testament to the relationship between Grant Thornton and Microsoft. Grant Thornton's commitment to using Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service is resulting in transformative solutions that increase efficiency, accuracy and value for their clients. This collaboration underscores our shared vision of driving innovation and excellence in the industry." An intelligent AI agent for every professional The CompliAI ™ rollout comes as Grant Thornton is actively expanding its use of AI across the full range of functions at the firm, from audit and assurance services to tax and advisory offerings. Integrating new technology into daily workflows helps Grant Thornton drive more sophisticated, personalized and data-driven decision-making to clients. In May 2025, Accounting Today named Grant Thornton one of its 2025 Best Firms for Technology — citing the 'three tiers of [the firm's] successful technology strategy: application modernization, data centralization and AI integration.' According to Kempe: 'Grant Thornton seeks to seamlessly weave AI into key aspects of our quality-focused service delivery and daily workflows, with platforms like CompliAI serving as an early example. To realize this vision, we are implementing a phased AI maturity model, providing our client service professionals access to AI tools that work with them and enhance their ability to provide proactive insights.' Jeanna Shapiro, chief people and culture officer of Grant Thornton Advisors LLC, emphasized the focus on empowering Grant Thornton's workforce: 'Our people are at the core of our AI strategy. We are dedicated to equipping them with the right tools and training to excel in an AI-driven landscape. By leveraging AI, we help our professionals concentrate on higher-value engagement, foster innovation and deliver superior results for our clients.' In addition to investments in Grant Thornton's own AI infrastructure, the firm continues to invest further in supporting clients with their evaluation and implementation of technology and AI-enabled solutions through its Advisory service line. Tom Puthiyamadam, Grant Thornton's national managing principal for Advisory Services, commented: 'The ever evolving commercial and technology landscape means business leaders need to deploy technology which can unlock new opportunities to drive measurable value as well as make their businesses more resilient. Our technology and AI advisory professionals are well positioned to guide clients along that journey, now with the additional insights from Grant Thornton's own evolution in AI.' The firm's embrace of AI is fueled by its recent growth investment led by New Mountain Capital — and by its recently-created multinational platform, which is expanding to include the U.S., Ireland, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates, Luxembourg, the Cayman Islands, and other territories. 'We are big believers in the power of people plus technology and are excited to empower Grant Thornton's growth with additional investment in the latest technology and cutting-edge AI solutions for the benefit of clients, partners and staff,' added Andre Moura, managing director at New Mountain Capital. [Watch Grant Thornton's video about CompliAI here.] More on CompliAI ™ CompliAI ™ features a comprehensive suite of tools, including dashboards, task management, in-app commenting, notifications, a methodology document library, and a centralized file repository. These tools enable engagement teams to collaborate more effectively, access critical information faster, and manage projects with greater efficiency. It also automates key tasks such as risk and control rationalization, question and procedure generation, and document request list creation. 'CompliAI embodies the direction Grant Thornton is going, not just for this service, but for many of our offerings,' said Wes Luckock, senior director and Advisory product leader at Grant Thornton Advisors LLC, and one of the co-creators of CompliAI ™. About Grant Thornton Grant Thornton delivers professional services in the US through two specialized entities: Grant Thornton LLP, a licensed, certified public accounting (CPA) firm that provides audit and assurance services ― and Grant Thornton Advisors LLC (not a licensed CPA firm), which exclusively provides non-attest offerings, including tax and advisory services. In January 2025, Grant Thornton formed a multinational, multidisciplinary platform with Grant Thornton Ireland. The platform offers a premier transatlantic advisory and tax practice, as well as independent American and Irish audit practices. In April 2025, Grant Thornton UAE also joined the multinational platform. With $2.7 billion in revenues and more than 50 offices spanning the U.S., Ireland, the UAE and other territories, the platform delivers a singular client experience that includes enhanced solutions and capabilities, backed by powerful technologies and a roster of 12,000 quality-driven professionals enjoying exceptional career-growth opportunities and a distinctive cross-border culture. Grant Thornton is part of the Grant Thornton International Limited network, which provides access to its member firms in more than 150 global markets. Grant Thornton LLP, Grant Thornton Advisors LLC and their respective subsidiaries operate as an alternative practice structure (APS). The APS conforms with applicable laws, regulations and professional standards, including those from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. 'Grant Thornton' refers to the brand under which the member firms in the Grant Thornton International Ltd (GTIL) network provide services to their clients and/or refers to one or more member firms. Grant Thornton LLP and Grant Thornton Advisors LLC serve as the U.S. member firms of the GTIL network. GTIL and its member firms are not a worldwide partnership and all member firms are separate legal entities. Member firms deliver all services; GTIL does not provide services to clients. About New Mountain Capital New Mountain Capital is a New York-based investment firm that emphasizes business building and growth, rather than debt, as it pursues long-term capital appreciation. The firm currently manages private equity, credit and net lease investment strategies with approximately $55 billion in assets under management. New Mountain Capital seeks out what it believes to be the highest quality growth leaders in carefully selected industry sectors and then works intensively with management to build the value of these companies. For more information on New Mountain Capital, please visit
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Mastercard launches AI-powered Agentic Pay
Mastercard has unveiled its Agentic Payments Programme, Mastercard Agent Pay, a solution designed to transform commerce by integrating agentic AI. This programme introduces Mastercard Agentic Tokens, which aim to enhance tokenisation capabilities for global commerce solutions. The solution will leverage Mastercard's existing tokenisation infrastructure, which supports mobile contactless payments, secure card-on-file transactions, and Mastercard Payment Passkeys. Additionally, it will facilitate programmable payments for recurring expenses and subscriptions. Mastercard will work with Microsoft to incorporate Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service and Microsoft Copilot Studio into Mastercard's payment solutions. This integration seeks to develop and scale agentic commerce, enhancing the way that businesses and consumers interact with payment systems. Furthermore, Mastercard is partnering with technology providers such as IBM and its Watson Orchestrate product to expedite B2B use cases. The programme also involves collaborations with acquirers and checkout solutions such as Braintree and to enhance the tokenisation capabilities. For banks, the integration of tokenised payment credentials across agentic commerce platforms is expected to enhance the security of digital transactions. The programme stipulates that AI agents must be registered and verified before they can initiate secure payments on behalf of users. The enhanced tokenisation technology will enable transactions to be initiated through conversational interfaces. Mastercard chief product officer Jorn Lambert said: 'Mastercard is transforming the way the world pays for the better by anticipating consumer needs on the horizon. The launch of Mastercard Agent Pay marks our initial steps in redefining commerce in the AI era, including new merchant interfaces to distinguish trusted agents from bad actors using agentic technology. 'Recognising the seismic implications of this evolution, we are keen to collaborate with industry players to advance the standards for agentic payments, such as applying the Model Context Protocol to Secure Remote Commerce. This lays the foundation for scale and builds trust in agentic commerce.' Recently, Mastercard agreed to take a stake of around 3% in Corpay's cross-border business for $300m. "Mastercard launches AI-powered Agentic Pay " was originally created and published by Electronic Payments International, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Sign in to access your portfolio
Tahawul Tech
13-03-2025
- Business
- Tahawul Tech
Snowflake expands Microsoft partnership, integrating Azure OpenAI
Snowflake, the AI Data Cloud company, recently announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft that will empower enterprises to build easy, efficient, and trusted AI-powered apps and data agents with OpenAI's models directly in Snowflake Cortex AI, Snowflake's fully managed AI service. Snowflake Cortex AI will integrate Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service in Azure AI Foundry, making OpenAI's state-of-the-art models available for use on Microsoft Azure regions within Snowflake, and optimised to reason across audio, video, and text in real-time. Snowflake Cortex AI will integrate Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service in Azure AI Foundry, enabling businesses to access OpenAI's advanced models within Snowflake on Microsoft Azure regions. Optimised for real-time analysis across text, audio, and video, this integration allows enterprises to create secure, AI-powered data agents within Snowflake's AI Data Cloud By bringing OpenAI's models to Cortex AI through an integration with Azure OpenAI Service, Snowflake further solidifies its leadership in providing users with frontier AI models within the same unified governance framework as their data— ultimately saving businesses time and money. 'We're expanding our long-standing partnership with Microsoft to deliver the best of OpenAI's innovations directly to our customers, further advancing our promise to bring easy, efficient, and trusted AI to enterprises around the world,' said Christian Kleinerman, EVP of Product, Snowflake. 'There's enormous power in our customers being able to use OpenAI models directly in Snowflake's secure platform, unlocking multimodal, agentic, and conversational AI use cases that drive high impact.' . Snowflake's cross-region and cross-cloud AI inference also enables global customers to seamlessly access OpenAI's models from any cloud or region, without needing complex integrations or manual setup. Access to these models is secured with Snowflake's strong security guarantees through deep integrations with Microsoft Azure, providing protected connections for customers on any cloud provider. OpenAI's models provide advanced reasoning and instruct capabilities, allowing users to quickly build scalable AI apps and data agents that deliver accurate, grounded insights using their enterprise data. Snowflake customers achieve this because OpenAI's models run within the security boundary of Snowflake's AI Data Cloud. Snowflake Horizon Catalogue's strong enterprise-grade compliance, security, privacy, discovery, and collaboration capabilities natively integrated into Cortex AI allows users to focus on driving impact with OpenAI's models. 'Enterprises are looking to leverage their proprietary data to create AI differentiation in ways that bring the richest experiences to the world, and the Snowflake partnership with Azure OpenAI Service through Azure AI Foundry will empower our joint customers to deliver intuitive and trustworthy app experiences even faster,' said Asha Sharma, CVP, Head of Product, Microsoft AI Platform. 'It's our shared data-centric approach to AI that helps break down barriers to production for businesses of all sizes'. Bringing OpenAI to the AI Data Cloud with Azure OpenAI Service A recent MIT Technology Review Insights report, Data Strategies for AI Leaders, found that 59% of respondents see data governance, security, or privacy as key challenges in deploying generative AI. For businesses, trust and security are critical to AI success. By integrating OpenAI's models into Cortex AI via Azure OpenAI Service, Snowflake ensures strong data governance, access controls, and monitoring—helping enterprises protect their most sensitive information. With OpenAI's models in the AI Data Cloud, joint customers of Snowflake and Microsoft can now seamlessly combine structured and unstructured data to deliver a richer, more engaging user experience. OpenAI's models will be available on select Microsoft Azure regions in the United States, with plans to expand globally. In addition to OpenAI's models, Snowflake offers various models from leading providers including Anthropic, DeepSeek, Meta, Mistral, and more, alongside Snowflake's Arctic open source language and embedding models. Snowflake is committed to making the top-performing models seamlessly accessible to users within Cortex AI, allowing customers the choice and flexibility to select the best model for their specific use case. Snowflake Brings Data Agents to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Teams With this expanded partnership, Snowflake is working with Microsoft to bring users Snowflake Cortex Agents to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams (anticipated general availability in June 2025). Powered by Cortex AI, these agents will allow Microsoft's enterprise customers to interact with their structured and unstructured Snowflake data using natural language directly within Microsoft apps—making it easier to ask questions and gain insights from tools they use every day. This integration helps users of all skill levels access AI-driven insights, boosting productivity and smarter decision-making. Developers can also use REST APIs to build secure, customised interfaces between Microsoft 365 apps and their data in Snowflake, while data and engineering teams can leverage Cortex AI in Microsoft Copilot to accelerate business insights. Image Credit: Snowflake
Web Release
10-03-2025
- Business
- Web Release
Snowflake Integrates Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service to Provide Access to the Latest OpenAI Models
By Editor_wr On Mar 10, 2025 Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW), the AI Data Cloud company, today announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft that will empower enterprises to build easy, efficient, and trusted AI-powered apps and data agents with OpenAI's models directly in Snowflake Cortex AI, Snowflake's fully managed AI service. Snowflake Cortex AI will integrate Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service in Azure AI Foundry, making OpenAI's state-of-the-art models available for use on Microsoft Azure regions within Snowflake, and optimised to reason across audio, video, and text in real-time. Snowflake Cortex AI will integrate Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service in Azure AI Foundry, enabling businesses to access OpenAI's advanced models within Snowflake on Microsoft Azure regions. Optimised for real-time analysis across text, audio, and video, this integration allows enterprises to create secure, AI-powered data agents within Snowflake's AI Data Cloud By bringing OpenAI's models to Cortex AI through an integration with Azure OpenAI Service, Snowflake further solidifies its leadership in providing users with frontier AI models within the same unified governance framework as their data— ultimately saving businesses time and money. 'We're expanding our long-standing partnership with Microsoft to deliver the best of OpenAI's innovations directly to our customers, further advancing our promise to bring easy, efficient, and trusted AI to enterprises around the world,' said Christian Kleinerman, EVP of Product, Snowflake. 'There's enormous power in our customers being able to use OpenAI models directly in Snowflake's secure platform, unlocking multimodal, agentic, and conversational AI use cases that drive high impact.' . Snowflake's cross-region and cross-cloud AI inference also enables global customers to seamlessly access OpenAI's models from any cloud or region, without needing complex integrations or manual setup. Access to these models is secured with Snowflake's strong security guarantees through deep integrations with Microsoft Azure, providing protected connections for customers on any cloud provider. OpenAI's models provide advanced reasoning and instruct capabilities, allowing users to quickly build scalable AI apps and data agents that deliver accurate, grounded insights using their enterprise data. Snowflake customers achieve this because OpenAI's models run within the security boundary of Snowflake's AI Data Cloud. Snowflake Horizon Catalog's strong enterprise-grade compliance, security, privacy, discovery, and collaboration capabilities natively integrated into Cortex AI allows users to focus on driving impact with OpenAI's models. 'Enterprises are looking to leverage their proprietary data to create AI differentiation in ways that bring the richest experiences to the world, and the Snowflake partnership with Azure OpenAI Service through Azure AI Foundry will empower our joint customers to deliver intuitive and trustworthy app experiences even faster,' said Asha Sharma, CVP, Head of Product, Microsoft AI Platform. 'It's our shared data-centric approach to AI that helps break down barriers to production for businesses of all sizes.' Bringing OpenAI to the AI Data Cloud with Azure OpenAI Service A recent MIT Technology Review Insights report, Data Strategies for AI Leaders, found that 59% of respondents see data governance, security, or privacy as key challenges in deploying generative AI. For businesses, trust and security are critical to AI success. By integrating OpenAI's models into Cortex AI via Azure OpenAI Service, Snowflake ensures strong data governance, access controls, and monitoring—helping enterprises protect their most sensitive information. With OpenAI's models in the AI Data Cloud, joint customers of Snowflake and Microsoft can now seamlessly combine structured and unstructured data to deliver a richer, more engaging user experience. OpenAI's models will be available on select Microsoft Azure regions in the United States, with plans to expand globally. In addition to OpenAI's models, Snowflake offers various models from leading providers including Anthropic, DeepSeek, Meta, Mistral, and more, alongside Snowflake's Arctic open source language and embedding models. Snowflake is committed to making the top-performing models seamlessly accessible to users within Cortex AI, allowing customers the choice and flexibility to select the best model for their specific use case. Snowflake Brings Data Agents to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Teams With this expanded partnership, Snowflake is working with Microsoft to bring users Snowflake Cortex Agents to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams (anticipated general availability in June 2025). Powered by Cortex AI, these agents will allow Microsoft's enterprise customers to interact with their structured and unstructured Snowflake data using natural language directly within Microsoft apps—making it easier to ask questions and gain insights from tools they use every day. This integration helps users of all skill levels access AI-driven insights, boosting productivity and smarter decision-making. Developers can also use REST APIs to build secure, customised interfaces between Microsoft 365 apps and their data in Snowflake, while data and engineering teams can leverage Cortex AI in Microsoft Copilot to accelerate business insights. © 2025 Snowflake Inc. All rights reserved. Snowflake, the Snowflake logo, and all other Snowflake product, feature and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Snowflake Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other brand names or logos mentioned or used herein are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s). Snowflake may not be associated with, or be sponsored or endorsed by, any such holder(s). Comments are closed.
Zawya
10-03-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Snowflake integrates Microsoft Azure OpenAI service to provide access to the latest OpenAI models
Dubai, United Arab Emirates – Snowflake (NYSE: SNOW), the AI Data Cloud company, today announced an expanded partnership with Microsoft that will empower enterprises to build easy, efficient, and trusted AI-powered apps and data agents with OpenAI's models directly in Snowflake Cortex AI, Snowflake's fully managed AI service. Snowflake Cortex AI will integrate Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service in Azure AI Foundry, making OpenAI's state-of-the-art models available for use on Microsoft Azure regions within Snowflake, and optimised to reason across audio, video, and text in real-time. Snowflake Cortex AI will integrate Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service in Azure AI Foundry, enabling businesses to access OpenAI's advanced models within Snowflake on Microsoft Azure regions. Optimised for real-time analysis across text, audio, and video, this integration allows enterprises to create secure, AI-powered data agents within Snowflake's AI Data Cloud By bringing OpenAI's models to Cortex AI through an integration with Azure OpenAI Service, Snowflake further solidifies its leadership in providing users with frontier AI models within the same unified governance framework as their data— ultimately saving businesses time and money. 'We're expanding our long-standing partnership with Microsoft to deliver the best of OpenAI's innovations directly to our customers, further advancing our promise to bring easy, efficient, and trusted AI to enterprises around the world,' said Christian Kleinerman, EVP of Product, Snowflake. "There's enormous power in our customers being able to use OpenAI models directly in Snowflake's secure platform, unlocking multimodal, agentic, and conversational AI use cases that drive high impact.' . Snowflake's cross-region and cross-cloud AI inference also enables global customers to seamlessly access OpenAI's models from any cloud or region, without needing complex integrations or manual setup. Access to these models is secured with Snowflake's strong security guarantees through deep integrations with Microsoft Azure, providing protected connections for customers on any cloud provider. OpenAI's models provide advanced reasoning and instruct capabilities, allowing users to quickly build scalable AI apps and data agents that deliver accurate, grounded insights using their enterprise data. Snowflake customers achieve this because OpenAI's models run within the security boundary of Snowflake's AI Data Cloud. Snowflake Horizon Catalog's strong enterprise-grade compliance, security, privacy, discovery, and collaboration capabilities natively integrated into Cortex AI allows users to focus on driving impact with OpenAI's models. 'Enterprises are looking to leverage their proprietary data to create AI differentiation in ways that bring the richest experiences to the world, and the Snowflake partnership with Azure OpenAI Service through Azure AI Foundry will empower our joint customers to deliver intuitive and trustworthy app experiences even faster,' said Asha Sharma, CVP, Head of Product, Microsoft AI Platform. 'It's our shared data-centric approach to AI that helps break down barriers to production for businesses of all sizes.' Bringing OpenAI to the AI Data Cloud with Azure OpenAI Service A recent MIT Technology Review Insights report, Data Strategies for AI Leaders, found that 59% of respondents see data governance, security, or privacy as key challenges in deploying generative AI. For businesses, trust and security are critical to AI success. By integrating OpenAI's models into Cortex AI via Azure OpenAI Service, Snowflake ensures strong data governance, access controls, and monitoring—helping enterprises protect their most sensitive information. With OpenAI's models in the AI Data Cloud, joint customers of Snowflake and Microsoft can now seamlessly combine structured and unstructured data to deliver a richer, more engaging user experience. OpenAI's models will be available on select Microsoft Azure regions in the United States, with plans to expand globally. In addition to OpenAI's models, Snowflake offers various models from leading providers including Anthropic, DeepSeek, Meta, Mistral, and more, alongside Snowflake's Arctic open source language and embedding models. Snowflake is committed to making the top-performing models seamlessly accessible to users within Cortex AI, allowing customers the choice and flexibility to select the best model for their specific use case. Snowflake Brings Data Agents to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Teams With this expanded partnership, Snowflake is working with Microsoft to bring users Snowflake Cortex Agents to Microsoft 365 Copilot and Teams (anticipated general availability in June 2025). Powered by Cortex AI, these agents will allow Microsoft's enterprise customers to interact with their structured and unstructured Snowflake data using natural language directly within Microsoft apps—making it easier to ask questions and gain insights from tools they use every day. This integration helps users of all skill levels access AI-driven insights, boosting productivity and smarter decision-making. Developers can also use REST APIs to build secure, customised interfaces between Microsoft 365 apps and their data in Snowflake, while data and engineering teams can leverage Cortex AI in Microsoft Copilot to accelerate business insights. © 2025 Snowflake Inc. All rights reserved. Snowflake, the Snowflake logo, and all other Snowflake product, feature and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Snowflake Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other brand names or logos mentioned or used herein are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s). Snowflake may not be associated with, or be sponsored or endorsed by, any such holder(s). About Snowflake Snowflake makes enterprise AI easy, efficient and trusted. More than 11,000 companies around the globe, including hundreds of the world's largest, use Snowflake's AI Data Cloud to share data, build applications, and power their business with AI. The era of enterprise AI is here. Learn more at (NYSE: SNOW).
