“Many of our government and utility customers already use Microsoft services, it’s a trusted and familiar brand, so when customers hear that we are on Azure, that gives them confidence in delivery and helps speed up adoption of emerging technologies like ours,” explained Vapar CTO and co-founder Michelle Aguilar. “Hosting on Azure gives us the ability to integrate securely into our customers Active Directory, which streamlines the customer experience”. Vapar’s AI can reportedly analyze sewer and stormwater pipes at 85% accuracy, far above the human review rate of 60%. Its customers include Azure customer SA Water, who is owned fully by the government of South Australia and holds over 26,000 km of water mains.
Global Expansion
Other than increasing customer comfort, Vapar expects the switch to aid its plans to expand outside of Australia. The partnership with Microsoft could open new doors for the company, especially in the US and UK. The tech giant seems happy to help in that regard. “We are delighted that VAPAR has transitioned to Azure and will be able to leverage our global partners to reach international prospects – but also benefit from the rich technology ecosystem that surrounds Microsoft Azure, leveraging not only our AI capabilities but also APIs, storage, and plugins with services delivered securely,” said Rachel Bondi, general manager, one commercial partner, Microsoft Australia. However, though Microsoft talked up Azure’s reliability, it recently acknowledged it can do better. Its Project Tardigrade is specifically designed to improve reliability after reports suggest it’s falling behind the competition. Either way, grabbing the customer from Google Cloud is a big win for Microsoft. It increases the variation of customers on its platform, which it can theoretically use as a selling point in the future.
