Blue Prism to deliver automation solutions through Azure

Blue Prism is to deliver its intelligent automation solutions and cognitive services on Microsoft Azure.

The solution will enable an on-demand digital workforce and contribute to Blue Prism's goal of delivering its connected-RPA platform in a flexible Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) format on Azure, allowing customers to accelerate automation projects, increase productivity, and improve customer experiences without needing to set up a dedicated infrastructure.

"Microsoft's vision for AI and our Azure AI platform centres on combining the power of the Azure cloud with decades of breakthrough research to deliver more innovation, flexibility and operational agility for our customers," says Microsoft AI program management director Lance Olson.

"Using Azure AI services like Form Recognizer, we look forward to working with Blue Prism to build intelligent applications that extract insights in forms, receipts, and other content to drive better business decisions.

The collaboration will integrate Blue Prism's automation capabilities with Azure AI technologies including Azure Cognitive Services and Azure Machine learning as well as offering access to Microsoft Office 365.

It's also possible to leverage technologies like Microsoft Flow, Logic Apps, PowerApps and Power BI with Blue Prism, and the plan is to invest in these and other areas more deeply in the near future.

This news falls on the heels of the announcement of a free, fully functional enterprise trial of Blue Prism on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace.

This offering gives new users access to Blue Prism's award-winning RPA software on Azure through a quick and easy deployment process – no additional components needed. Blue Prism plans to reveal similar capabilities with other leading cloud vendors shortly. 

Blue Prism also announced its plans to acquire Thoughtonomy, a provider of a fully-integrated SaaS platform on Microsoft Azure. 

"Partnering with Microsoft gives Blue Prism a roadmap for evolving Digital Worker capabilities with broader AI and cognitive capabilities," says Blue Prism CTO and co-founder Dave Moss.

"We want to drive consumption and adoption of connected-RPA with all users by providing a full range of intelligent automation possibilities. The future of work lies with those who embrace a Digital Workforce and empower people to do those things only people can do.