Lowe’s enters Microsoft’s cloud

Lowe’s has signed an agreement with Microsoft Corp. to implement Microsoft Office 365 across more than 1,745 stores, 200,000 employees and its corporate offices in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Office 365 will help the home improvement retailer improve customer service by providing collaboration tools to increase communication among its stores and employees. The technology will be available for Lowe's employees soon and will help customers tap into the collective expertise of Lowe’s work force.

"Office 365 is another tool we're using to help redefine customers' home improvement experiences," said Paul Ramsay, senior VP IT solutions at Lowe's. "We're giving our employees the tools to connect quickly and easily, with one goal in mind: to make home improvement simple."

As Lowe's strives to help its employees seamlessly communicate, collaborate and connect with other employees, Office 365 offers the ability to grow with Lowe's users and provides simple interoperability and familiarity with Microsoft programs.

"What's inspiring about the plans Lowe's has for Office 365 is it really shows the power of the cloud by giving its employees the ability to deliver what they need to best help their customers, the very moment they need it," said Kirk Koenigsbauer, corporate VP Microsoft office division.