On April 18, global electrical products distributor Sonepar announced it would invest over $1 billion in its digital transformation over the next five years to focus on a personalized customer experience, according to a news release.

Sonepar said it has selected Microsoft, Publicis Sapient and Hitachi Solutions to help drive the company’s digital innovation “in a sustainable manner.”

“Sonepar is transforming the relationship between the customers and its associates, between the digital and the physical by orchestrating through its omni-channel platform a constant dialog to deliver the perfect order,” said Jérémie Profeta, Sonepar’s Chief Transformation Officer. “Sonepar will accomplish this via Spark, a synchronized omnichannel platform, powered by Microsoft Azure and Dynamics 365. Sonepar is teaming with Microsoft, Publicis Sapient and Hitachi Solutions.”

Designed to make life easier for customers and associates, the platform will make it easier to interact with Sonepar, the company said.  All customer and associate touch points will be incorporated into the platform: web, phone, mobile app, branches, systems-to-systems, and delivery, Sonepar said.

The collaboration supports Sonepar’s sustainability goals, of which the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative, the company said.

Read more about the announcement here.