The technologies are part of the company’s global IT transformation strategy spearheaded by Phil Jordan, group CIO at Telefónica, to drive greater simplification, agility and cost reductions that will strengthen and enhance the company’s core digital capabilities and global footprint.

With more than 130,000 employees in 24 countries, Telefónica wants to enable and transform the employee experience related to collaboration, providing a much faster, intuitive way with seamless digital integrated experience.

Moving to Office 365 and Yammer also benefits Telefónica by allowing its people to develop new products and services for its customers and markets while spending less time on infrastructure support of collaboration services. The deployment is also expected to reduce the costs of collaboration services by up to 20% while supporting the company’s specific security and privacy requirements.

Adrian Steel, European production hub lead and global director at Telefónica, explained: "Telefónica’s relationship and transformation journey with Microsoft has brought us to this very exciting milestone. Over the past 18 months, we have built very strong foundations and are now ready to move to the cloud.

"Deploying Office 365 and Yammer is this next step in bringing our global workforce to the forefront of seamless communication and collaboration while still operating at the level of speed and execution we’re known for."

Kurt DelBene, president of Microsoft’s Office Division, commented: "Companies are looking to bring people together across organisational silos and geographies to drive innovation and reduce costs.

"Moving to the cloud with Office 365 and Yammer makes it easier and faster to collaborate regardless of location or organisational structure. Telefónica is a great example of a forward-thinking organisation that understands how the cloud can power its business."

Following a successful proof of concept carried out last year, Telefónica commenced initial deployments across Europe in April, which is expected to continue in Latin America in the near future. Microsoft Cloud Vantage Services will assist in delivering a complete migration to the cloud.