How Carvana Uses Microsoft Azure and AI to Revolutionize Customer Service

Carvana, the innovative online used car retailer, has redefined automotive e-commerce by leveraging Microsoft Azure's cloud-based AI solutions to build an efficient and seamless customer experience. Through robust collaboration with Microsoft, Carvana has harnessed next-generation technologies to streamline support, improve operational efficiency, and set new benchmarks for customer satisfaction. This in-depth feature explores the technology stack powering Carvana’s transformation, the business outcomes delivered, and the broader implications for customer service innovation in data-driven enterprises.

Powering Customer Experience with a Unified Microsoft Ecosystem​

Carvana’s journey to better serve its customers began with a critical look at the tools and infrastructure supporting its operations. According to Michael Graf, Associate Director of Engineering at Carvana, the decision to partner with Microsoft was clear-cut: “Pretty much all of our systems run on Microsoft Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) to scale and reliably provide all our services and for simplified management. We have a single place for all our stuff in the ecosystem that we could very easily scaffold up in a matter of minutes with just the click of a button.”
By centralizing their workflows and infrastructure within the Azure ecosystem, Carvana’s engineering teams gained a flexible and consistent environment from which to operate. This shift enabled them to innovate more rapidly, iterate on services, and launch updates at unprecedented speeds. The agility fundamental to Carvana’s technological approach has come to embody the company’s broader ethos: run fast, adapt quickly, and reduce the complexity that so often slows down digital transformation.

Seamless Development and AI-Driven Automation​

A crucial ingredient of Carvana’s new customer experience model is “CARE,” the company’s AI-powered customer interaction and review platform. CARE, together with “Sebastian”—an intelligent customer support agent—helps analyze millions of customer conversations every month. The insights derived from these interactions allow Carvana to spot trends, address pain points, and provide high-quality feedback to its staff and support tools.
Much of this is made possible by Microsoft’s Azure AI capabilities. CARE leverages Azure AI Speech, a component of Azure AI Foundry, for fast and accurate transcription of voice conversations. These transcriptions are then stored in Azure Cosmos DB, a globally distributed, highly scalable NoSQL database that allows Carvana’s teams to react instantly to new findings.
GitHub Copilot, Microsoft’s AI-powered coding assistant, further streamlines the development process. By automating repetitive code writing tasks, Copilot frees Carvana’s engineers to focus on more strategic and creative aspects of software development. This synergy between AI-powered coding tools and cloud-based deployment enables features to be built and delivered with remarkable efficiency—decreasing the time from ideation to market rollout.

Flexible Scalability through Azure Cosmos DB​

One of the cornerstones of Carvana’s scalable and adaptable architecture is Azure Cosmos DB. Graf elaborates: “We use Azure Cosmos DB for every step of our process with CARE. My team is running really fast on complex projects, and we don’t know all the answers until we bump into them. So having flexibility with schema changes, with automatically scaling throughput and storage with Azure Cosmos DB, is key.”
The ability to automatically adjust to variable query loads as well as handle evolving data structures is not just a matter of convenience. In the context of customer-centric business, these features are fundamental. Carvana must contend with a large volume of unpredictable and highly variable customer data, making elasticity, reliability, and speed top priorities. Azure Cosmos DB’s multi-region replication further assures uptime and performance for a business that cannot afford service disruptions.

Uncompromising Security and Compliance​

Customer conversations, particularly those transcribed and analyzed by platforms like CARE and Sebastian, often include sensitive personal and financial information. For Carvana, security and compliance are far from afterthoughts—they are non-negotiable. Devkar, an engineering leader at Carvana, highlights the value of Microsoft’s expertise: “Microsoft has been a great resource for making sure all of the data that Sebastian and CARE have access to is handled in a compliant, secure way.”
Azure’s enterprise-grade security measures—ranging from credential management and encryption at rest to advanced threat protection and compliance certifications—provide the security backbone supporting Carvana’s operational ambitions. This reassurance enables Carvana to focus more on delivering high-impact experiences and less on worrying about regulatory pitfalls or data breaches.

Achieving 100% Visibility into Customer Interactions​

Before adopting their current solution, Carvana, like most businesses, relied on sampling—a statistical approach that reviews only a subset of customer interactions to identify issues and ensure quality. With CARE’s scalable analysis capabilities, Carvana has achieved full visibility, monitoring 100% of customer conversations.
Graf explains the impact: “The data has validated that our training efforts are paying off, and our advocates are all on the same page in how we’re servicing customers.” This complete transparency is especially valuable in identifying training gaps and inconsistencies, driving continuous improvement, and holding teams accountable to the same high standards.

Operational Benefits: Lower Costs and Better Service​

The partnership between CARE and Sebastian demonstrates the power of AI to deliver not only insight, but tangible results. As Sebastian’s capabilities in handling customer queries have matured, Carvana has seen a dramatic 45% reduction in average calls per sale over a two-year period, as stated by Tacarra Brown, Associate Director of Customer Service. This reduction isn’t just a matter of efficiency; it has freed up human advocates to spend more time on personalized and complex problem-solving—the kinds of tasks where human empathy and expertise make a lasting difference for customers.
Brown notes, “Sebastian handles more standard scenarios, leaving more time and space for our Advocates to handle complex situations where it matters most.” This has translated directly into higher customer satisfaction, improved operational throughput, and a strategic advantage over competitors that have yet to fully leverage AI for both scale and service depth.

Analysis: Carvana's Approach in Context​

Strengths—What Stands Out​

Rapid Development and Deployment​

The modular, cloud-native, and fully-integrated architecture allows Carvana to push updates and new features to its services faster than competitors relying on traditional monolithic systems. By using Azure Kubernetes Service for container management, Cosmos DB for scalable storage, and GitHub Copilot for code automation, Carvana has assembled an environment that maximizes developer productivity and operational flexibility.

Full-End Visibility and Automated Feedback Loops​

Complete visibility into every customer interaction—rather than mere samples—provides Carvana with rich, actionable data. Continuous feedback informs both training and algorithmic refinement, closing the loop between support quality and business outcomes. This culture of measurement and iteration is highly correlated with high-performing organizations across industries.

Strategic Focus on Security and Compliance​

By prioritizing data protection and compliance, Carvana not only meets regulatory requirements but also builds trust with customers. Azure’s robust compliance and security offerings allow Carvana to confidently process sensitive customer data—including financial and personally identifiable information—without introducing needless risk.

AI Augmentation Rather Than Replacement​

Carvana’s approach to AI in customer service is nuanced. Rather than attempting to replace humans, tools like Sebastian handle routine scenarios, freeing up human staff to focus where their talents are most critical. This “AI as augmentation” model produces better outcomes for both customers and employees, advancing service levels while keeping costs in check.

Scalability for Growth​

Carvana’s use of cloud-native, auto-scaling components positions it to handle future growth without time-consuming infrastructure rearchitectures. As the company expands, its technology stack is well-equipped to absorb larger customer bases and higher call volumes, ensuring a seamless experience no matter the company’s size.

Potential Risks and Points of Caution​

Over-Reliance on a Single Vendor Ecosystem​

While the integration and interoperability within the Microsoft ecosystem are major strengths, over-reliance on a single provider can introduce strategic risks. Should Microsoft experience outages, price hikes, or licensing changes, Carvana could face disruptions. Diversifying some workloads—or at least devising contingency plans—would mitigate these vendor lock-in risks.

AI Bias and the Limits of Automation​

As with any AI implementation, there remains a risk of reinforcing biases if training data is unbalanced or insufficiently diverse. Monitoring for bias in support outcomes and continuously updating AI models with fresh, representative data will be crucial. Additionally, complex scenarios may arise where algorithmic solutions are challenged; human oversight is necessary to avoid frustrating users or missing subtle but important cues in customer sentiment.

Data Privacy Concerns​

Even with strong compliance and security postures, customers may harbor concerns about how their conversations are processed and stored. Being transparent about data usage, offering opt-outs, and rigorously adhering to privacy best practices will be vital as Carvana continues to scale its operations.

Skill Gaps and Workforce Transition​

The introduction of automation and AI can sometimes result in skill mismatches. As Sebastian and CARE take on more standard tasks, Carvana will need to ensure that its workforce is continuously upskilled to handle more complex, emotionally nuanced, or technically challenging interactions. Failing to do so could result in talent attrition or gaps in critical areas of customer support.

The Broader Lessons: Best Practices for Modern Customer Experience​

Carvana’s partnership with Microsoft highlights several best practices that can inform other enterprises seeking to reinvent customer engagement through technology:

• Start with the End in Mind: Define what winning looks like in terms of customer experience, working backwards to assemble the right combination of tools and platforms.
• Leverage Cloud-Native and AI Services for Scale: Cloud-native solutions and AI tools offer rapid scaling and innovation at a fraction of the management overhead associated with on-premises legacy systems.
• Automate the Routine, Elevate the Human: Let automation handle high-volume, repetitive issues and free up skilled staff for the interactions that matter most.
• Invest in Security and Compliance from the Outset: Regulatory missteps can derail even the most impressive technical undertakings. Embed data protection and compliance into your architecture from day one.
• Close the Feedback Loop: Use data—ideally from 100% of customer interactions—to inform continuous improvement in both AI models and human training processes.
• Prepare for Change: Ensure staff are empowered, trained, and engaged so that the human element in customer service evolves in tandem with technological change.

Conclusion: Carvana and the Future of AI-Powered Customer Service​

Carvana’s innovative use of Microsoft Azure’s platform and AI capabilities exemplifies the potential of cloud-native, data-driven solutions to transform customer service at scale. By integrating AI-powered automation with flexible, secure infrastructure—and focusing relentlessly on quality and continuous feedback—Carvana has delivered measurable improvements in efficiency and satisfaction.
The journey is not without its risks. Questions around data privacy, AI bias, workforce transition, and dependency on a single vendor must remain top of mind as adoption accelerates. Nonetheless, Carvana’s story is a compelling case study for any organization seeking to modernize their customer support operations and embrace the possibilities of the AI era.
For WindowsForum.com readers, Carvana’s experience offers both a blueprint and an inspiration: with the right technology stack, operational vision, and commitment to excellence, enterprises can realize new thresholds of performance and customer delight—setting new standards for what is possible in today’s digital economy.

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Source: Microsoft Carvana builds efficient, seamless customer experience with agent on Azure | Microsoft Customer Stories