With environmental issues on the central stage of the world, weather events, wildfires, droughts and floods around the world are becoming more and more serious. Companies that pollute upstream and downstream of the supply chain are looking for ways to measure their impact on the environment, and the ultimate goal is to find ways to reduce their overall contribution to the problem But in order to improve the carbon footprint, people need to be able to get a baseline measurement and then track the data over time. This requires a set of software tools, and Microsoft hopes to help in this field.
Microsoft today announced a sustainable cloud product called Microsoft cloud for sustainability. In a blog post written by Alysa Taylor, vice president of industry, application and data marketing, and Elisabeth Brinton, vice president of sustainable development, the company outlined its plans for new products.
The solution aims to use a set of measurement equipment to collect data, and then use Microsoft's cloud based data collection service to process and understand these data.
"In order to effectively drive sustainability reporting, sustainability efforts and business transformation, enterprises need to better understand the activities of the whole enterprise and value chain. Collecting and connecting IOT data from devices using sensors - combined with rich services on the edge or in the cloud - provides the basis for large-scale monitoring and measurement activities. Data collection is carried out in a tool called Microsoft sustainability manager, Providing actionable insights through increasingly automated data connectivity will make it easier for organizations to record, report and reduce their environmental impact. "
Microsoft is not alone in this type of effort, as other major players have made similar efforts in the past year, including salesforce, Google and IBM. In fact, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said at a news conference last week that as more and more companies try to reduce their carbon output, sustainable development will become a business worthy of attention. Salesforce and Google have built similar products, while IBM has acquired envizi, a start-up that helps companies measure their carbon use.
All these solutions are data-driven, hoping to help companies collect key data, understand their impact on the environment, and find ways to reduce the impact over time to achieve the goal of sustainable development.
Microsoft will also work with various partners to help extend the solution beyond its core products. The tool will be available for testing or purchase on June 1.
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