Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability Previews Water Management Features, Ecolab Collaboration

Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability is previewing water sustainability management features, the software giant disclosed in a blog. The effort includes an "extended collaboration" with Ecolab that "aims to help organizations accelerate their sustainability progress with enhanced visibility of water consumption data," according to Shefy Manayil Kareem, general manager for Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability.

Using the Microsoft Sustainability Manager, partners and customers can gain:

• A unified view of water sustainability data through visualizations and organizational reports.
• Tracking capabilities against mandatory and voluntary reporting requirements using custom data model configurations, monitoring, and reporting.

Microsoft and Ecolab: Joint Water Sustainability Management Goals

The joint Microsoft-Ecolab solution "combines the power of the ECOLAB3D digital platform with Microsoft Sustainability Manager, helping organizations monitor and manage water data so they can gain greater visibility into how they’re tracking against water and sustainability goals," Kareem wrote.

Together, Microsoft and Ecolab plan to help: 

1. Unify water and sustainability data;
2. reduce water consumption and costs; 
3. lower energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions; and
4. drive transformation that benefits the planet and business.

Ecolab, based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, develops and offers services, technology and systems that specialize in treatment, purification, cleaning and hygiene of water in a wide variety of application, according to the company's LinkedIn profile. Ecolab has $13 billion in annual sales and 47,000 employees.

Microsoft did not say when the water sustainability management features will be generally available.

Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability: More Partnerships, Key Rivals

Microsoft has announced multiple sustainability partnerships in recent months. For instance:

• March 2023: e& launched sustainability as a service built atop Microsoft's cloud.
• March 2023: Microsoft described multiple IT consulting firms, independent software vendors (ISVs) and advisory firms that are assigning customer journeys to net-zero goals.

Nevertheless, Microsoft faces competition on the sustainability cloud front. Traditional rivals such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google Cloud are ramping up their sustainability partnerships. And upstarts such as QiO develop software to help data center providers cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Looking ahead, it’s safe to expect more sustainability partner news at the Microsoft Inspire 2023 conference (July 18-19, online).