Microsoft Touts Global Systems Integrators, ISVs, Consultancies as Sustainability Partners

Microsoft is aligning with big, familiar IT consulting firms and some newer names to promote Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability. In an expansive blog, the cloud giant mentions  Accenture, Avanade, Capgemini, EY, KPMG, Publicis Sapient, PwC and Willow as key partners that are "helping organizations everywhere plan, design, and implement strategies and robust solutions to enable transformation."

The blog -- penned by Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability General Manager Shefy Manayil Kareem -- also points to independent software vendors (ISVs) and advisory partners that are assisting customer journeys toward net zero goals.

Related: See Microsoft's overall sustainability strategy here.

Microsoft Sustainability Manager: Partner Ecosystem Emerges

The February 2023 blog surfaced roughly five months after the technology giant began to preview Microsoft Sustainability Manager. That application, still in its beta testing stage as of February 2023, allows organizations to "gain continuous visibility into their emissions activities, reliably report their impact and progress in near real time, and access the intelligence required to collaborate with others to refine and scale sustainability initiatives and transform their business, end to end," the company said in an October 2022 statement.

Early Sustainability Manager adopters include:

• Synagro, a recycler of organic by-products. (Partner: Avanade)
• Publicis Sapient, which integrated Sustainability Manager into its eMission Cloud View -- an energy efficiency and emissions management solution.
• Willow, which leveraged a Microsoft Sustainability Manager software connector to exchange data between WillowTwin and Cloud for Sustainability.

Jump over to Microsoft AppSource -- an app store containing partner solutions -- and you'll see additional Cloud for Sustainability option from ICONICS, Bentley Systems, Transparency-One and JDA Software.

Read between the lines and Microsoft appears serious about cloud-centric sustainability partnerships. Still, the limited number of partners reveals that the software giant's sustainability partnerships are in their early stages -- just like the Microsoft Sustainability Manager software platform.

Public Cloud Providers and Sustainability

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).