Harnessing the power of data and AI for sustainability IBM Supply Chain and Blockchain Blog

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Companies face increasing pressure from regulators, investors and consumers to move towards more sustainable and socially responsible business operations – and to demonstrate these measures in a robust and verifiable manner. In fact, large companies rank corporate responsibility and environmental sustainability risks as the third-largest concern for organizations in the 2021 Forrester report. However, the various types of data that companies need to understand and report on their sustainability programs are still highly fragmented and inaccessible to all parties involved.

To help organizations meet these challenges, IBM acquires Envizi, a leading provider of environmental performance management data and analytics software. Envizi complements IBM’s growing portfolio of artificial intelligence software – including IBM Maximo asset management solutions, IBM Sterling supply chain solutions and IBM Ambient Intelligence Suite – to help companies assess the impact of the environment on the business and business on the environment.

Learn how to create a resilient, sustainable future

Sustainable innovation is gaining momentum

As Envizi founder David Solsky pointed out in our recent panel, executives around the world have seen a dramatic shift over the past two years when it comes to sustainability. Today’s leaders are excited and energized by the opportunity to reimagine business and commerce with a sustainability-first mindset. The response to the COVID-19 pandemic over the same period has demonstrated the ability of businesses to adapt and thrive in the face of adversity, and the rapid development of new vaccines has demonstrated the power of technological change.

Sustainability is now a boardroom issue with clear implications for the bottom line. Today, teams have the right resources and leadership support to achieve ESG goals and embrace the moment.

But when organizational leaders step back to assess how to address sustainability issues, a common modern challenge becomes clear: acquiring, applying and managing data. Much of the key data for sustainability improvements—for example, energy data for fragmented markets—is difficult to capture and track. While access to this data may still be a challenge, we are working to ease the burden of access by unifying key systems of record.

IBM and Envizi will accelerate this journey

Supply chain and asset management offer some of the most significant opportunities for environmental improvement and innovation, as they often make up the bulk of the end-to-end operational footprint. It is operating systems that have driven these and other areas of business that have the information needed to improve sustainability.

So far, IBM and Envizi represent two halves of an ideal approach: operational-specific improvements through IBM solutions; and ESG-related data collection, analysis, and reporting through Envizi. Now let’s put them together.

IBM’s portfolio of solutions is already helping organizations reduce their environmental impact and improve sustainability as part of ongoing business: increasing supply chain visibility IBM GBP; Enables intelligent asset management, monitoring and maintenance IBM Maximo; and enable smart facility management IBM TRIRIGA. IBM also helps organizations manage direct climate risk by IBM Ambient Intelligence SuiteWith the software, energy companies can automatically schedule tree trimmings near power lines, intelligently assign workers to new locations, or optimize repair and replacement of critical equipment.

At the same time, Envizi provides a comprehensive software to drive performance management related to all these activities and systems. Envizi also brings 13 years of sustainability management experience, including an in-depth understanding of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting, which is critical to helping organizations meet regulatory and voluntary reporting needs.

IBM is now integrating Envizi with its existing solutions to help automate the feedback loop between enterprise-level reporting and key operational endpoints. This will bring together day-to-day operational and sustainability data and strategies to create a turnkey solution that enables organizations to act faster and achieve their goals.

Most importantly, Envizi and IBM already share the same value: innovation is important to our company and to the world.This has become apparent as we have worked together in recent years to simplify data management to our own Emission Reduction Commitment. Now we’re excited to combine the power of Envizi with IBM’s existing suite and share it with the world.

sustainable future

This is exciting news for those of us who are passionate about building sustainable businesses and innovative thinking. With integrated business solutions, organizations can more clearly embed sustainability goals into their day-to-day operations and make great strides in building more resilient, sustainable businesses.

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read source article, on January 11, 2022 at IBM business operations blog.