IBM acquires Australian firm for its environmental performance tracking tools

With supply chains stretched across multiple countries and layers of subcontractors, corporations can struggle to monitor their sustainability goals, but IBM Corp. says it will address that challenge through its acquisition on Tuesday of Envizi, an Australian data and analytics software provider for environmental performance management.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

According to Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM, the move will help organizations create more resilient and sustainable operations and supply chains by complementing the company’s existing tools such as its Maximo asset management solutions, Sterling supply chain solutions, and Environmental Intelligence Suite.

IBM is already using Envizi for its own goals, applying the tool to streamline tracking and reporting of its progress in renewable electricity procurement and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction.

Sydney, Australia-based Envizi says its platform offers user-friendly and customized dashboards that allow companies to analyze, manage, and report on environmental goals. The software also automates the collection and consolidation of more than 500 data types.

IBM says that capability is increasingly valuable since companies are under mounting pressure from regulators, investors, and consumers to make progress toward more sustainable and socially responsible business operations – and to verify these measures—in calls for improved corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental sustainability and governance (ESG) policies.

"To drive real progress toward sustainability, companies need the ability to transform data into predictive insights that help them make more intelligent, actionable decisions every day," Kareem Yusuf, general manager for IBM AI Applications, said in a release. "Envizi's software provides companies with a single source of truth for analyzing and understanding emissions data across the full landscape of their business operations and dramatically accelerates IBM's growing arsenal of AI technologies for helping businesses create more sustainable operations and supply chains."