(Updated February 18, 2021, 1:00 pm)
Singapore-based AIoT-solutions provider Envision Digital and IBM has partnered to develop renewable energy management solutions.
The current pandemic has forced organisations and governments to confront the risks from inaction on climate change. While a slowdown in economic activity due to shelter-in-place restrictions has temporarily reduced carbon emissions by 17%, businesses are increasingly acknowledging the need to reinvent themselves if they are to simultaneously pursue business recovery and growth. Depending on the actions businesses take, the result could be a rise in energy consumption or environmental sustainability.
The collaboration will leverage Envision Digital’s AIoT technology and IBM’s sustainability management offerings and solutions to allow organisations to decarbonise their business and operating models more efficiently and seamlessly.
The two companies will bring in complementary solutions under this collaboration to go-to market. “We would be leveraging the solutions on a case by case basis. We have a range of options available for businesses to manage energy consumption for environmental sustainability,” a Envision Digital spokesperson told FutureIoT.
According to Envision Digital, some of options for managing energy consumption include:
- Energy Efficiency: Optimise energy efficiency of equipment, assets and operations in order to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions
- Integrated Facilities Management Solution: Improve real estate portfolio planning, improve quality of facilities, increase efficiency in operations / maintenance, leveraging automation and analytics
- Circular economy: Provide a digital backbone to eliminate waste and support re-use and recycle of natural resources and materials
- Predictive maintenance: Leverage analytics to improve reliability, availability and extend life of critical assets
Working together, both companies aim to help organisations facilitate strategic planning and day-to-day operations and maintenance – all the way down to product or facility lifecycle management.
According to Envision Digital, they are eyeing a wide swathe of different sectors given sustainability is now a major concern among businesses. Initial targets will be focused on are government, real Estate, Oil & Gas, Energy & utilities and Infrastructure (for example Port) industries.
Putting complementary strengths to work
“Envision Digital is the technology net-zero partner for companies and governments, reconciling green and growth, efficiency and environment. We are focused on leveraging today’s capabilities of advanced AI and IoT technologies to ensure a sustainable tomorrow, together with key players across economies and societies who share the same sense of urgency for change,” said Sylvie Ouziel, international president, Envision Digital in a media statement. “Our collaboration with IBM will help accelerate this process.”
Envision Digital owns the AIoT operating platform EnOS that currently manages more than 200 gigawatts of energy assets globally. Driven by machine learning, Envision Digital’s proprietary monitoring, advanced analytics, forecasting, and optimising applications provide actionable insights and reliable controls to better manage assets’ energy performance. This includes proactively detecting and diagnosing emerging system underperformance or component health issues, as well as providing recommendations or interventions for pre-emptive or corrective action.
IBM’s sustainability management offerings and solutions helps organisations manage their environmental responsibilities, reduce emissions, and meet their goals. By applying a hybrid cloud approach to combining relevant data and applying artificial intelligence to glean insights from that data, organisations can define, measure, and take action toward more sustainable business practices.
“For us, this collaboration is about applying our deep industry, hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence expertise to help clients make a difference with their sustainability efforts. Combining our focused industry solutions, we aim to help clients achieve their net-zero goals over multi-phase journeys while helping the larger environment,” said Praveen Hariharan, partner, Global Business Services, IBM Services. "By combining IBM’s suite of solutions with Envision Digital’s AIoT expertise, clients will have efficient and sustainable energy management solutions."
Krishnakumar Nagarajan, CTO, Global Business Services, IBM Services said: “Singapore is focused on driving sustainability with innovative approaches. The significance of this collaboration with Envision Digital today is even more relevant and important, to support Singapore’s vision to become a model city in sustainability.”
