Australian SME wins contract to monitor Microsoft’s global energy usage

An Australian SME has won a contract with Microsoft to monitor the software giant’s energy usage, providing information on where the company can save money on emissions and environmental performance.

The appointment comes as major businesses start to adopt more green technology within their infrastructure – especially in Australia as the carbon tax nears its introduction.

CarbonSystems chief executive David Solsky says the Microsoft deal comes at an exciting time, as more businesses become conscious of how the carbon tax will affect their operations.

“This type of work is experiencing a big spike in demand. We grew from 23 to 50 people last year, and different regulation is happening around the world.”

“California has their carbon legislation, Britain has carbon reduction commitments, and it’s happening all over as energy continues to rise in cost. There’s a lot more coming.”

CarbonSystems was founded three years ago and uses an application to monitor energy data from a variety of sources, it then reports to its clients on where savings can be made. The business has already scored a number of large clients in Australia, including Canon, Deloitte and Metcash.

The business was co-founded by Solsky three years ago after merging with another small technology firm. The company is funded by external investors and partly by Solsky. The company does not disclose revenue but industry sources suggest it is around $8-10 million.

This isn’t the first Australian SME spying an opportunity in the energy space – Smart50 entrant C3 Business Solutions is using the tax to leverage growth in its data management business.

He says the sheer amount of data required for analysis in larger firms is prompting companies such as Microsoft to search for third-party providers.

The business will monitor and report on Microsoft’s global operations, including flights, electricity and gas usage.

“They’ll collect data on centres they have around the world, and then pull all that information from these different sources. Then, for the smaller countries, they’ll collect that data manually and we’ll put all of this in one place.”

The software giant went through about 30 applications, but Solsky believes the company was picked due to its experience with Microsoft enterprise software.

“We’re built entirely on the Microsoft stack, so we’ve strategically lived all that software for a few years now. This was a great opportunity to partner with them.”

“One of the biggest problems we solve is how you can take massive, huge data sets and then get some intelligence out of all that.”

Solsky, who has already built and sold a data management business, wouldn’t reveal how much the deal was worth to the company. However, he said it would give the company more leverage to act from its New York and London offices.

“We think we have a critical mass now,” he says.

“I think this will give other businesses in America the confidence to go out and buy our technology platform having seen Microsoft has gone through this process to pick us.”