Each quarter, Microsoft gives out an Environmental Sustainability Action Award in recognition of an employee or team who has shown leadership, exemplifying how Microsoft and its employees can have a positive impact.
For Q2 (FY14), we are pleased to honor a group of Microsoft UK employees for using the Microsoft 88 Acres story to engage with customers around the potential of using IT to create energy-smart buildings. This team led an initiative to work with customers on different ways Microsoft technologies can reduce costs and drive energy efficiency in buildings. The team from Microsoft UK behind this initiative included Mary-Anne King, Trisha Watson, Richard Shipton, Linda Chandler, Ellen Wilson, Ian Mackenzie, Tim Cozze-Young, Pip Fox, Sarah Knight and Sophie Smyth.
They worked together to leverage the Microsoft 88 Acres story and turn it into an opportunity to stimulate customer engagement. Addressing environmental sustainability is part of Microsoft UK’s national plan, and the 88 Acres story demonstrates how technology can be used to reduce costs and drive efficiency and productivity in the built environment. The team used the great fit between sustainability, their nation plan and the CityNext initiative to capitalize on this opportunity to create meaningful conversations with their customers around making buildings energy-smart.
The CityNext and Enterprise & Partner Group (EPG) teams in the UK recognized the impact the 88 Acres story could have with their customers and seized the opportunity to localize it for audiences in the UK. They crafted a message that would resonate with their customers and worked with Darrell Smith, Microsoft’s Director of Facilities and Energy, to help tell the story. This drove several customer engagements, including a CityNext launch event with councils from 22 key cities and 50 senior local authority representatives, 50 EPG customers attending the Building Efficiency Seminar in London, a meeting with the Mayor of London’s Senior Advisor for Energy and the Environment. It also included media engagement and a variety of other follow-up discussions with local councils and EPG and Public Sector leads.
The UK team’s success shows how the combination of big data, cloud computing and data analytics provides significant opportunities for energy savings for cities and enterprise customers. This project is a great example of how Microsoft is using sustainability practices along with its technology to develop opportunities for significant customer engagement.
Environmental Sustainability Action Award winners show leadership and provide inspiring examples of how Microsoft and its employees can have a positive impact and change not only on the way we run our business, but also the way our products and services can make a difference for our customers, our partners and for society. With the award comes a donation to an environmental charity of the winner’s choice.