The Arnott’s Group partners with Microsoft and will become the first organisation in Australia and New Zealand to deploy Microsoft Sustainability Manager

The deployment of Microsoft Sustainability Manager at The Arnott’s Group is expected to be completed in March 2023 followed by a major data transformation project the company started in 2021 that included the implementation of a Microsoft Azure-hosted data lake.

The partnership will help the Arnott’s Group realise its sustainability goals by using data more efficiently, according to a new collaboration between the two firms.

Microsoft’s Cloud for Sustainability solution integrates data intelligence with comprehensive, integrated, and automated sustainability management to help organisations of all sizes advance sustainability.

The Arnott’s Group Chief Transformation Officer, Simon Lowden says the ability to capture better quality data more efficiently and provide a single view of sustainability performance across the whole business is one of the key benefits of its new partnership with Microsoft.

According to Lowden sustainability impacts every area of our business and requires that every member of the team play a role.

“By democratising the data through Microsoft’s Sustainability Manager, our teams are able to better visualise the progress and chart our targets.”

“Our teams are able to better visualise the progress and chart our targets by democratising the data through Microsoft’s Sustainability Manager.” says Lowden.

The Arnott’s Group’s sustainability commitments include:

• Sustainably growing and sourcing 100 per cent of its key ingredients (wheat flour, sugar, oils, dairy and cocoa products) by 2035
• Achieving net zero emissions in its operations (Scope 1 and 2) by 2040 and across the value chain (Scope 3) by 2050
• Increasing choice, opportunity and wellbeing by promoting inclusion and belonging, supporting communities and providing more diverse food options and guidance on nutrition.
• Reducing, reusing or repurposing plastic packaging across Australia and New Zealand by 10 per cent by 2025

Chief Digital and Technology Officer at The Arnott’s Group, Sean McLintock says tt’s important that we illuminate our sustainability data end-to-end, to continue to hold ourselves accountable to meeting our sustainability targets.

“We are investing in uplifting our digital capabilities and Microsoft’s Sustainability Manager is the right tool to drive efficiencies and help track, aggregate, analyse and report on a diverse and complex set of sustainability data.” says Mclintock.

Microsoft Sustainability Manager was deployed in March, and Arnott’s finished a major data transformation project last year. A Microsoft Azure-hosted data lake was used to centralise business reporting and create a single source of truth as part of the project.

Chief Sustainability Officer at Microsoft Australia and New Zealand, Brett Shoemaker says at Microsoft, we recognise the critical role technology can play in empowering our customers to accelerate their sustainability journeys.

“We’re very excited to be partnering with such an iconic Australian brand as they turn their pledges into real, measurable progress.” says Shoemaker.

Lowden added, Arnott’s is an established 157-year-old company, but we are agile from a digital investment perspective

“We are really transforming how our business operates both in the ways of working and the strategic partners we’re choosing to work with.”

“Our new sustainability partnership with Microsoft is a perfect example of that.” he said.

The Arnott’s Group will be able to track its emissions activities more effectively using the Microsoft Sustainability Manager and will also allow the business to report impact and progress for the first time in near real time.