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September 02, 2022

Export Development Canada leads Canadian business toward a sustainable—and prosperous—cloud-based future

Export Development Canada (EDC) is a Crown corporation dedicated to helping Canadian companies of all sizes respond to international business opportunities. EDC helps Canadian businesses innovate and become more competitive on the global stage through strong sustainability practices. As part of its corporate strategy, the organization is working to embed environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles into its core business, which is supported by its investments in modern digital infrastructure built on Microsoft Azure.

Export Development Canada EDC

“By helping Canadian businesses strengthen their ESG practices, our customers will be more resilient, more attractive to global investment, and a driver of Canada’s growth in export trade.”

Victor Diamond, Vice President of Technology Operations and Services, EDC

Navigating the difficult realities of climate change can challenge any business, large or small. As Canada’s export credit agency, EDC helps Canadian companies make an impact at home and abroad. It has the financial products and knowledge Canadian companies need to confidently enter new markets, reduce financial risk, and grow their business as they go from local to global.

Sustainability supports people, the planet, and business too

A passionate commitment to sustainable and responsible business underlies EDC’s mission. The organization views all aspects of its business through an environmental, social, and governance (ESG) lens.

EDC believes that adopting sustainable practices is not only a way to mitigate risk, but is also a powerful competitive accelerator for Canadian businesses active in the international marketplace. Victor Diamond, Vice President of Technology Operations and Services at EDC, explains the organization’s ethos: “We firmly believe that strong ESG practices, including climate and social responsibility, are good for business. By helping Canadian businesses strengthen their ESG practices, our customers will be more resilient, more attractive to global investment, and a driver of Canada’s growth in export trade.”

The Canadian share of overall global exports has dropped over the past decade. EDC sees strategic leadership in climate change and sustainability as a means of reversing that trend. As it stated when announcing its 2050 net zero commitment, EDC supports Canada’s trade-based economy by proactively helping its customers understand and mitigate ESG risks, seize opportunities, and innovate to reduce their emissions and environmental impacts.

“We will encourage Canadian businesses to invest in their ESG performance to support their growth and will be expanding our financial solutions to help them innovate,” says Justine Hendricks, Senior Vice President and Chief Corporate Sustainability Officer, EDC.

Culture shift: Digital transformation drives business transformation

To meet its ESG goals and to support Canadian businesses, EDC is investing in its IT infrastructure. The organization is committed to leading by example, with a goal to dramatically reduce its own operational carbon footprint. One of the ways EDC is doing that is through a digital transformation built on Microsoft Azure Cloud Services. “We’ve adopted Azure Cloud Services to support the transformation of our infrastructure and to provide us with significant digital capabilities we haven’t had before. We couldn’t execute on our sustainability strategy without Azure as a key part of the transformation,” says Diamond.

EDC subscribes to the idea that, rather than an operational cost risk or compliance issue, sustainability through digital transformation is truly a strategic asset, increasing business effectiveness and competitiveness.

Turning to the cloud

EDC’s push to transform infrastructure starts with moving the vast majority of its internal datacenter capacity to the Azure cloud platform. Says Diamond, “This was a critical step that generates a big impact, as our datacenters consume the lion’s share of EDC’s power requirements at our head office.” EDC plans to track internal metrics on its carbon impact goals using Microsoft Emissions Impact Dashboard and evaluate the results.

By standardizing and unifying the organization on Azure and Microsoft 365, EDC is continuing to reduce its carbon footprint, while also improving its disaster recovery capabilities and even boosting employee productivity through its use of Microsoft Teams and other components of Microsoft 365, to build out tools and optimize its processes for collaboration.

“When we can measure, analyze, and report progress on how much carbon reduction we’re achieving as we go through our cloud transition with Microsoft, we can share those metrics widely and serve as an example for Canadian companies,” says Diamond.

Supporting sustainable business decisions

EDC may also be able to use Microsoft technology to benefit its customers. The company’s implementation of Azure Databricks has the potential to help EDC track overall ESG metrics, capture insights, and support smarter, more sustainable business decisions that align with its ESG goals.

Supporting and promoting Canada’s clean technology sector is a key priority for EDC. To support this important work, EDC is using its new Azure capabilities and data-driven insights to develop strategies that encourage and accelerate its support for the sector, and to encourage Canadian companies to decarbonize.

Leadership for a low-carbon future

EDC has an important role to play as a financial Crown corporation in promoting and supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy. It’s committed to doing its part, including reducing its own carbon footprint and ensuring that Canadian companies become more competitive through strong ESG practices. As Diamond says, “Both of these goals require trusted and flexible IT infrastructure, which is what led us to Azure. We believe Azure is an important tool in our larger digital toolbox and we look forward to leveraging its enhanced capabilities as we undergo our digital transformation.”

Find out more about Export Development Canada on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.

“We’ve adopted Azure Cloud Services to support the transformation of our infrastructure and to provide us with significant digital capabilities we haven’t had before.”

Victor Diamond, Vice President of Technology Operations and Services, Export Development Canada

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