Case Study: Southern Company achieves real-time asset tracking and faster storm recovery with Microsoft Azure

The IoT of the Storm Energy provider builds real-time asset tracking, enhancing storm recovery and customer service

Southern Company, a major Atlanta‑based energy provider serving 9 million customers across nine states, needed a real‑time way to collect and act on sensor data from trucks, equipment, and crew devices. Relying on large batched datasets left the company unable to quickly locate crews, deploy the right equipment during storms, or turn noisy telemetry into actionable decisions for daily operations and disaster recovery.

Using Microsoft Azure IoT Hub, Stream Analytics, Table Storage, and Event Hubs, Southern Company built a device‑agnostic IoT solution that standardizes and condenses streaming data, classifies inactive assets, and updates moving assets every two minutes (inactive ones less frequently). The system improved storm response and crew deployment, helped deter theft of valuable equipment, enhanced lone‑worker safety, and scaled on demand—enabling faster power restoration and better customer service.

Southern Company

Greg Floyd

Enterprise Architect Specialist, Technology Organization