The mining company said having Microsoft as its strategic cloud provider was part of its "digital transformation journey".

According to Suncor president and chief executive Mark Little, this was an example of how the company was using digital technology to improve its business - in a way that wasn't possible before - to boost safety, sustainability, reliability and productivity, while reducing costs.

In its sustainability report for 2019, Suncor said it was already implementing various digital technologies, including advanced data analytics to track trends across its assets and workforce, operation performance management dashboards, remote sensing technologies and robotic process automation.

As part of the new strategic alliance, Suncor will move towards cloud-based computing with Microsoft Azure as a preferred cloud platform.

"The move to Azure is expected to enable the rapid deployment of new technologies to improve safety and productivity through artificial intelligence, machine learning, enhanced automation, and Industrial IoT (IIoT) and visualisation," the miner said.

Little added that Suncor still had much to learn in the digital space, "which is why we're working with a number of organisations including Microsoft to challenge us".

Microsoft Canada president Kevin Peesker said it would help Suncor accelerate its digital transformation through Azure, Dynamics 365, Surface and Microsoft 365.