diff --git a/ApplicationInsights/Channel/Contracts/Utils.php b/ApplicationInsights/Channel/Contracts/Utils.php
index 465d027..7dff4df 100644
--- a/ApplicationInsights/Channel/Contracts/Utils.php
+++ b/ApplicationInsights/Channel/Contracts/Utils.php
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 <?php
 namespace ApplicationInsights\Channel\Contracts;
 
+use Carbon\Carbon;
+
 /**
  * Contains utilities for contract classes
  */
@@ -87,11 +89,11 @@ public static function returnISOStringForTime($time = null)
     {
         if ($time == NULL)
         {
-            return gmdate('c') . 'Z';
+            return Carbon::now()->toISOString();
         }
         else
         {
-            return gmdate('c', $time) . 'Z';
+            return str_replace("Z", "0Z", Carbon::createFromTimestamp($time)->toISOString());
         }
     }
     
diff --git a/composer.json b/composer.json
index 0cb128b..24c715b 100644
--- a/composer.json
+++ b/composer.json
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
   "license": "MIT",
   "require": {
     "php": "^7.3|^8.0",
-    "guzzlehttp/guzzle": "^7.0.1"
+    "guzzlehttp/guzzle": "^7.0.1",
+    "nesbot/carbon": "^2.66"
   },
   "require-dev": {
     "phpunit/phpunit": "^9.0",