Sustainability Leaders Say Tracking and Reporting Systems Fall Short

Green Research, a New York-based corporate sustainability research and advisory firm, has released a study of the market for sustainability performance management systems – IT systems that help companies monitor, track and analyze environmental and sustainability data. These systems are crucial tools for large and medium companies that want to bring professional management standards to their sustainability programs. The study found that while sustainability executives at leading companies are broadly satisfied with the accuracy and completeness of the data in their current systems, those systems fall short in other ways. “Many sustainability leaders say it is too hard to get the data they need,” says David Schatsky, principal analyst and founder of Green Research. “Companies need better integrated tools and more analytical firepower to help drive decisions.”

Drawing on a proprietary survey of 32 senior sustainability executives at major companies in North America and Europe, the study found that nearly 40 percent say their systems are poorly integrated and it remains too difficult to get the data required. A majority of respondents say their companies have slated funds for system upgrades in the coming year; a third of companies surveyed plan to spend over $50,000 to upgrade their sustainability information systems in the coming year.

Environmental and sustainability data can originate from multiple sources – multiple facilities; multiple specialized applications that might capture data on water, waste, fuel, electricity and carbon emissions; and multiple processes (e.g. travel vs. manufacturing). “Companies invariably need to aggregate all of that data to obtain a holistic view of their environmental performance,” Schatsky says, “But at most companies, the data is scattered across all of those sources and it is time-consuming and error-prone to pull it all together.”

Both external and internal pressures are requiring them to do so, Schatsky says. “Tools that make it easier for them to integrate all that data into a consolidated view are what companies want and need.”

A growing number of companies also are trying to present an integrated picture of their environmental and financial performance. Rather than publishing an annual report and a separate sustainability report, they want to present a single report with the whole picture. Schatsky says, “I would not interpret my survey results as executives clamoring yet for this particular capability, but the demand is there and is the reason that Oracle, for instance, just announced a tool kit to make that type of integration easier.”
 
The study also finds that dissatisfaction by sustainability leaders with current systems, coupled with spending plans, equals opportunity for vendors in this crowded market, including companies such as CSRware, Carbon Guerrilla, Carbon Systems, Cloud Apps, e3 Solutions, Enablon, Enviance, ENXSuite, FirstCarbon Solutions, Hara, Locus Technologies, ProcessMAP and Verisae, to name a few. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) vendors such as SAP and Oracle, and consultants and systems integrators such as Accenture and Deloitte are also positioned to tap this opportunity. The study also reveals which departmental budgets control the funds for the planned systems upgrades.

The study, “Sustainability Performance Management Systems,” is available online at greenresearch.com. To learn more about the research, please visit greenresearch.com or contact David Schatsky at (646) 783-8337 or info@greenresearch.com.