Do You Need Expensive Software for Environmental Reporting?

According to a recent press release by the Environmental Business Journal (EBJ), the U.S. environmental industry grew 3.9% in 2014. Although the data will take another 10 months to come together for 2015, it’s fairly safe to say the sector saw growth again last year as the economy held steady.

EBJ reports on 14 business segments divided into three categories, all three categories showing upward trends in 2014.

The largest single growth area in 2014 was a double-digit gain in environmental software and information systems.

The industry has seen many environmental, health, safety and sustainability software vendors disappear as quickly as they appear, but every industry sees the tech start-up side get red hot, cool off, and heat up again.

With evolving needs, evolving science, and evolving technology capabilities, it is not at all surprising that many start-ups struggle in this field.

Complicating matters is the fact that many of the customers that a software company in the environmental software and information systems field would need to acquire aren’t fluent in what they actually need to purchase (or how to use it).

Environmental reporting and data management systems are a lot like complicated legal matters or the tax code: companies likely need a specialist, and we haven’t reached a tipping point in the business community where enough companies have specialists.

Companies might buy a software license from a promising start-up with good software, yet not know how to actually collect the appropriate data and end up not using the tool to its potential. By the time they’ve got the team in place and are ready to ramp up, the software tool they’ve purchased needs an expensive upgrade because of changes in the science, regulations, or standards of sustainability reporting. You can see how the CEO might balk on a second wave of investment when the first wasn’t a huge success.

It’s not that start-ups are struggling in a silo, it’s more likely that we just haven’t reached a critical mass of companies with the in-house resources that can gain maximum value from a well-built environmental software tool. Combine that with with a standard of reporting that itself is a moving target, and it is really difficult to gain traction as a environmental software company.

If you know your company is ready to do begin sustainability reporting, but don’t have the in-house team to manage the software tools on the market, contact us. We work with leading software programs for tracking and reporting on environmental data, and help companies determine what might will for them.

Corporate Sustainability Trends: An Interactive Tool from MIT

Earlier this spring, MIT released a new interactive tool as part of their third annual 2011 Sustainability & Innovation Global Executive Study. The study, “garnered more than 4,000 responses from executives and managers of all industries and regions. Analysis of 2,874 respondents from commercial enterprises reveals that a substantial portion of companies are now seeing the need for sustainable business practices — and are deriving financial benefits from these activities.” As a result, the tool allows readers to parse out the data from the latest findings and insights tied to corporate sustainability and innovation.

The study and data collected (which can be read in its entirety here) really are fascinating, but what we love about MIT's new tool is that is allows you to filter the data by company size, industry, profitability, business model, and business case benefit -- like "increased reputation."

Specifically, you can answer the following two questions:

• Who is making a business case for sustainability?
• Who is profiting from sustainability?

We won't give away the answers -- but the report has some pretty interesting findings. (Hint: Walmart suppliers take heart: consumer product companies are the most likely to be profiting from their sustainability initiatives!)

You can download the results in a variety of formats -- which makes it great for sustainability practitioners needing to add a chart or two to their next executive presentation. Check out the tool here.

NEWS: Strategic Sustainability Consulting Explains Green IT for Nonprofits

We keep saying again and again that running a sustainability consulting firm isn’t all about making money.  We also believe that educational and behavioral changes are vital parts of what we do, whether they occur within the scope of a client/consultant relationship, or through some other medium.  After all, we can’t work with EVERYONE (as much as we’d like to!), so if we’re going to affect real, influential change in sustainability practices, education and outreach is essential.  Besides, the more we talk and write about the values in which we believe, the more people will hear about SSC, and the more business we’ll get, and the more money we’ll make. 

Oh wait. 

But really – it’s not just about money. 

Anyway, it is Walmart supplier month at SSC, but we’re talking about something else today...  SSC’s founder and president, Jennifer Woofter, is featured in the just-released September issue of the Nonprofit Technology Network’s (NTEN) quarterly journal, NTEN: Change.  Her article, “Green IT for Nonprofits”, is both accessible and chock-full of information.  Jennifer enumerates a variety of ways to reduce your organization’s energy impact (and save you money!) through Green IT practices. 

You’ll learn all about the three phases of the IT lifecycle and ways to improve sustainability throughout the process.  Jennifer’s suggestions range from the basic, sustainability 101-level changes (like making sure employees turn off their computers every night) to super technical business-wide initiatives (network power management software and server virtualization and consolidation).  The paper also lists four easy to understand steps to a Green IT program. 

Give it a read here , and let us know what you think.

By the way…want a more comprehensive understanding of how to Green your IT?  Check out our How to Green Your IT webinar!