While many still question the benefits of investing in sustainability by looking at balance sheets, they might be missing the bigger point and the many benefits and business opportunities investing in a sustainability software can actually bring.
Finance managers have had a hard time trying to explain and measure the Return of Investment of sustainability actions, including sustainability softwares.
Looking through balance sheets, specially in the short term, can be detrimental to the actual benefits and business opportunities that come from investing in one or more sustainability softwares to help the company excel in ESG matters.
Given the nature of our current circumstances, from climate change to social erosion, investing in sustainability is not a nice-to-have, it is actually crucial to the survival of the business itself. This is where a sustainability software comes in.
What is a sustainability software?
A sustainability software is a technological service or platform that helps collect and manage sustainability or ESG data. Through the digitalization of such sustainability information, companies and organizations are able to automate or optimize processes and further analyze their results.
And as sustainability initiatives become a necessary element for any given organization, sustainability softwares are also on the rise with plenty of business benefits and opportunities.
Why should companies invest in a sustainability software?
The best way to explain and understand the importance of putting sustainability in the forefront of company investments, is by understanding the risks of inaction.
And while we will cover the benefits of investing in a sustainability software in a minute, it is as important to focus on the risks of not acting accordingly.
Engage employees in the sustainability strategy
There is an increasingly clear monetary or financial risk for companies who don’t take action. On one hand, the idea of emission or import carbon taxes is gaining popularity in many countries.
On the other hand, companies that do not prove or work to be sustainable, will face many challenges to attract investment, as ESG metrics gain track in the global market when choosing where to put investors’ money.
The benefits of investing in a sustainability software
Although at first glance intangible and even minute, as they are not always reflected on balance sheets, the benefits of investing in a sustainability software are priceless in the long run. Let’s take a look at some of those benefits.
A deeper understanding of the state of sustainability
This first beenfit we want to discuss might seem very obvious, but it is nonetheless worth mentioning. Companies cannot manage what they don’t understand, and so having a deeper understanding of the state of their sustainability efforts is key.
Thanks to a sustainability software, organizations can have multiple sources of data at their disposal. In our day and age of technology, data is a very valuable thing to have.
Investing in having a better insight to company sustainability is what will differentiate those businesses that take the right direction and focus in their sustainable journey from those who don’t.
Cost savings and increased revenue potential
A common benefit found in sustainability investments is how the very nature of sustainability prompts companies to reduce costs and become more efficient while, at the same time, becoming more environmentally friendly and conscious.
A sustainability software can further make such processes more efficient. With the necessary information, and the right technology, companies can save time and money.
Furthermore, as sustainability processes become more manageable and efficient, new opportunities start to arise; opportunities that were once reserved for greener fellow companies. A sustainability software can help businesses find new potential in their operations, and in turn, more future revenue.
Employee engagement
We cannot forget about the vey people who make up the organization. However important managing sustainability is, managing people is just as crucial to the success of a company’s green strategy.
No sustainable strategy can fully succeed if we don’t engage the people who actually has to work to make it possible in a compelling and educational way.
A sustainability software can help bring people together towards achieving company sustainable or ESG goals, that being by managing their tasks, offering educational content or even helping them live better and more conscious lives.
Sustainability as an employee benefit
Building engagement and purpose through sustainability
We believe that employees are far from being indifferent from participation in sustainable efforts, and actually look for the opportunity to be actively engaged and find purpose in having a positive impact through their jobs.
That is why through our technology we work to activate and track employees’ impact, creating engagement that translates into improved ESG metrics, reputational value and an overall positive impact for the environment and society.
Because the workplace can in fact become the perfect environment to find that collective eagerness to make a difference, both for the sustainability and purpose of the company and a more sustainable way of being for all.
