Why resilient companies need a business sustainability software that supports digital transformation and regulatory compliance

As the world emerges from a global lock-down, supply chain resilience and business continuity continues to be at the core of every conversation. What companies are realizing is that organizations that had established sustainability practices – especially those backed by business sustainability software responded faster to challenges and are emerging as more agile companies. The visibility of their sustainability milestones, shortfalls, and rectification plans was critical. The wise investment proactively made, paid off in a moment of crisis.

While the ROI for sustainability initiatives can be difficult to project, the financial advantages over the long-term have now taken center stage in a very tangible way. Sustainability reporting is the key to corporate longevity and success – especially for commodity-intensive companies.

Further incentivizing companies to adopt a business sustainability software is the World Business Council for Sustainable Development report, which cites a ten-fold increase in the number of corporate reporting requirements on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) issues over the last 25 years.

Not only are the cumulative number of requirements increasing but sustainability leaders are also realizing that internal reporting requirements can also be vast. For example, the CHRO might like to create a high impact on employees, while the Chief Marketing Officer’s focus is to improve brand perception and the CFO requires information on how to mitigate climate change risk.

Ensure resiliency and accommodate the complex landscape of requirements and regulations by focusing on these three things:

Choose the right technology:

Not enough people and too much data seems to be the problem cited by most companies in solidifying their sustainability program. A business sustainability software is essential to achieving goals. The right technology can free up resources to take actionable steps toward impact reducing greenhouse gas emissions, minimizing carbon footprint, confronting deforestation, overcoming social inequality, etc.

Choose the right framework:

Your business sustainability software should accommodate the right strategic framework. Though addressing largely similar issues, there are many different frameworks and each one has different requirements. As an enterprise, you must identify your objectives in reporting, including the specific needs of internal and external stakeholders. Then consider which of the popular frameworks, GRI, IIRC, CDP, CDSB, SASB, etc., that suits your unique needs.

Choosing the right data:

Any technology or framework is only as good as the data that goes behind it. Most companies suffer from reporting fatigue and sustainability teams look at the data collection and enrichment as an annual chore that needs to be done “for stakeholders.” This approach is not just perfunctory but also detrimental long-term, when the actual issues that need addressing do not have adequate real-time visibility. Choosing the right technology and frameworks gives you access to the data that will help your organization prepared for unexpected challenges.

With these three components, your sustainability program can accommodate the required compliance and disclosure mandates. At Eka, it’s our mission to help mid-size enterprises in developing framework-ready, accessible and engaging sustainability reporting that demonstrate year-on-year progress on environmental, social, and financial imperatives, delivering to the expectations of all stakeholders. Our business sustainability software solution equips companies for real-time, decision making during critical social, economic, and environmental changes.