‘Going green’ and minimising impact on the environment through sustainability and other CSR measures is definitely a powerful marketing tool, but only if the sustainability data is sound and validated! So says Steve Dingley of Integrated fm, developers of SustainabilityiQ - the world’s first truly auditable management system for CSR and sustainability.
Dingley also notes that making claims based on incorrect data can be very damaging to an organisation’s reputation.
“There are now many leading companies and public sector organisations that are, quite justifiably, publicising their sustainability initiatives – and to good effect. However, if the data that they base their claims on is later found to be inaccurate, good publicity could very quickly turn into a PR nightmare,” he suggests.
“Before developing Sustainability iQ we carried out a lot of research and worked closely with one of the world’s leading consultancies. It was, and still is, very clear to us that any sustainability data needs to offer the reassurance of industry-wide standards (e.g. Defra, Accounting for Sustainability,). In fact, Sustainability iQ is the world’s first truly auditable management system for CSR and sustainability.
“Fundamentally, you can’t minimise your impact on the environment if you can’t accurately measure it – and validate those measurements to an acceptable standard. And that’s not an easy thing to do. Data relating to sustainability issues tends to be housed in many locations, in a variety of formats so bringing it all together in a common format for analysis and reporting can be a nightmare without the help of specialist tools.
Built on over 20 years experience of managing operational data, Sustainability iQ is fully web-enabled and highly configurable to suit each organisation’s processes. It can import data from a wide range of sources, including FM software, supply chain partners’ systems and from spreadsheets – with the ability to input data direct into the system as well. All data is validated and made available for fast evaluation and reporting, with a full audit trail of origins and any changes.