Software tool offers entire green solution to managing business operations
James Kerr
18th November 2009
A Swedish company claims to have developed the first piece of software that allows businesses to monitor, measure and evaluate the environmental impact of their entire operations, and the related costs to business.
IFS, which has a UK base in High Wycombe, claims that using its ‘Eco-footprint Management’ software tool will enable businesses to calculate and analyse environmental impacts in the same way that a financial software system captures costing information. It will also measure what materials go in, what comes out and the impact of the process on the environment across the entire product lifecycle and supply chain. Crucially, the software will aid businesses in compliance and the disclosure process.
Moreover, IFS claims its product will provide businesses with access to and analysis of environmental data in a way that is completely user-defined, allowing businesses to choose the elements that are measured so that their analysis is unique.
IFS says Eco-footprint is not an ‘all or nothing’ system and UK businesses can choose which modules to take and when. Moreover, the components work in the same way regardless of the size of the user business.
One of the key USPs of Eco-footprint is that the environmental impact of products, not just sites and facilities, can be measured ‘from cradle to grave’. So for example, users can configure the software application to capture environmental impact information that assesses different carbon footprints against various methods of transport, helping them to compare the environmental as well as financial cost of shipping materials by train versus truck, and compare the carbon footprint of local versus offshore sourcing.
With environmental footprint control high on the agenda for most businesses in the UK, the company believes the Eco-footprint system has enormous potential in this country. In addition to the obvious cost saving and efficiency benefits, as well as legislative pressures, it’s becoming increasingly important for UK businesses to demonstrate a commitment to sustainable business practice.
Many customers and investors now want to see evidence of sustainable and environmentally responsible operations, so it’s important for businesses to be able to disclose this information easily. The Eco-footprint programme provides such information, which can be used for voluntary disclosure to customers and investors, and to improve efficiency, both of cost and environmental impact.
The company claims that the sectors that look set to benefit most are those which manufacture and transport high quantities of stock and need to be able to measure, for example, how much carbon monoxide, lead and sulphur their business produces, in order to pinpoint areas that are least environmentally friendly and assess how these can be improved.
IV Produckt, a leading Swedish manufacturer of environmentally friendly air handling units, was the first IFS customer to start using Eco-footprint. Managing director Alf Sjöberg said about the system: “Eco-footprint offers competitive advantages, enabling us to plan for legislative changes, while driving cost and carbon savings. The ease and speed of integration of the software with our existing core business applications was a huge appeal for us.”
With IFS seeing strong interest from the manufacturing, retail and wholesale distribution, transport and logistics and automotive industries, Eco-footprint may offer a step in a greener direction for UK business.