Sustainability determining the value of a business?

IFS is a global enterprise applications company whose enterprise resource planning (ERP) software contains a first - a module that provides the capability to monitor, measure and evaluate the environmental impact of a company and its operations, and the related costs to the business.

In today’s business world, sustainability is one of the factors that determine the value of a business to customers and investors. With additional, increasing pressure from legislation, it is now a requirement for businesses to be open and transparent about the environmental cost of their products as well as the financial.

In order to demonstrate the sustainability of their operations, control costs and prepare for environmental legislation businesses need to be able to easily access relevant data about environmental impact.

Developed in response to this increasing demand, a ground-breaking tool called Eco-footprint Management provides businesses with access to and analysis of environmental data as a tightly integrated function of an ERP system, IFS Applications.

Why is Eco-footprint unique?

- It is completely integrated with ERP software (i.e. not a bolt on application)

- It is completely user defined – you can choose the things that you measure so that your analysis is completely unique to your business.

Using Eco-footprint Management customers can:

- Calculate and analyse environmental impact across the entire product lifecycle and the entire supply chain in the same way that the financial system captures information

- Measure what materials go in, what comes out and the impact of the entire process on the environment (Input – Output – Impact)

- Aid compliance and disclosure

- Re-use existing data in IFS Applications rather than invest in an expensive bolt on solution.

IV Produckt, a leading Swedish manufacturer of environmentally friendly air handling units, was the first IFS customer to start using Eco-footprint.

Alf Sjöberg, managing director of IV Produkt says: “We want to be at the forefront of environmental responsibility and insist that our suppliers are as eco-friendly as possible. The Eco-footprint Management tool helps us track and manage our operations in the greenest way possible. The tool 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.”