It’s clear that sustainability has moved from being a nice-to-have to a strategic imperative for businesses in the UK, EU, and globally. Investors, regulators, customers, and employees increasingly demand transparency and accountability when it comes to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance and reporting.
For businesses, this requires effective management of vast amounts of data across multiple touchpoints—from energy use and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) to waste, water, and other sustainability metrics.
IBM Envizi, a comprehensive business sustainability software solution, provides a powerful answer to this growing challenge. As the chosen software suite offered by Ikano Insight, IBM Envizi simplifies the capture, measurement, reporting, and analysis of ESG and sustainability data for businesses.
In this article, we’ll explore what IBM Envizi is, how it works, and why it stands out from other solutions in the market. We’ll also highlight key benefits, use cases, and practical insights for businesses considering this solution.
What is IBM Envizi?
IBM Envizi is an advanced software suite designed to help businesses capture, organise, and analyse sustainability data. Built with the ability to integrate with multiple systems and data sources, it provides a single system of record for ESG and sustainability information.
It supports end-to-end environmental data management and reporting, making it easier for organisations to stay compliant with ever-changing regulations, support investor disclosures, and work towards their sustainability goals.
From managing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to tracking decarbonisation progress, IBM Envizi helps organisations operate with greater transparency ensuring they can meet not only regulatory requirements but also the expectations of broad set of stakeholders, including investors, consumers and employees.
If you’re looking to streamline your ESG reporting, and accelerate your decarbonisation strategies, you could book a free demo of IBM Envizi from Ikano Insight.
You can select 30 minutes that’s convenient for you, and ask all the questions you need to assess the suitability of IBM Envizi for your business.
How does IBM Envizi work?
At its core, IBM Envizi operates by automating the data collection, reporting, and management processes related to sustainability. The software seamlessly integrates with various business systems—such as financial management tools, energy management systems, utility databases, and environmental monitoring devices—to capture and consolidate sustainability data in real time.
Key features of IBM Envizi:
- Data Capture: IBM Envizi collects data from multiple sources, including utility bills, smart meters, sensors, and renewable energy systems, ensuring comprehensive coverage across all aspects of a company’s environmental footprint.
- Centralised System of Record: All sustainability data is stored in a single, auditable system of record. This ensures consistency and accuracy, allowing businesses to confidently use this data for ESG reporting and investor communications.
- Automated Reporting: IBM Envizi automates the reporting process for sustainability metrics, reducing manual work and eliminating errors. The platform also generates audit-ready reports that can be shared with regulatory bodies or used for internal decision-making.
- Analysis and Insights: Beyond data capture and reporting, IBM Envizi provides sophisticated analytics tools. Businesses can visualise their environmental performance, track progress toward decarbonisation, and identify areas where improvements can be made.
Key benefits of using IBM Envizi
IBM Envizi offers a host of benefits for businesses seeking to streamline sustainability management, reduce operational costs, and future-proof their organisations. Some of these key advantages include:
1. Create a finance-grade, single system of record
Sustainability reporting often requires pulling together data from various sources, which can lead to inconsistencies and errors. IBM Envizi addresses this challenge by creating a centralised, finance-grade system of record for all sustainability and ESG data. This ensures data accuracy and audit-readiness, giving businesses confidence that their reports are reliable and consistent.
2. Manage greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions accounting
For businesses looking to track and reduce their GHG emissions, IBM Envizi offers comprehensive emissions management tools. It allows organisations to set decarbonisation targets, track progress, and identify areas for improvement. By automating emissions tracking, IBM Envizi significantly reduces the complexity involved in managing this critical aspect of sustainability.
3. Support ESG reporting
One of the most significant advantages of IBM Envizi is its ability to simplify and streamline ESG reporting. The platform aligns with globally recognised reporting frameworks, such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, and the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB). This ensures that companies can meet the diverse requirements of regulators, investors, and other stakeholders.
4. Deliver insights to underpin decarbonisation strategies
IBM Envizi doesn’t just capture and report data—it delivers actionable insights that allow businesses to optimise their energy usage and reduce emissions. By combining data from utility bills, interval meters, and renewable energy assets, the platform enables continuous monitoring and management of decarbonisation and energy performance. This empowers companies to stay on track with their decarbonisation strategies and identify opportunities for energy efficiency improvements.
Why choose IBM Envizi over other solutions?
IBM Envizi stands out in the crowded ESG software market for several reasons:
1. Comprehensive integration across multiple data sources
Many sustainability management platforms focus on one or two aspects of ESG performance. IBM Envizi, on the other hand, offers comprehensive integration, capturing data from multiple touchpoints across the entire business. This ensures a more holistic and accurate view of an organisation’s sustainability performance, optimised further utilising ESG and sustainability dashboards.
2. Finance-grade data integrity
Unlike some ESG platforms that may lack rigorous data validation processes, IBM Envizi provides finance-grade data accuracy. The platform’s centralised system of record ensures that businesses can rely on their data for audits, regulatory reporting, and investor communications without concerns over inconsistencies or errors.
3. Scalability
IBM Envizi is built to scale. Whether you’re a small business just beginning to track your environmental performance or a multinational corporation managing emissions across dozens of facilities, IBM Envizi can scale to meet your needs. This flexibility makes it an ideal solution for organisations of all sizes.
4. Alignment with global reporting standards
IBM Envizi is designed to work in alignment with international ESG reporting standards. This is a crucial differentiator for businesses that operate in multiple jurisdictions or that need to meet the requirements of various stakeholders. By staying up to date with the latest reporting standards, such as those from the ISSB, CSRD, CDP, and GRI, IBM Envizi future-proofs your reporting processes.
How expensive is IBM Envizi?
The cost of IBM Envizi can vary depending on the size of your organisation, the complexity of your data needs, and the specific features you require. However, given the breadth of functionality it offers, IBM Envizi is considered a cost-effective solution for businesses seeking to streamline their sustainability reporting and decarbonisation efforts.
Many businesses find that the investment in IBM Envizi quickly pays off due to the time saved on manual reporting, the reduction in operational inefficiencies, achievement of energy savings and waste reduction, and of course the ability to avoid penalties for non-compliance with sustainability regulations.
How is IBM Envizi implemented?
IBM Envizi can be implemented relatively quickly depending on the complexity of your business operations and the scope of your sustainability data needs.
Ikano Insight makes this process as simple and efficient as possible with optional choices of ESG advisory services, including diagnostic assessments, strategic advisory services, process and technology scoping, and planning analytics.
The software suite is designed to integrate seamlessly with your existing systems, allowing for a smooth transition. With Ikano Insight’s strategy and implementation support, your team can quickly begin using the platform and benefiting from its capabilities.
For most organisations, the implementation process involves several key steps:
- Data Integration: IBM Envizi connects to your existing data sources, such as energy management systems, utility bills, and environmental sensors.
- System Configuration: the platform is customised to align with your specific sustainability goals, decarbonisation targets, and reporting needs.
- Training and Onboarding: Ikano Insight offers training and support to ensure your team is fully equipped to use IBM Envizi to its full potential.
Use cases for IBM Envizi
IBM Envizi is a comprehensive and versatile sustainability software solution that can be applied across a wide array of use cases to meet the evolving needs of businesses.
The platform’s ability to integrate data from multiple sources and generate meaningful insights makes it a vital tool for organisations aiming to streamline sustainability reporting, track environmental performance, and achieve decarbonisation goals.
Below are some of the most common and impactful applications of IBM Envizi across different sustainability initiatives:
1. Emissions Management
One of the primary applications of IBM Envizi is emissions management. As global efforts to combat climate change intensify, businesses face increasing pressure to monitor, manage, and reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. IBM Envizi simplifies the complex process of tracking and managing these emissions by providing tools that collect data from multiple sources, such as utility bills, renewable energy systems, and smart meters. The software captures granular data on energy consumption and emissions at various touchpoints within the organisation, offering real-time visibility into performance.
IBM Envizi enables businesses to set decarbonisation targets, whether aligned with internal sustainability goals or external frameworks such as the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Once targets are set, the platform helps businesses track their progress, identifying key areas where emissions reductions can be achieved. For example, by analysing energy consumption data, businesses can uncover inefficiencies in their operations and identify opportunities to shift towards renewable energy sources, thereby reducing their carbon footprint.
In addition, IBM Envizi provides organisations with the tools to model different emissions-reduction scenarios and forecast future impacts. This allows companies to make informed decisions about their decarbonisation strategies, ensuring they stay on track to meet both short-term and long-term goals.
2. ESG Reporting
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting has become a critical function for businesses, driven by rising demand from investors, regulators, and consumers for transparency in corporate sustainability efforts. However, managing and reporting ESG data across a large organisation can be a challenging task, especially when data is siloed across different systems and departments. IBM Envizi addresses this challenge by centralising all ESG-related data into a single, auditable system of record.
The platform streamlines ESG reporting by automating data collection from various internal systems and external sources, such as energy management platforms, procurement systems, and environmental sensors. This eliminates the manual work associated with data consolidation and reduces the risk of errors in the reporting process. IBM Envizi also ensures that the data used in ESG reporting is finance-grade, meaning it is verified and consistent across all reporting channels.
With IBM Envizi, businesses can report ESG data in alignment with globally recognised frameworks such as the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB), and the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). This not only helps businesses stay compliant with regulatory requirements but also builds trust with investors and stakeholders who expect reliable and accurate disclosures.
The platform’s audit-ready reports enable businesses to present their ESG performance with confidence, knowing that the underlying data is both comprehensive and accurate. This reduces the risk of discrepancies during external audits and ensures that businesses can meet their reporting obligations efficiently.
3. Decarbonisation Strategies
The urgency of reducing carbon emissions is now a global priority, and many businesses are committing to ambitious decarbonisation targets to align with international efforts to mitigate climate change. IBM Envizi is a critical tool for businesses aiming to develop and implement decarbonisation strategies, offering advanced capabilities for setting and tracking goals, as well as monitoring, analysing, and managing emissions-related data.
One of the key strengths of IBM Envizi is its ability to capture data from a wide variety of sources, including interval meters, renewable energy systems, and utility bills. This data is then processed and analysed to provide insights into energy consumption patterns, emissions hotspots, and opportunities for carbon reduction.
For instance, IBM Envizi can monitor energy usage in real time, allowing organisations to identify where energy is being wasted and where renewable energy sources, such as solar or wind, could be deployed more effectively. The platform can also track the performance of renewable assets over time, ensuring that organisations are maximising their use of clean energy to reduce their carbon footprint.
Furthermore, IBM Envizi helps businesses align their decarbonisation strategies with external frameworks, such as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement. The platform enables businesses to track their progress toward these goals, generating reports and visualisations that provide insights into where improvements can be made. This helps businesses stay accountable to their decarbonisation commitments, maintain compliance, and ensure they can meet the evolving expectations of stakeholders, investors, and regulators.
4. Energy Efficiency and Cost Management
Another significant use case for IBM Envizi is in energy efficiency and cost management. By providing detailed data on energy consumption at every level of the organisation, from individual facilities to corporate-wide operations, IBM Envizi enables businesses to identify inefficiencies and reduce energy waste. This is particularly important for large organisations with complex operational structures, where energy inefficiencies can result in substantial financial losses over time.
With IBM Envizi, businesses can compare energy performance across different sites, identifying outliers where energy use is significantly higher than average. This allows businesses to take targeted action to improve energy efficiency, such as upgrading equipment, implementing energy-saving practices, or increasing the use of renewable energy sources.
In addition to improving energy efficiency, IBM Envizi helps businesses manage energy costs more effectively. By providing insights into energy usage patterns and identifying areas where energy consumption can be reduced, the platform enables organisations to lower their energy bills and enhance profitability. Furthermore, by automating the data collection and reporting process, IBM Envizi reduces the time and resources required to manage sustainability data, providing further cost savings.
IBM Envizi from Ikano Insight – A powerful, cost-effective solution for sustainability reporting
With Ikano Insight’s support, businesses can quickly implement IBM Envizi and begin capturing, managing, and reporting their sustainability data with confidence. Whether you’re just starting your sustainability journey or looking to optimise existing processes, IBM Envizi and Ikano Insight provide the tools and insights you need to succeed in today’s demanding business environment.
To learn more about how IBM Envizi can support your business’s sustainability goals, visit Ikano Insight’s IBM Envizi ESG Suite.
