Simon McCabe

What is it telling us when Microsoft, creator of the Excel spreadsheet, invests in a software solution to manage its environmental reporting requirements? According to Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Strategist, the solution “will enable us to efficiently collect, analyse and share environmental data, delivering new levels of understanding about the resources we use”. This is not a vote of no-confidence in the spreadsheet, but rather a good business decision to invest in fit for purpose solutions.

Environmental management has, for most businesses, been a sideline issue that has attracted only passing interest from management. As a consequence, investment in tools to manage environmental data has been limited. Organisations have either relied on clever staff to develop fancy spreadsheets with an array of formulas and links, or tried to use legacy systems designed for a different purpose. This may have done the trick in a light-handed legislative environment, but with carbon reporting now having monetary consequences in the form of a carbon price, business needs to give due attention to environmental software…. read the full article