New Environmental IT Systems Needed
Some of the key points identified by the survey and highlighted by the article include:
- Many existing EH&S systems are aging and need replaced;
- There is an increasing trend towards external hosting and software-as-a-service (SAAS);
- There is a recognized need to integrate environmental information systems with other corporate information systems (e.g., manufacturing, accounting);
- There is a demand for carbon footprinting but nobody jas money to pay for it; and,
- Large companies are cheap when it comes to environmental spending.
As long as environmental activities are viewed as liabilities and cost-centers, public and private organizations will remain overly cautious about spending the money needed for new systems. As an industry, we need to do a better job of understanding and communicating the cost savings that good environmental information systems will provide.
