Strategic Focus: ESG Reporting Will Force Firms To Consolidate Legacy EHS IT Systems

Executive Summary

For three decades firms have invested in digital solutions to manage environmental, health and safety processes. In the 1990s and the 2000s firms often bought EHS IT systems at a site or divisional level, or for a region. Operational groups such as industrial hygienists, chemical compliance experts and environmental engineers procured their own best-of-breed solutions from vendors such as Enviance, Medgate, MSDSonline and opsInfo. Whilst integrated EHS software platforms became more prevalent from 2015 onwards, the majority of large enterprises with revenues above $5 billion still run a multitude of new and old EHS IT systems, with some operating as many as 200 different applications. This report explains why a highly fragmented EHS IT estate is not compatible with enterprise-wide ESG disclosures and points to the implications for corporates, services firms and tech vendors.