‍Tired of Excel? Switch to specialized ESG reporting software

The new ESG reporting obligations such as the Supply Chain Act (Lieferkettengesetz), the EU Taxonomy or the CSRD pose major challenges for businesses. The companies concerned not only need to collect increasing amounts of sustainability data internally, but also need data from their partners throughout the supply chain.  

Find out how you can streamline your work with an ESG reporting software and the advantages it offers here.

Why using an ESG reporting software instead of Excel?

Even large companies have so far coped with the data collection challenge primarily through a mixture of self-created templates, Excel lists and e-mail queries. This is not only an error-prone and time-consuming method, but is inefficient and ultimately not sustainable. In particular, many of the smaller suppliers provide either no or barely any meaningful data. This results in never ending email loops and/or multiple appointments per supplier to clearly communicate the requirements.  

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How do you find the right ESG reporting software?  

Once you've decided to take your sustainability management to the next level and invest in ESG software, you're faced with the question of which software is right for your business. The following questions will help you make a decision:

‍1. Does the ESG reporting software help you measure all ESG KPIs relevant to your business?

The requirements for sustainability management and sustainability reporting due to new regulations such as the CSRD, the Supply Chain Act (Lieferkettengesetz) or the EU taxonomy are becoming increasingly complex. At the same time, companies are setting increasingly ambitious goals for themselves that need to be measured.

To meet all the requirements, you need software that helps you with the following tasks:

• The software provides all the necessary sets of rules, related questions and explanations on how to answer them.
• It enables data collection within the company and along the supply chain.
• It offers the possibility to create your own questionnaires and to collect the right data.  

2. Does the ESG reporting software make your work easier?  

When you invest in ESG reporting software, potential efficiency gains have certainly played a role in your decision-making. In order to actually relieve you of tedious tasks, the software should be able to do the following:

• Cover all relevant steps of sustainability management and reporting, so you don't have to invest in any other tools.
• Provide integrations into relevant enterprise software such as ERP, HRM etc., and enable automatic data collection.
• Automate invitations, e-mail reminders, calculations, and all other steps that can be automated.
• Provide dashboards and displays that allow you to quickly review the collected data.  

3. Does the ESG reporting software help you understand and improve your performance?  

It is important that you not only report on your sustainability performance, but also understand and constantly improve your sustainability performance. To do this, the software must be able to:

• Deliver KPIs in real time and provide a clear overview of your performance at all times.
• Show the trends behind your performance.
• Maintain a comprehensive ESG database and give you helpful tips to improve your performance through anonymous comparisons or analyses.

4. Does the ESG reporting software also make your network's work easier?  

Sustainability management and reporting are an interplay of many actors within your organization and along the entire supply chain. To make your network's work easier, the software must:

• Make it as easy as possible for users to enter data and upload documents.
• Explain the requirements in such a way that they are directly understood and are also accessible to laymen.
• Facilitate and automate the feeding of data through integrations into relevant software systems.
• Prepare the performance in different formats so that it can be used for different departments.
• Bring benefits to your suppliers so that they have an incentive to provide you with their data.

Finally, ESG software must meet some standard requirements that are also relevant:

• It should be cloud-based so that users have secure access from anywhere.
• It should be user-friendly and can be used by experts and laymen alike.
• It must reflect all changes in legal requirements up-to-date and correctly.

If you are looking for specialized ESG software that meets these requirements, please contact us. We'll schedule a demo and show you how Daato's Sustainability Suite can help you.  

‍What are the benefits of Daato's ESG reporting software?

Daato's Sustainability Suite is designed to address these issues and simplify a company’s sustainability management processes. Together with various actors in the supply chain, we have developed a comprehensive software platform that has the following advantages:  

• A platform for all your sustainability data that provides analyses and makes suggestions for improvement.
• Collects relevant data within the company without much effort through integrations into enterprise software such as ERP, HRM, EMS, etc.
• Collects data from your suppliers at the touch of a few buttons using our questionnaires and tips created by sustainability experts.
• Automates follow-ups, reminder emails and calculations and frees up more time for other things.
• Shares your data with other customers or third parties (e.g. auditors or investors)

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