SMEs: Sustainability report & data transparency
The importance of measuring and making sustainability criteria transparent is also growing for unlisted SMEs, for example in relation to customer requirements, funding applications or lending.
On this page, we show why it is worthwhile for non-listed small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to prepare a proactive sustainability report and how ex:plore simplifies your processes. Test ex:plore with our experts in an individual online demo.
What does ESG mean?
The abbreviation ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance. The measurement of ESG criteria is intended to help companies to act more sustainably and responsibly. The preparation of a sustainability report offers companies a structured method for transparently presenting, evaluating and improving their impact on the environment, society and corporate governance.
E
Environmental
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Energy consumption
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COâ‚‚ emissions
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Resource efficiency
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Environmental pollutants
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Biodiversity
S
Social
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Working conditions
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Equality and inclusion
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Community engagement
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Human rights
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Customer protection and product safety
G
Governance
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Business ethics
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Risk management
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Board structure
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Audits and certifications carried out
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Compliance and anti-corruption training
Sustainability report for SMEs: 6 reasons for proactively measuring ESG criteria
Sustainability is becoming increasingly important for companies in the SME sector. Even if there is no regulatory obligation for a sustainability report, this opens up numerous opportunities for SMEs. Voluntarily measuring ESG criteria and implementing them in the corporate strategy not only helps to improve the company's image, but also increases operational efficiency, minimizes risks and opens up new and secures existing business opportunities.
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Improving your own sustainability
For SMEs, the voluntary measurement of ESG criteria increases the sustainability of your company. By collecting and analyzing environmental data, companies identify areas to optimize their use of resources and reduce their environmental impact. Using energy and water more efficiently saves huge costs. The focus on supply chain due diligence enables improvement of supply chain practices.
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Strengthening corporate reputation
Companies that actively measure and improve their ESG performance signal to stakeholders that they are aware of their social and environmental responsibility. This strengthens the company's reputation and the trust of customers, investors, employees and the general public. With a strong ESG performance, your company positions itself as responsible and future-oriented.
03
Access to capital and investors
More and more investors are taking ESG criteria into account when making investment decisions. By improving ESG performance, your company may gain easier access to capital and you will have a better basis for negotiating more attractive terms. Investors not only see lower risk in sustainable companies, but also long-term growth potential.
04
Strengthening your competitiveness
In many sectors and industries, the awarding of contracts is now linked to sustainability criteria. In order to remain competitive, it is no longer just the product or service in combination with the price that is decisive. A voluntary, professional sustainability report can be decisive for full order books and thus the economic future of a company - especially if the competition is obliged to report and therefore has a head start in the collection and preparation of ESG criteria.
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Risk management and resilience
Collecting and analyzing ESG data helps your company to identify and manage potential risks at an early stage. Environmental and climate risks, social unrest or governance issues often have a significant impact on business operations. Proactive ESG management increases your company's resilience to risks and enables you to respond better to unforeseen challenges.
06
Promoting innovation
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Addressing ESG criteria triggers innovation processes. Companies that take a close look at their environmental and social impact often find new ways to make their products and services more sustainable. This creates competitive advantages and opens up new markets. In addition, a sustainability-oriented corporate culture promotes employee creativity and motivation.
Mastering the challenges of sustainability reporting with ex:plore
SMEs face major challenges when preparing sustainability reports. Limited resources and the complexity of data integration are just two examples. The audit software ex:plore significantly simplifies and optimizes the processes of data collection, analysis and reporting. See in the overview how ex:plore solves possible problems in connection with the implementation of a sustainability report in SMEs.
Lack of human resources
Problem: Often there are not the necessary personnel resources to deal intensively with the preparation of sustainability reports.
Solution: ex:plore automates many of the necessary tasks. For example, you can collect data from different areas of the company, regardless of location, using individual or standardized questionnaires and consolidate the results in a clear report. Even small teams can create efficient and professional sustainability reports.
Lack of financial resources
Problem: Limited financial resources are often a major obstacle to comprehensive sustainability initiatives.
Solution: ex:plore provides support here with a cost-efficient solution. The cloud-based audit software does not require a high initial investment in hardware. SMEs gain access to powerful sustainability reporting tools even with a limited budget.
Lack of access to relevant data
Problem: Collecting and integrating all relevant data for a sustainability report is difficult. The data often comes from different sources and is available in different formats.
Solution: ex:plore considerably simplifies data collection and integration. Interfaces and data imports make it possible to consolidate data from different internal systems and sources. This not only saves you time, but also increases the accuracy of the data.
No or too little time
Problem: Lack of time is a common problem. With limited staff, SMEs are faced with a multitude of tasks for the sustainability report.
Solution: ex:plore drastically reduces the time needed to prepare sustainability reports by automating and standardizing your review processes with pre-built templates and pre-defined KPIs. From data collection to follow-up measures to report creation, many steps run in the background while employees concentrate on their core activities.
Arrange an online demo
We would be happy to talk to you about sustainability reporting in the midmarket and the implementation of ESG management in your company. Arrange an online demo with us directly.
Sustainability report as part of ESG management
Measure ESG criteria, collect data and map relevant stakeholders, comply with supply chain due diligence obligations: With the ex:plore audit software, you can solve numerous challenges with just one software. In addition to the implementation of a sustainability strategy for SMEs and the associated ESG management, the software supports you in many other use cases, from contract reviews and franchise audits to data protection audits.
Data collection and management
Central database: The software offers a central platform for collecting and managing all relevant sustainability data. SMEs collect environmental data (such as energy and water consumption), social data (such as working conditions and diversity) and governance data (such as corporate management and compliance) in one place. But also a lot of other data that you can customize for your company.
Data interfaces: Automatic data collection through integration with existing systems reduces manual effort and increases data quality.
Reporting and analysis
Standardized or individual reports: With ex:plore, you can create individual ESG reports according to your sustainability strategy specifications. This facilitates the comparability and traceability of the data. Design your own reporting formats for your specific needs.
Data analysis: With insightful real-time dashboards, you can recognize trends and identify weak points in your company. The optional integration of automatically generated follow-up measures, which you can assign to responsible parties and track within the software as they are completed, allows you to continuously improve your ESG performance by using ex:plore.
Stakeholder engagement
Transparency and communication: ex:plore enables SMEs to communicate their ESG data transparently and comprehensibly. This strengthens stakeholder trust and helps to improve business relationships.
Interactive dashboards: Interactive dashboards provide a visual representation of sustainability performance and make it easier for all stakeholders to understand the data.
Communicating sustainability
Once the first sustainability report is ready, you can easily communicate it after exporting it from ex:plore. You can continuously expand your sustainability strategy on the basis of intelligent follow-up measures. As part of our sustainability reporting for SMEs, we can also provide you with additional materials for multilingual communication of the ESG score achieved. Please do not hesitate to contact us.
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What are the next steps after sending the form?
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After submitting the contact form, we usually get back to you the same day on business days.
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Next, we will schedule an online appointment together. We will clarify any open questions so that we can customize your demo.
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The demo will take place digitally with our experts on the agreed date.
