Environmental Management Systems: Developing an IT Strategy

The sources of pressure on an organization to improve the management of its environmental performance are many and increasing. They all demand increasing amounts and types of information from the organization. Information technology (IT) provides the means to address both these demands and the data needs which are internal to the organization. A methodical approach is required to determine how IT can best be used. By examining the business processes used to manage environmental performance, the types of data to be handled and the outputs and reports required, the organization can prioritize IT investments. These may be in specialized information systems, but are just as likely to be in general data manipulation tools and communication network enhancements.