ORLANDO, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Benchmark Digital (Benchmark), a leading provider of cloud-based Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) software solutions, convened its first in-person annual conference this month —Impact 2022—after a two year hiatus. Over the course of the multi-day gathering, Benchmark’s leaders and guest speakers delivered a robust curriculum of actionable lessons regarding why business leaders should collect, use, and report investment-grade data describing their companies’ ESG performance, how they can execute those processes, and the multiple advantages they can expect from completing them using an integrated strategy.
“We have a mission to apply the approach we pioneered for EHS compliance management of distilling best practices into a digital platform for ESG and to deliver operational excellence, bottom-line resilience, and more sustainable environmental and social outcomes,” remarked Benchmark founder and CEO R Mukund. “This conference underscores the ethos of our shared objectives and our efforts toward them. And we’ll exchange the ideas and demonstrated processes needed to continuously improve our progress toward our goals.”
Through a mix of keynote speeches, panel discussions, high-level presentations, demonstrations of proprietary digital technologies, and collaborative workshops, featured corporate sustainability experts equipped Impact 2022 attendees with the intelligence and tools needed to simultaneously navigate the world’s changing ESG disclosure landscapes and drive operational excellence.
“Embedding our ethical values into corporate strategy and, ultimately, in the capital markets—that’s fundamental,” emphasized Andy Karsner during his Impact 2022 keynote address. “The ESG movement and framework of issues isn’t going away; it’s going to evolve. And thanks to you all, we have the tools to measure what matters most with accuracy and integrity. But we have to remain focused and committed. Because while technology, economics, opportunity, and the shareholder buy-in are on our side, time is not.”
Over the course of Impact 2022, speakers, presenters, and workshop leaders elevated and frequently returned to a few distinct themes. Chief among these themes were the ethical and fiduciary responsibilities of business leaders to advance their organizations’ sustainability performance outcomes, and how investment-grade ESG performance data facilitates the fulfillment of these responsibilities.
“A majority of companies are making a credible effort to improve their ESG performance, and for the right reasons” said Dr. Mark McNees, Director of ESG Education, Florida State University Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, when presenting the preliminary findings of an ongoing McNees Group corporate ESG reporting survey. “But their efforts are not without challenges. The most cited obstacles were data management, distributed responsibilities, and failure to adopt adequate software—it’s time to ditch the spreadsheets and level up.”
Speakers and presenters consistently directed the audience’s attention to the cost savings, risk mitigation, and investor relations advantages that business leaders can unlock by leveraging digital platforms to advance their collection, usage, and disclosure of investment-grade ESG performance data.
“The financial advantages of a comprehensive, data-driven, and functional corporate ESG strategy are manifold,” explained Benchmark Senior Manager, Kevin O’Neill. “This is to say that ESG data is financially material, so it needs to be auditable. Companies need to show and keep a secure, reliable record of their work. This is the primary need Benchmark’s ESG solutions are designed to address.”
Recordings of the commentary, presentations, and technical demonstrations conducted at Impact 2022 are available to conference attendees here, and pre-registration for Benchmark’s Impact 2023 conference in Washington, D.C. can be completed here.
While Impact 2022 may have come to a close, Benchmark intends to facilitate an ongoing dialogue among ESG professionals. To that end, Benchmark welcomes interested parties to join the Benchmark-moderated ESG Executive Collaboration Forum LinkedIn group, and register for forthcoming conferences, webinars, and other Benchmark events here.
About Benchmark Gensuite
Benchmark Gensuite (the next generation of Gensuite®) enables companies to implement robust cross-functional Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Solutions – locally, globally and across diverse operating profiles. Our comprehensive cloud-based software suite features intuitive, best-practice process functionality, flexible configurations and powerful extensions. For over two decades, our digital platform has helped companies manage safe & sustainable operations worldwide, with a focus on fast return on investment (ROI), service excellence and continuous innovation. Join nearly 3,000,000 users that trust Benchmark Gensuite with their software system needs for operational risk and compliance, EHS, sustainability, product stewardship, supplier risk, and ESG data management / disclosure reporting.
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