KUALA LUMPUR: SAS Malaysia has launched the SAS Sustainability Management Scorecard, the first application in its Sustainability Management Suite, to help organisations measure, manage and improve the impact of their operations on the environment.

The software, which SAS claims is the first of its kind from any vendor in the world, applies SAS’ expertise in reducing the cost of daily operations and applies it to the reduction of an organisation’s environmental impact, said SAS Malaysia managing director Jimmy Cheah.

Scorecard provides a “dashboard” view of metrics chosen by the company to reflect its environmental impact goals, which include reduced usage of raw materials, and conservation of utilities like electricity, fuel and water.

This is essentially the same view SAS provides of corporate performance metrics in its other software offerings. “If you can measure it, you can manage it. You need to be accountable for it, and it has to be incorporated into your daily operations,” Cheah said.

SAS’ worldwide launch of the Scorecard last May has drawn widespread interest from chief executives, chief information officers and chief financial officers around the world, said SAS senior director for international programmes Thomas Spiller.

However, smaller businesses that supply goods and services to large corporations could still benefit from implementing Scorecard as well, particularly as they are still affected by the latter’s green policies.

“Many if not most suppliers to large international retailers, like Wal-Mart, are small companies and because of their corporate social responsibility policies they need to know how green their suppliers are,” Spiller said.

It’s about applying SAS analytics capabilities to environmental issues, he added.

Scorecard can be provided on a software-as-a-service basis if a company does not have the resources for a full inhouse deployment. In the public sector, it can be deployed at the agency or ministry level.

“We can sit down with any agency or company to work out the best way to deploy the scorecard,” Cheah said.

“We don’t look at the Sustainability Scorecard as something to make a profit from. It’s something that can help a company fulfil its social responsibility objectives,” he added.

WWF Malaysia marketing director Choon Bow Bow said that building a reputation for social responsibility is not just good for a company’s image but is also a good way to reach out to customers and their concerns, as well as differentiate products in the market.

Choon noted that 72% of Malaysians in the peninsular said that if they had to choose between products of equal price and quality, they would prefer the one from a company associated with good causes.

It also helps to motivate employees to know that they are working for a socially responsible company, she said.

The event was attended by Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment ambassador Maya Karin.