Written by Matilda Howard, Marketing Specialist
Matilda Howard is a seasoned marketing professional with a passion for brand storytelling and consumer engagement. Focused on driving digital innovation and brand growth for clients she enjoys sharing her knowledge with the wider community online.
Sustainable asset management can have a profound impact on the success of your business. This article outlines everything you need to know about sustainable asset management and why business owners need to implement sustainability into their strategies. We hope it inspires you to make some proactive changes within your organization that future-proof it in an ever-changing world.
What is sustainable asset management?
Sustainable asset management is a strategy used to invest in physical assets and facilities used by businesses, such as factories, offices, and machinery. The main goal of sustainable asset management is to contribute to the long-term sustainable development of an organization, its working community, the wider community, and the environment.
Commonly, and as part of sustainable asset management, businesses will invest in upcycling, responsible asset disposal, recycling, environmentally friendly supply chains, and initiatives that support the local community.
Why are sustainable asset management solutions important?
Sustainable practice is not only important for businesses and business asset management, it is imperative for protecting the environment. As awareness of environmental concerns is growing, sustainable practices are becoming a must for companies and their investors. As such, sustainable asset management is crucial to align values with actionable business practices.
Let’s explore why sustainable asset management is so important for businesses and how you might implement it within your organization.
Environmental responsibility
Sustainable asset management is especially important for the environment. This is because technologies disposed of by businesses often include materials such as lithium batteries and other toxic materials that are harmful to the environment if not disposed of properly.
According to research by Statista, “electronic waste has become one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the world. Despite its growth, waste management remains inadequate, with over three-quarters of e-waste still doing undocumented. With only 81 countries worldwide covered by electronic waste legislation, policy, and regulation, increasing collection and recycling rates will be one of the biggest challenges of the coming decade.”
Maintaining assets properly through proper care and maintenance should help them last longer. Taking care to follow official regulations and recycle IT equipment is also integral for protecting the environment.
Reduced risk to business
Businesses prioritizing sustainable practices tend to be more risk-resilient. This means they are more prepared to handle challenges that come their way; from theft and asset management difficulties to environmental disasters and asset destruction.
With a watertight asset management plan, businesses can reduce the volatility unexpected changes might pose to their business. While it’s not possible to protect your business completely against every possible circumstance, sustainable asset management gives you more control over your assets so that you can navigate any changes with confidence.
Long-term success
While the initial investment of time and money into prioritizing sustainable asset management can seem daunting, the long-term returns on that investment will certainly pay off.
It is thought that companies with sustainable practices often outperform their less sustainable competitors in the long run, providing a great return on investment.
According to The World Economic Forum, “90% of executives believe sustainability is important. The issue is a lack of implementation with only 60% of organizations having sustainability strategies. Giving importance to sustainability is essential to meet investor pressure, consumer demand, regulatory requirements, talent acquisition and ensure increased productivity.”
Alignment with customer values
Sustainable asset management isn’t just beneficial for businesses and their operations, it also has positive impacts for customers and company investors whose personal and ethical values are a priority.
According to Harvard Business Review, “Our research suggests we’re on the brink of a major shift in consumption patterns, where truly sustainable brands – those that make good on their promises to people and the planet – will seize the advantage from brands that make flimsy claims. Forecasting experts calculate that the purchasing power of Millennials and Gen Z will surpass that of Boomers around the year 2030, with up to $68 trillion in wealth transferring from Boomers to these younger generations by the end of this decade.”
Positive changes
Businesses that embed sustainable asset management into their operations encourage positive changes, not only throughout their organization but also throughout the wider economy. Essentially, positive change sets off a ripple effect that reaches larger and larger audiences as it spreads.
We’ve seen it many times before – A few well-known examples include
Ford motor company
the automotive industry is well-known for being one of the biggest environmental polluters. Ford led the way in implementing sustainable practices that had a hugely positive impact across the wider economy. They achieved this by implementing the use of sustainable fabrics in their vehicles, fuel efficiency, and using recycled paint fumes as fuel.
Disney
Disney has a zero waste policy that they are working towards. Their aim is to own completely waste-free operated parks, cruise lines, and resorts by 2030. Since introducing this policy, Disney has become a world leader in environmental responsibility, with many big brands and corporations looking to them for guidance and inspiration.
These are just a few examples of positive changes being made within organizations that have set about positive change within the wider industry environment. For such well-known corporations to make changes like this certainly means great things for the environment.
Efficient use and maintenance of resources
Sustainable asset management ensures that business resources are responsibly managed, minimizing waste and maximizing organization efficiency. This is critical for supporting sustainability across your organization and is one of the pillars of a successful business.
Proper asset management ensures all assets are properly maintained and taken care of. This is important because assets can deteriorate over time, leading to more frequent repairs and replacements, increasing demand for new resources and energy usage.
Carrying out preventive maintenance and properly managing business assets extends their life, reduces business costs and demands, and also reduces the environmental impact associated with producing and/or purchasing new assets.
How to introduce sustainable asset management within your business
As you can see, there are so many benefits to introducing sustainable asset management into your business processes and here’s how to achieve that:
Establish your goals
the first step is to establish clear and measurable company goals. These goals should outline the environmental and social aspects of your company. When you have a clear outline of the goals you want to achieve, you have a blueprint moving forward that helps you stay on track.
Choose an asset management platform
investing in a platform where you can manage all of your company’s various assets in one place is invaluable. It allows for complete asset management, transparency, crisis management, and accountability in one digital space, helping to centralize all of the asset management practices across your organization.
Staff training
in order to streamline asset management across your organization it is vital to invest in the proper training up of your staff. From asset use and maintenance training to internal processes training, when your staff know what they’re doing and how to do it, your business runs smoothly.
Final words
Sustainable asset management plays an important part of business success. It future-proofs your organization and sets you up for success. We hope this article encourages you to prioritize sustainable asset management within your organization.
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Read more from Matilda Howard
Matilda Howard, Marketing Specialist
Matilda Howard is a recognized leader in marketing, a seasoned professional who is passionate about driving digital innovation and growth for global brands. Matilda leads initiatives across a range of digital marketing disciplines, content creation, and brand management. She's passionate about blending creativity with data-driven insights to achieve impactful results for clients.
