ESG on the Clock: How to Choose an ESG Vendor?

Key Takeaways

Are you looking for an ESG vendor? Makenzie Martin, Director of ESG Product Marketing at Workiva has some quick tips to help you find the right solution.

Makenzie recommends combining insights from a company’s history, their specific ESG focus/experience, and understanding if ESG reporting a natural extension of their existing technology.

S1 Episode 7: How to Choose an ESG Vendor? | Transcript

Welcome back to ESG on the Clock. I'm excited to bring to you our next installment of this series that aims to help you evaluate ESG software solutions.

We recognize this can be an overwhelming process as there are so many ESG vendors, and many solve for different aspects of the ESG problem. For example, here at Workiva, we focus on end-to-end reporting and program management from data sources to your assured ESG report.

If this rings true for the type of solution you're looking for, here's what we suggest you take into account as a part of your evaluation.
First and foremost, what is the history of the company's focus?

With ESG being a newer concept to many businesses, it's important to understand the history of the company you're considering and what your approach to the future is. After all, the ESG of today is very different than it was two years ago and even last month.

What problems have they been solving for since they began? Do they have a grasp on solving for regulatory reporting problems? If they are a legacy technology vendor, what has their focus been on? Is ESG reporting a natural extension of their existing technologies' capabilities? Did they build their own integrated solution, or did they acquire an ESG solution to add to their portfolio?

A question you should always feel empowered to ask any technology vendor is what their retention rate is for their customers. This is often an indicator of the level of investment they provide to support and enable your use of the technology, as well as how they'll continue to develop the solution. You can always ask what features are on the roadmap as well as how they determine what items get prioritized.

This leads me to my next question: Does the company employ subject matter experts in the ESG space? This can be an invaluable addition to any technology vendor as the ESG landscape is continually evolving, and they need to understand the impact to your company's processes and reporting requirements. Also, what steps are they taking on their own ESG journey?

On the next episode, we'll touch on different types of ESG technology providers, as you'll find very few vendors can solve for the entire ESG puzzle.
That being said, what's their partner network look like? Do they have existing relationships with vendors that can help fill gaps? Or provide advisory services if you're just getting started on your ESG journey?

This, of course, isn't an exhaustive list of questions, but what we hope it surfaces is that ESG reporting is a vital component of future proofing your ESG strategy.

Stay tuned for the upcoming episodes of ESG on the Clock, where we dive into specific functional considerations as a part of your ESG evaluation.
See you next time.