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CEO Tom Melcher said dmStrategists worked to partner with expert companies to develop its software service to help companies track sustainability measures. |
By Joe Boomgaard | TBL
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WEST MICHIGAN — Thanks to an alliance of local and national partners, businesses of all sizes and types and in any area of the globe have the ability to better access metrics on the sustainability of their operations.
West Michigan-based dmStrategists llc and its alliance partners, the Center for Sustainability at Aquinas College, Cascade Engineering/Quest Sustainable Solutions, and Florida-based NextLife have brought to market a suite of resources for helping companies of all sizes move toward sustainability.
“What we’re doing is leveraging technology,” said Tom Melcher, president and CEO of dmStrategists. “What we’ve done is integrated technology with sustainability. We’re leveraging the web and the web’s capability to enhance sustainable business practices.”
After a two-year learning and development process from the initial idea, Melcher and the alliance have found metrics supportive of sustainable business concepts and then wrapped up those pieces into an easy-to-use, web-based platform that will be available to businesses of all sizes. Coupled with the assessment tools are business applications, training opportunities and available on-site support services that Melcher said will help companies achieve cost savings, performance gains and market traction.
Because so many companies have a global reach, Melcher took his time in finding a solution that would be both scalable and easily used “across all boundaries,” a platform that didn’t have licensing restrictions or gaps. Plus, it had to be customizable to fit the needs of various companies or organizations.
For example, dmStrategists can “storefront” the platform for another organization, like a chamber of commerce or a trade association, as the company is doing with the International Housewares Association, an organization introduced to the company by NextLife, a green consulting and marketing firm brought to the alliance by Cascade Engineering.
“We’re involved in a collaborative launch with them for a live website managed by NextLife for IHA,” Melcher said. “The collaborative nature of our relationship gets us into other opportunities that we would not have achieved on our own. (IHA) will look like heroes and it says it’s powered by us, but we’re fine with that. We don’t need to wave our flag — we’re about developing great products.
“We can literally accommodate the needs of any industry. Whether it’s healthcare, construction, housewares or higher education, we can tailor the language in the tools to meet their needs.”
Companies can use the online tools to track performance on various sustainability measurements and compile reports on how they did over a period of time, or how they compared to other companies.
Armed with those metrics, they can then look to the partners at Aquinas to help train employees in sustainable business practices and the triple bottom line. Quest Sustainable Solutions and NextLife can then step in and quickly help to develop strategies for sustainable business solutions and action plans.
The project initially had tapped an affiliated company from Grand Valley State University, but Melcher, an Aquinas graduate, found the small liberal arts college to be a better fit. “Aquinas is meeting our needs on the intellectual side and the knowledge content,” he said, noting the move wasn’t intended to be exclusionary.
With the alliance partners in place and the platform starting to get marketed heavily across the country, Melcher said he knows he will eventually have to add some sort of customer service staff and a call center, which he’s going to locate in Grand Rapids.
“Our call center will be here. Grand Rapids will be our base,” he said. “We could third party that, but this is something we can manage very effectively here and know that we’re responding to customer needs. The customers will be looking for assistance, more information, tech support or they’ll want site support of some variety.”
He said he’s in negotiations with Aquinas to potentially staff the center with students in the college’s sustainable business program.
In the meantime, the partners made the platform available on a free trial basis for any West Michigan company. The pilot will provide access to the Quick-Start sustainable business practice assessment. Confidential results will be compiled and returned to each organization, including a performance summary and aggregate scores, which will allow benchmarking with all participating organizations, Melcher said. tbl
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