Accelerating your Net Zero ambitions

I’m delighted to announce the global rebranding of our business as Optima Technology. This rebranding is part of the repositioning of our SaaS business to meet growing global demand for Net Zero reporting, leveraging the 30-year heritage of our Optima brand in secure energy data management in the UK.

This exciting change will uniquely position us to execute our revised growth strategy announced in February to expand into the ESG landscape, allowing us to capitalise on the significant global market opportunity for accurate and automated data solutions to Net Zero reporting. This will consolidate our go-to-market positioning across all our operating regions and allows us to support our global customers with Net Zero data management and reporting.

While our immediate strategic focus will be supporting customers in growing Net Zero data management and reporting markets across the UK and Europe, we will continue to provide our data management solutions for Bill Management and Procurement Planning.

We’re here to set a new benchmark in Net Zero data accuracy 

Over the next five years, access to high-quality, reliable data will be the greatest barrier businesses must confront to address climate risk. The Net Zero imperative is arguably the most significant issue of 2022, with organisations increasingly facing pressure to rise to meet the carbon challenge and become energy efficient.

According to research cited by the World Economic Forum, only 9% of businesses actively use software to collect and analyse their Net Zero data. Many brokers and specialists instead rely on manual solutions and spot-checking, a method we know is prone to errors and re-work. Engie Impact’s recent research has also found that only 18% of business leaders agreed they had a single source of truth to support their Net Zero data, with only 3% confident about this.

I find this astonishing, particularly when we consider the sheer volume and complexity of Net Zero data for small and large businesses, government and advisory. I am not alone. A recent survey by Willis Towers Watson found that 80% of respondents from leading financial institutions recognised that data was their top concern when transitioning to Net Zero. Of the institutions surveyed, 62% identified that they had insufficient expertise to make the quantitative assessments required to meet the rigour that stakeholders increasingly demand are built into their Net Zero disclosures.

While demand for ESG is growing globally, progress is arguably more pronounced in the UK and Europe, where government and industry have been early adopters of bold Net Zero targets and increasing regulatory requirements. As a result, our business strategy calls for a first and fast repositioning in the UK market, followed closely by expansion into Europe, collectively representing a market opportunity 12 times larger than Australia and New Zealand. Combined with the growing demand for high-quality data to service Net Zero reporting, these tailwinds underpin our rationale for repositioning to Optima Technology.

My recent visit to the UK proved that Net Zero reporting is challenging for many businesses, boards, and investors. Many organisations are finding it challenging to set a long-term Net Zero target publicly, and now believe that the efficacy of tracking and reporting is as important as the accuracy of financial data and disclosure.

In short, there is a growing gap between high organisational willingness and readiness to address climate risk, paved by poor quality data, potentially exposing businesses to reputational damage, financial penalty, consumer distrust, compliance, and greenwashing risk.

Leading the way in energy and sustainability data 

We’re not the only company offering data software, but our market-leading data accuracy (98%) empowers us to set the benchmark in Net Zero data. Our existing end-to-end data SaaS software solution is cost-effective and uniquely designed to turn data complexity into data clarity, producing audit-grade results and supported by industry-leading ISO-rated data security.

Our automated data solution is powered to give organisations the confidence they need to accurately measure and track their ESG performance by tying back to a single source of Net Zero data truth. Central to our Optima Technology platform are its market-leading extraction and validation stages, enabled to trawl and aggregate disparate sources and formats of data to provide our customers with an accurate Net Zero benchmark.

In repositioning to Optima Technology and a revised growth strategy, we are meeting this growing demand for accurate and robust ESG reporting head-on. In doing so, we are capitalising on a significant global ESG opportunity worth an estimated A$6.4 billion in the six markets we are focused on (United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, France, Australia, and New Zealand).

Channel partners will play a key role in repositioning  

We will execute our repositioning and revised strategic focus on Net Zero reporting solutions via our channel partners, who are keen to bring new, automated solutions to solve the ESG reporting challenges they are currently facing. Solving these reporting challenges is a significant strategic and business priority for many of our energy broker, specialist, professional and managed service consultant partners.

We’re excited to help our customers overcome the data barrier to provide accurate, automated and robust ESG disclosure. I look forward to updating you on our progress.