This leading professional services provider relies on SIGWATCH to deliver expert sustainability consulting. Our comprehensive NGO campaigning data offers a unique insight into their business and the most pressing issues in their sector.
BACKGROUND
This company offers a range of sustainability consulting and advisory services to help its clients develop their business and meet the challenges of a complex economic environment. Headquartered in Tokyo, the firm employs more than 3,000 staff with services spanning tax, audit and assurance, legal, forensic, deal advisory and sustainability.
BUSINESS REQUIREMENT
Through a dedicated sustainability consulting wing, the company helps organisations in all sectors improve their sustainability performance – from strategy development and programme management through to sustainability disclosure. Eight years ago, the Department invested in SIGWATCH to support its client work. Having access to NGO campaigning data is important, says the department head, because NGOs are the source of all sustainability issues – current and future.
SOLUTION AT A GLANCE
The Department relies on SIGWATCH’s unique NGO data to better understand the companies it works with and, crucially, the sustainability issues they face. SIGWATCH is also the tool it recommends to its clients, particularly for conducting materiality assessments.
SOLUTION IN ACTION
Whenever they start working with a new client, the Department turns to SIGWATCH data. It enables them to build up a picture of the company and its competitors, based on what NGOs are saying about them, and to grasp the most pertinent issues in their industry sector. Department members rely on SIGWATCH to identify the latest issues and trends to highlight to clients while talking about corporate sustainability. SIGWATCH'S one-of-a-kind data plays a prominent role in the Department's bi-annual presentations to the company's clients.
RESULTS
A 360-degree view
Seniors in the firm believe SIGWATCH brings a whole host of benefits to their specialist sustainability consulting practice, but the 360-degree view it provides is its main strength. “A lot is said and written about sustainability and ESG every day but no one, apart from SIGWATCH, provides the big picture,” they say. “SIGWATCH offers a comprehensive overview of what’s happening in the corporate sustainability world rather than just a narrow snapshot.”
A look to the future
SIGWATCH also highlights emerging issues that could affect the company's clients further down the line. “All sustainability issues start with an NGO warning. “Looking at NGOs’ views helps us understand the issues that will be important for companies in five- or ten-years’ time. In many ways, NGOs hold a mirror up to future society.”
The knowledge of an expert team
The expertise of the SIGWATCH team is touted as another significant advantage. CEO Robert Blood's unique insights on NGO campaigning activity, which has recently included the relationship between NGOs and Japanese companies, has proved very useful with the Department and its clients.
The Department is so confident of SIGWATCH’s capabilities that, in the future, the plan is to offer its data and insights as a service. This will involve partnering with SIGWATCH to provide regular local language reports to Japanese companies on the key sustainability issues they should have on their radar.
“For the past five years Japanese companies have been lagging behind their European counterparts on sustainability, but many of
them are starting to catch up. I believe our challenge now is to push Japanese companies even further towards corporate sustainability, and we’ll use the power of SIGWATCH data to help us.”
