When we set out to create Bright’s innovative action-planner, we were confident in our vision. However, we made two significant mistakes.
Firstly, we misunderstood how SMEs approach sustainability. They almost always start with measurement, specifically their carbon footprint. While Bright has had a basic carbon footprinting tool since day one, it was more of an afterthought and not a market-leading product.
Secondly, we made a strategic error. Few users are actively seeking an AI-assisted sustainability action plan, Bright’s core product. This isn’t to say it’s not beneficial—many businesses would indeed benefit—but it’s not what they’re searching for initially.
Businesses that have or are building an action plan often do so with the help of a sustainability consultant. However, many SMEs are just beginning their journey and start with measuring their carbon footprint. We want to support these businesses and guide them on their sustainability journey.
In a previous life in SME management, we took the decision to put sustainability at the core of our business decisions. An admirable choice made by the company’s directors, but we soon faced some considerable challenges in implementation – and in fact it was these challenges that led me to create Bright.
Initially, we faced difficulties finding a reliable business carbon footprinting tool. The available tools were lacking, especially the free options. They made sweeping estimates, missed crucial contributors, and often led to inaccurate results. Paid options existed, but they often required a high level of expertise (and our software budget was £0).
In our case I chose what I believed to be the best option, but with the benefit of hindsight it led our management team to believe our carbon footprint was considerably smaller than it was. This was down to the tool making sweeping estimates and missing some fundamentally important contributors.
When we searched out other tools, we found similar issues: confusing interfaces, lack of flexibility, or rigid focuses on certain categories (like refrigerants, I’m looking at you Carbon Trust). We also struggled with transparency; sharing our footprint details with our team and customers was cumbersome.
So at Bright a few months ago, we decided it was time to build the best carbon footprint calculator for SMEs on the market, and make it completely free to use.
So what are our key focuses in getting this right? The most challenging is striking the balance between the tool being accessible to anyone, but ensuring it has the flexibility and scope to be the tool of choice for all SMEs. We’re doing this through careful product design so your use of the calculator can flex and adjust as you learn more. The second most important aspect is ensuring we have a native method for hosting and sharing your business carbon footprint, which we’ve done by linking it to your publicly available profile, so it’s easy to link from anywhere and users can see as little or as much detail as they need.
The last major aspect is ensuring that it isn’t a tool for dogmatically entering your energy use each year; we want it to be a learning tool that with each use encourages you to consider other areas of your business for improvement. And of course we hope that in turn encourages users to get started with building a full action-plan and exploring the full range of tools Bright has to offer.
The first version of our new carbon footprint calculator will be ready in a few months. We’re excited to share it with you and support your sustainability journey even further!
Kickstart your journey into sustainable growth, with all the tools you need to get going at Bright.
Bright Sustainability - Blog 
Leave a comment