There’s no denying it: winery sustainability is at the forefront of many – if not most – conversations about the industry’s future. More and more consumers are indicating their preference for sustainable, values-based operations and production. Indeed, a recent article in SevenFifty Daily about wine industry trends to watch in 2023 summed up the sentiment succinctly: “[Consumers] want wines that align with their values, and their values are focused on a sustainable future.”
It’s all well and good to understand the importance of winery sustainability in concept but to implement corporate initiatives, make changes within the supply chain, or begin touting environmental, social and governance (ESG) values in the marketing and branding of your products is a whole other matter. Feeling overwhelmed? You’re not alone.
To help wineries create actionable plans to successfully create and implement sustainability initiatives, we have developed the Crafted ERP Sustainability Workbook. The hands-on guide will take you and your team through a series of exercises to craft the vision, drive alignment throughout your organization, jumpstart your initiative, and communicate your efforts to the Millenial and Gen Z markets. And the cherry on top? It’s free. (And we’re not going to put you on some awful email list you can’t escape.)
Download it today.
Why Metrics Matter When It Comes to Sustainability Efforts in the Wine Industry
Once you’ve got your plans in place for how and what you’re going to do to promote sustainable practices at your winery, it’s time to figure out how you’re going to measure the impact of your work. Two important aspects of sustainability success are one, having the ability to benchmark your starting point and two, having the ability to monitor the progress of your efforts compared to that standard. Winemakers need quantifiable data in order to accurately report on the success of their initiatives and identify action areas for improvement.
Sounds simple enough, right? Unfortunately, it can become overly complex (and definitely frustrating) to try to track consumption and conservation metrics in software or spreadsheets that aren’t automated or tied back to the overall business in any way.
To address that need, Doozy Solutions, the creators of Crafted ERP software for wineries, has developed the Sustainability Center app for NetSuite. Included in all editions of Crafted ERP, the module is an easy-to-use, highly customizable framework to help organizations track and monitor the success and impact of their sustainability efforts.
Why the need for metrics? As Josh Prigge, chief commercial officer & sustainability consultant for Sustridge Sustainability Consulting (and panelist at our 2022 WINExpo discussion on tech and sustainability), noted in a recent piece in the Wine Industry Advisor, “Quantifying, tracking and reporting are something companies haven’t necessarily been doing. A lot of facilities are starting to do this across all areas of their production…You can’t manage what you don’t measure.”
Adding to that point, you also can’t publicize and promote what you don’t measure. You can’t get your staff excited and engaged by what you don’t measure. And you definitely can’t gain any sort of third-party sustainability certification with what you don’t measure. All of which are critical to your organization’s success over the long term.
If you’d like to discuss your winery sustainability ideas, efforts and challenges, please contact us and we’ll schedule a call with one of our wine industry specialists. Together, we can do great things for our future.
