7 Business Areas Where You Can’t Afford To Slip Up On Your Sustainability Goals

Julie Starr • November 8, 2022



We all know that running a business is no easy feat. There are a million things to keep track of, and even the smallest mistake can have big consequences. That’s why it’s essential to be extra careful in certain areas of your business where one misstep could derail your sustainability targets and damage your reputation. So let’s take a look at seven business areas where you can’t afford to slip up on your sustainability goals. 

1. Finances:

Finances are the lifeblood of any business, and it’s no different when it comes to sustainability. Without careful financial management, your business may be unable to meet its sustainability targets. This could damage your reputation and make it harder to achieve long-term success. That’s why it’s important to focus on your finances and ensure they’re in good shape. This will give you the stability you need to pursue sustainable initiatives and reach your goals.

2. Human Resources:

To achieve sustainability targets, businesses must focus on their human resources. This means ensuring that employees are properly trained and have the resources they need to do their jobs efficiently. It also means creating a work environment where employees feel valued and supported. Focusing on human resources can help businesses achieve their sustainability targets by reducing waste, promoting energy efficiency, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions . However, achieving these targets as a business requires the buy-in and effort of all employees, and a strong focus on human resources is essential in making this happen.

3. Marketing:

Marketing is vital to the success of any business, especially those with sustainability targets. Marketing helps businesses reach their target markets, identify new opportunities, and build customer relationships. To achieve sustainability goals, a business must have a clear understanding of what its customers want and need and be able to communicate this effectively to them. Marketing also helps businesses to track their progress and measure the impact of their sustainable initiatives. By focusing on marketing, a business can ensure that its sustainability targets are achievable and that its message is being heard by those who matter most.

4. Customer Service:

To achieve sustainability targets, it is important to focus on creating a positive customer experience. When customers are happy with the service they receive, they are more likely to return and recommend your business to others. This helps to create a positive word-of-mouth marketing campaign that can drive business growth. Additionally, satisfied customers are more likely to be forgiving if an occasional mistake occurs, which minimizes the negative environmental impact of running a business. By focusing on providing excellent customer service , you can help your business achieve its sustainability goals while also building a loyal customer base.

5. Operations:

Keeping your business running smoothly day-to-day is no small feat. From managing inventory and supply chain issues to ensuring quality control, there are a lot of moving parts to consider when it comes to operations. A strong operations department requires good planning and coordination to ensure all aspects are running efficiently and effectively in line with targets. A quality operations department also needs to be proactive in identifying any potential sustainability issues and finding solutions, such as reducing waste or using more environmentally-friendly materials.

6. IT:

Companies must have a functioning and efficient information technology (IT) department in today’s business world. The IT department is responsible for maintaining the company’s computer systems and networks and ensuring that all employees have access to the necessary technology tools to do their jobs. Any malfunctions or disruptions in the IT department can have a ripple effect throughout the entire company, costing the business money by interrupting its operations. This is why it is so important for businesses to ensure that their IT department is functioning properly and has the resources it needs to do its job. Some businesses find themselves with a lack of IT experience or competency, which can expose the company to various security risks and vulnerabilities. This is one of the main reasons why IT-outsourcing is such a lucrative market for IT specialists. IT can also be used to support other business departments, such as training departments, in sharing resources geared to support organizational targets linked to sustainability.

7. Sales:

Sales are a key driver of any business, and a slip-up in this department can be costly. To stay competitive, it is essential to maintain a strong sales strategy and keep your sales team focused and motivated. Falling behind in sales can mean losing market share and revenue and may even lead to bankruptcy. To stay ahead of the competition, it is important to ensure your sales team is always on top of its game. This means providing them with the tools and training they need to succeed and keeping them motivated. Companies focusing on sustainability have a competitive advantage over their competitors, and it is vital to use this to drive sales. It is also important to have a good sales strategy in place. This includes developing a good product or service that meets your customers’ needs, pricing your products correctly, and targeting the right market. If you can do these things, you will likely succeed in sales.

Conclusion: 

As you can see, there are many critical areas of businesses where one misstep could lead to big problems in achieving your sustainability goals. However, by being mindful of these areas and taking steps to prevent mistakes, you can set your business up for sustainable success!

Smart Sensors, Smarter Supply Chains: Enhancing Traceability in Food & Beverage

By Julie Starr • June 20, 2025
In today’s competitive food and beverage (F&B) landscape, traceability is no longer a compliance checkbox—it’s a differentiator. The ability to track every step of a product’s journey, from origin to shelf, is vital for regulatory accuracy and to ensure brand integrity, supply chain agility, and consumer trust. Add smart sensors to the mix: the quiet, tireless observers revolutionizing supply chain intelligence. Traceability Has a Data Problem Despite digitization across many F&B operations, most traceability systems still rely on fragmented or manual data inputs. Batch numbers, barcodes, and handwritten logs often stand between a supplier and clarity when things go wrong. This approach struggles with latency and scale. When contamination or delays occur, root cause analysis is slow, costly, and damaging. Smart sensors shift this paradigm by embedding real-time, contextual intelligence into every stage of the supply chain . Whether monitoring humidity in transit or recording fill-level precision in bottling plants, they remove the guesswork by turning physical conditions into structured, time-stamped data. From Passive Monitoring to Active Optimization Sensors used to be reactive tools, alerting operators to anomalies. But smart sensors now play a proactive role in process control. They measure, and they interpret. For example, temperature sensors embedded in cold chain logistics can dynamically adjust cooling systems or flag threshold breaches before spoilage occurs. These advancements reduce waste and loss at a systemic level. In a production facility, smart sensors integrated with PLCs can enforce recipe compliance, verify clean-in-place processes, and detect micro-stoppages in real-time. This enables operations to pivot faster and isolate inefficiencies before they cascade downstream. Trust is Built on Transparency Consumers are paying more attention to what they eat and drink. They’re looking beyond labels, expecting visibility into how ingredients are sourced, processed, and handled. Smart sensors make this level of transparency achievable —without burdening manufacturers with excessive manual oversight. By capturing metadata throughout production and distribution, these sensors create a digital footprint that’s tamper-resistant and instantly accessible. When this data is integrated with a central platform, brands can respond confidently to audits, recalls, and quality assurance challenges with a level of precision that would be impossible through legacy systems. Intelligence Without Infrastructure Overhaul One common misconception is that adding smart sensors requires a top-down reinvention of supply chain infrastructure. In reality, companies can deploy edge sensors in a modular, scalable way. Many modern solutions offer plug-and-play functionality, allowing for fast integration with existing machinery and MES systems. This is where suppliers like alps-machine.com are reshaping expectations. Rather than pushing proprietary ecosystems, they design sensor-ready equipment with interoperability in mind. This future-proofs investment and keeps businesses nimble in the face of regulatory or market shifts. Designing for Data Longevity Sensors are only as powerful as the context they capture. A smart implementation ensures the data collected can be standardized, stored securely, and accessed meaningfully across departments. This means moving beyond local dashboards toward centralized, queryable datasets that inform everything from supplier contracts to marketing claims. As AI and predictive analytics become more accessible, these data-rich environments will unlock new capabilities—such as predicting demand spikes based on real-time freshness indicators or adjusting production schedules dynamically based on in-transit sensor feedback. Final Thoughts: Smarter Isn’t Optional Traceability isn’t solved by more paperwork—it’s solved by embedded intelligence. Smart sensors don’t just help businesses know what happened; they help prevent the wrong things from happening at all. For companies in the food and beverage sector, adopting smart sensors is less about chasing innovation and more about enabling resilience, speed, and confidence in every decision.

Eco-Friendly Garden Prep: Summer Tips for a Greener Business Space

By Julie Starr • June 5, 2025
If you're lucky enough to have a garden as part of your business, taking some time to set it up for summer is a great investment of your energy. Not only will it be ready for your customers to spend time in, but you can also incorporate some eco-friendly elements into it. Many people just think about the property and what eco-friendly updates they can make , but there are plenty that you can implement in your garden. This gives you the best of both worlds. You own a sacred and beautiful place for your customers to spend their summer, and at the same time, you can do your part for a better planet. If this is the route you want to take, then you also need to consider how to do this with the different seasons. To help you on your journey, here are some top tips for preparing your garden for summer. Plant trees and flowers Planting trees and flowers in your garden is a must. It will make a beautiful scene of nature for everyone to enjoy. Trees will provide people and animals with shade, as well as provide a habitat for wildlife. More trees are needed in the world because they purify the air that we breathe. Flowers, especially if you plant with pollinators in mind, can be an excellent way to attract bees and butterflies, which contribute largely to the earth. Use natural pest control When preparing your garden for summer, you can do this more sustainably and kindly by using natural pest control. Simply by planting trees and flowers, you are likely to attract lots of different wildlife, some of which may destroy your efforts. While all wildlife should be considered, you may need to take measures. Some better and more eco-friendly ways you can do this, as opposed to spraying toxic chemicals onto your plants and into the air, you can implement companion planting, using protective nets over your crops, choosing resilient plants, using natural repellents, and encouraging natural predators so nature can do its thing. Maintain your garden Maintaining your garden in itself can make it more eco-friendly. Composting your garden waste regularly, and kitchen waste can help you to reduce overall waste and create nutrient-rich soil. This is a great cycle of sustainability. You can also keep on top of things that need cleaning and replacing, so you can recycle the materials for other garden structures and projects, and repurpose things around your garden before they become waste. If you have features in your garden like a swimming pool, then a regular pool maintenance service is going to be vital in keeping your water consumption to a minimum, as when it is cleaned and maintained, it will need to be drained and refilled less as well as using less energy. You could also consider how you can use natural purification methods to reduce chemical usage and support biodiversity right in your backyard. Your garden is just an eco-friendly project waiting to be built. Use these top tips to help you get started.