An Interview with Peter White, Envirosuite CEO: ‘We are Well-Placed to be the World’s Leading Environmental Management Technology Used as a Key Tool for Improvement in Many Different Industries and Cities’

“We have driven to be a reliable solution for each of our clients as they deal with unique environmental challenges on a daily basis. We have always stayed true to this and we know this is what sets us apart from the rest.”

Businesses of all types and sizes have environmental issues to consider - both in a social and operational perspective. The world gets smaller and better connected every year. As populations grow, industries and communities increasingly collide. This means regulations are only getting tighter, risks higher, and scrutiny more public.

In light of the foregoing, we’re thrilled to present Envirosuite.

The company operates as an environmental technology company and is publicly listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). Their ground-breaking platform provides environmental intelligence for operational management to heavy industry and cities. It offers comprehensive real-time monitoring, investigative and predictive environmental management capabilities through an intuitive cloud-based interface.

Envirosuite was incorporated in 2008 and is headquartered in Sydney, Australia. It has additional office locations in Brisbane, Australia; San Francisco, California; Montreal, Canada; Glasgow, UK; Madrid, Spain; and Santiago, Chile.

Peter White, Envirosuite CEO, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Q. Why was the company set up? And how did you expand your company and its offerings over the years?

The Envirosuite business spun out of the leading Australian consulting and technology business, Pacific Environment, after several years of product development and commercialization.

The Envirosuite vision, now the reality, was to encapsulate the intellectual property and extensive environmental expertise of the company’s environmental engineers and atmospheric scientists in a smarter Software-as-a-Service platform. It goes beyond standard compliance reporting to provide customer organizations with greater environmental and operational intelligence.

Envirosuite provides real-time and predictive forecast information for operational planning and decision support, resulting in operational efficiency improvements, enhanced environmental performance and better risk management for its customers, which include global organizations in mining, industrial, wastewater treatment, and environmental regulatory agencies.

Q. How successful was your first project roll on? Share the experience.

Our first project was a real-time modeling and fence-line (site boundary) monitoring solution for a heavy industrial customer. The project was successfully delivered and our initial customer remains a subscriber to the Envirosuite system today.

System implementation times were much longer in our early days than they are today, however this is no longer a concern due to dedicated software development work to create efficiencies.

Our first project provided a visionary approach to meeting new environmental regulatory requirements with automated modeling software. Based on experience with our next wave of customers, we learnt of a range of operational and risk management benefits that can be delivered from information that Envirosuite provides.

Q. What challenges did you face in your initial years? What can your peers learn from it?

In the initial years, we spent a considerable amount of effort to educate the market on the value that real-time and predictive capabilities can offer to organizations. In hindsight, we could have introduced a few selected customers to the product at an earlier stage as a trial to garner their feedback on our proposed development roadmap and test how it fit their needs.

Q. What do you feel are the reasons behind your company’s reputation today?

Science is at the core of everything we do at Envirosuite. Features in our platform are developed under scientific scrutiny, but also to serve the users’ specific needs. Envirosuite’s goal has always been to make complex environmental management simple and allow anyone to understand it in order to make better decisions. We have driven to be a reliable solution for each of our clients as they deal with unique environmental challenges on a daily basis. We have always stayed true to this and we know this is what sets us apart from the rest.

Q. If you have to list five factors that have been/are the biggest asset to your organization, what would they be and why?

Our team– Our team combines recognised innovators in environmental science with vision, passion and a technology development and support team that has put us at the forefront of what is possible today. This passion for innovation, excellence and client satisfaction is what makes Envirosuite such an exciting company.

Our reputation– Technology and innovation are two of the core reasons we exist as a company. The other one is science, the subject matter that we work with. We began the company’s journey on the back of a major innovation, which was not so much based on an identified need in the market, but drawing on our strengths and known market trends.

Our dynamic product– Australia is a unique country. It experiences a large variety of environmental conditions that are not experienced in other parts of the world. This helped us build Envirosuite’s groundbreaking capabilities into an all-in-one platform that addresses multiple environmental challenges (air quality, water, noise).

A changing world– Growing populations and increasing needs for industry to co-exist with communities have created the ideal marketplace for Envirosuite’s groundbreaking technology.

Increasing environmental awareness– The mainstream public is becoming more educated on environmental issues. This is now guiding all stakeholders including the community, industry bodies, and regulatory agencies to make better decisions. Envirosuite is the ideal tool to link these groups together.

Q. Is your company a leader or a follower? Do you formulate your own core values?

Envirosuite is the first of its kind for a number of reasons. One aspect we have always prided ourselves on is delivering a fantastic user experience. There are products out there that do select parts of what we do, but none that we have seen that are so holistic, seamless and easy to use. We consistently communicate this in our brand and in the way we market Envirosuite solutions. We believe in ‘design thinking’ with the primary aim to benefit customers the most.

We’re also committed to our core value of ‘making complex science simple’ in order to ‘reduce environmental impact for mankind’. This is easier said than done but our goal is to have the user make the best decision possible based on science-oriented guidance that is fast and easy to assimilate. By giving the user a focus on actions rather than just the data or beautiful visualisations, we aim right at the benefits for the user.

Q. Where do you see your company a couple of years from now?

Populations in major cities will continue to increase and at the same time, so will the needs of industry in order to co-exist with communities they serve. We are well placed to be the world’s leading environmental management technology used as a key tool for improvement in many different industries and cities.

Leadership | Envirosuite

Peter White, CEO: Peter has had a long-term interest in using technology to benefit business, specialising in growing technology companies providing B2B solutions. He has held senior positions in both multinational and small companies, across Executive Management, Sales, and Operations and Delivery. He has a track record of consolidating and growing companies using his depth of skills in business development and operational delivery. He is a natural leader who enjoys creating teams to win and deliver large projects, whilst developing people along the way.

Robin Ormerod, Founder & Chief Scientist: Robin oversees Envirosuite’s R&D program, advises on scientific aspects relating to design and sales activities, and coordinates collaboration with research partners. He is a qualified meteorologist and air quality expert with over 35 years of international consulting experience. Robin saw how combining deep scientific expertise with new technologies could provide disruptive real-time and predictive delivery models that improve the speed and quality of environmental management activities.

“Our goal has always been to make complex environmental management simple and allow anyone to understand it in order to make better decisions.”