How Vontier Corporation automated utility data collection across 5 continents

“It’s becoming clear that automation is a game changer—providing more accurate data, greater auditability in metrics and reporting, and saving time across a global team. A more rigorous sustainability program can be a differentiator for industry leaders like Vontier.” — Nancy Summe, sustainability manager @ Vontier

 “Nectar has transformed how we manage sustainability data. It’s reduced human errors, missing data sources, delays from manual data entry, and confusion regarding unit conversions. Nectar gives us more confidence in our data integrity and expedites our identification of data trends and anomalies.” — Nate Streed, Senior Global Director of Sustainability & ESG @ Vontier

Vontier, a global industrial technology leader, focuses on transportation and mobility solutions. In their journey to enhance their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting, Vontier faced the challenge of managing extensive amounts of scope 1, 2, and 3 activity data across a global organization. The sustainability program, led by Nate Streed and Nancy Summe, implemented Nectar to automate data collection, seamlessly bringing data into Figbytes, their ESG cloud solution. This case study explores how Nectar has provided more accurate data and greater auditability in metrics and reporting.

Challenges 

Vontier's global operations involve managing utility data from over hundreds of locations, presenting significant challenges in data accuracy, consistency, and manual consolidation. The traditional process of training a team of ESG and facility managers across a distributed global team proved challenging. Manual data entry became a part of everyone’s job description thanks to sustainability, and errors in the data hindered reliability of carbon accounting and greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting. Accurate data collection for electricity, gas, and water was crucial for calculating Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, ensuring compliance with sustainability standards, and meeting their carbon reduction targets.

Solution

Nectar worked with Nancy Summe and Nate Streed on the Vontier team to integrate with each of Vontier’s major sites. First, Nectar collected details about each facility’s electricity, gas, water, and waste utility accounts. For accounts without online portals, Nectar set up e-bill forwarding rules with the sites’ finance team as well as email reminders to data owners if data was missing. Then, Nectar ingested data (across accounts, emails, and uploaded invoices) to automatically parse Vontier’s monthly utility usage for electricity, gas, water, and waste. Finally, Nectar integrated seamlessly with Vontier’s ESG platform and exported the data automatically to Vontier’s dashboard each month. 

By utilizing advanced data parsing techniques and new innovations in artificial intelligence, Nectar ensured high-quality, secure data collection from various utility companies. This automation eliminated the need for manual data entry, reducing the risk of errors and significantly improving the accuracy of carbon accounting. At some point a team member who previously had to enter data into the ESG platform retired from his job, but utility data collection continued for their facilities because it had been fully automated by Nectar!

Results

Vontier’s implementation of Nectar resulted in substantial improvements in data accuracy and reliability. The automation led to significant time savings, allowing the sustainability team to focus on strategic initiatives rather than data collection. According to Vontier's 2024 Sustainability Report, these enhancements helped contribute to a 40% reduction in Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions since 2020. The improved data accuracy and auditability also supported better compliance with environmental regulations and standards, keeping in line with SBTI goals. 

Nectar provided Vontier with a robust solution for automating utility data management, leading to greater accuracy and efficiency in their ESG reporting. The successful integration with Figbytes underscored the importance of automated data services in achieving sustainability goals and improving operational efficiency. By enhancing their carbon accounting capabilities, Vontier stands as a leader in the industry, well-positioned to meet its environmental targets and drive long-term sustainability.