IRIS is a PE-backed international software group with over 40 entities operating across multiple accounting systems and data environments.
They are required to produce detailed, GHGP-aligned annual reports for investors and are progressing through the SBTi process with ambitious science-based targets.
Background
IRIS operates a complex, highly acquisitive international group structure. New entities, systems, and finance platforms are regularly added to the group, increasing complexity in carbon reporting year after year.
At senior leadership level, sustainability sits within the HR function and is supported by two part-time carbon consultants. Budgets were tight. Reporting was treated primarily as compliance.
Despite working on the data for over a year, IRIS still did not feel in control of their emissions dataset or reporting process.
The challenge
IRIS needed to deliver detailed GHGP-aligned reports to investors annually — but their process was manual, fragmented, and dependent on an external provider.
Finance data had to be exported, manually cleaned, and sent externally for processing before being returned. There were no direct API connections, no automated syncing, and no AI-assisted categorisation.
The result:
Heavy manual cleansing and inconsistent templates
Late expense submissions delaying reporting cycles
No clear audit trail or line-item control
Limited transparency into how numbers were derived
Low confidence in final outputs
The team rated their data confidence at 3 out of 10.
As SBTi timelines tightened and investor scrutiny increased, the process was no longer sustainable.
The solution
A 30-day sprint to prove automation, control, and ROI
IRIS partnered with neoeco for a focused 30-day sprint to demonstrate platform fit and measurable impact.
The objective was clear: automate ingestion, restore control, and create a finance-grade audit trail.
During the sprint, neoeco:
Automated ingestion from NetSuite and Concur via direct API connections
Unified data across multiple entities without wrestling with manual template imports
Applied AI-assisted categorisation at transaction level
Produced an audit-ready dataset for a high-priority company
Reduced delays caused by late expense submissions
Instead of exporting spreadsheets and sending files externally, IRIS could now review, challenge, and approve line-items directly inside the platform.
The results
The impact was immediate.
Reporting delivery time was cut by more than 50% — without adding headcount
Manual cleansing effort was significantly reduced
Data confidence increased from 3/10 to 8/10
40+ entities were connected across multiple systems
The sustainability team moved from chasing data to managing emissions reduction.
Instead of collating and processing spreadsheets, they regained control of their dataset and reporting workflow — aligned with their SBTi ambitions.
Conclusion
IRIS moved from a slow, opaque, manual reporting process to an automated, finance-grade carbon system connected directly to its core finance platforms.
For a complex, acquisitive international group under increasing investor and SBTi pressure, neoeco transformed carbon reporting from a compliance burden into a controllable, auditable process.
