Isuzu Motors South Africa has gone live with IBM Envizi ESG Suite, a compliance-ready platform for corporate and supply chain sustainability data. Isuzu says that, working closely with long-term technology partner Datacentrix, it has strengthened its sustainability reporting and accelerated decision making.
“At Isuzu Motors SA, sustainability is more than a corporate objective, it is the foundation upon which we build our future,” says Celestin Ndhlovu, Isuzu Motors SA executive VP for corporate services. “Our approach recognises that true sustainability encompasses not only environmental stewardship and economic growth, but also critical social dimensions of respect for human rights, diversity, equity and inclusion.”
Isuzu SA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Isuzu Motors and the first manufacturing and distribution organisation outside Japan where Isuzu has 100% ownership.
The challenge: manual, decentralised reporting
Isuzu SA’s sustainability team faced the complex task of producing detailed environmental, social and governance (ESG) reports for both the local board and its parent company in Japan. The reports cover items that include waste management, water usage, electricity consumption, social initiatives, and corporate governance standards.
Loren Meyer, Isuzu SA department executive for information technology, says: “The data was decentralised, and the process was tedious, with extended turnaround times.”
According to Trish Dicks, Datacentrix senior account manager for digital business solutions, this manual approach was no longer viable.
She says: “Isuzu Motors SA needed an automated, centralised solution that could ingest data from ERP and other systems, provide real-time dashboards and help reduce human error. IBM Envizi was selected as the best suited reporting framework available, with built-in templates to meet global requirements.”
From manual effort to intelligent insights
Isuzu evaluated several systems before selecting IBM Envizi.
Meyer says: “We were particularly impressed by the customisable reporting for global and regional standards, the strong governance tools and seamless integrations with upstream systems such as SAP. The added value of advanced analytics and machine learning, together with comprehensive coverage across carbon, fuel, water, waste, energy, safety and human capital statistics, made this the right choice for us.”
IBM Envizi has been recognised globally as a market leader in ESG performance management by independent research firm Verdantix.
The project kicked off in January 2025, and went live a couple months later on 27June. Alongside current social and environmental data inputs, Isuzu has loaded 14 years of historical information into the system to establish a baseline for future analysis.
Accuracy, speed and actionable insight gains
While the rollout is still in its early stages, Isuzu says the benefits are already tangible.
Meyer says: “Through this tool, Isuzu Motors SA is using the data analytics functionality to identify trends, particularly within various operations to detect anomalies. Retrieval time and data integrity assessments are also integrated as a normal part of doing business. Over time, the centralised database will give us powerful analytics that help determine the sustainable growth of our business.”
The system aims to free up Isuzu Motors SA’s sustainability professionals from the laborious manual data capturing. Instead, Isuzu says they will focus on analysing metrics and making faster, more informed decisions to drive sustainability initiatives.
Partnership future
Isuzu plans to further expand the platform’s use by integrating telemetry systems for utilities and carbon emissions, while also exploring AI-driven analysis for predictive insights.
Meyer says: “While the intervention is still in its early days, we are confident that it will become part of our way of working and be fully utilised to deliver the outcomes we require.”
Isuzu Motors SA has been a Datacentrix client since 2015, with previous projects including the implementation of an automated invoice management solution.
“Datacentrix is an Isuzu Motors SA strategic partner known for its outstanding performance and reliability. Our partner consistently provides high-quality solutions, communicates proactively, and understands our business needs, thus contributing to our success.”