As noted in business news and many of the green blogs, business intelligence software maker SAS (traditionally pronounced "sass") is stepping out with SAS for Sustainability Management, 
a "first decision-support software platform for proactively identifying innovative strategies that effectively address complex environmental, social, and economic situations while achieving stakeholder objectives," as we read in a press release. The SAS software targets the increasingly prominent "triple bottom line" of environmental, economic, and social metrics presented by many recent writers, including Andrew Winston, author of Green to Gold: Eco Strategies to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage. A webcast by Winston is conveniently linked to from the SAS pages. As SAS materials describe, Cisco Systems already uses the SAS solution to support its sustainability efforts. View a video with Cisco Senior VP Laura Ipsen to get her take on the story.
If interested, you can download a brochure on SAS for Sustainability Management and a SAS white paper based on research by ComputerWorld called Expanding Eco-Practices Benefits the Bottom Line and the Brand. 
Once you've waded through all available evidence, you'll see that the potential audience for environmentally sound technology expanded quite a bit: If business value by itself can make a compelling case for green practices, you can win the attention and participation of the people and companies that can't simply translate conscience into strategy.
SAS for Sustainability Management is based on other SAS technologies and also incorporates the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) framework. If you're interested in growing a software solution of your own to support your company's or clients' environmental initiatives, the tools and ideas available at the GRI Web site might be a good place to start. 
But don't take too long. We can expect more announcements shortly, when other software companies launch products and services that help businesses implement green business practices, and then measure, document, and publish their results. If you don't get to market within about a year or so, you'll likely be serving more and more specialized, circumscribed needs.
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