Top Environmental Consulting, EHS Brands Revealed

ERM has the highest brand preference in the environment, health and safety consulting sector, the Bureau Veritas brand ranks highest in the verification sector, SAP tops the brand preference list in the EH&S software sector and IBM has the highest brand preference for EH&S technology services, according to a global survey from Verdantix.

The research firm surveyed 312 heads of EH&S in 15 countries to reveal customer preferences for 74 brands in the EH&S consulting, software, verification and IT services markets.

Highlights of the four Verdantix EH&S brand preference reports:

• ERM, Ramboll Environ and AECOM top the brand preference list in the environmental services category. Clean Harbors, Jacobs and Golder Associates make up the top six brands.
• SAP, Enablon and IHS lead the EH&S software brands list followed by Medgate, Enviance and Intelex.
• Bureau Veritas, KPMG and BSI are in the top three positions in the EH&S compliance and verification rankings followed by DNV GL, Deloitte and ERM CVS.
• IBM, ERM and Accenture top the brand preference list for EH&S IT services. Ramboll Environ DNV GL and Deloitte also make it into the top six.

“The EH&S market is not known for flashy advertising and heavy marketing” says Verdantix CEO David Metcalfe. “This shows in low levels of brand awareness. Underperformers should look at the marketing and communications strategies of Enablon, ERM, BSI and Medgate, which achieve high rankings without being huge global firms. Marketing drives growth, but environmental engineers rarely give this ‘fluffy’ function the respect it deserves.”

The last 12 month have been full of changes for the brand landscape, with companies rebranding and acquiring other brands, Metcalfe says.

For example, in the consulting sector CH2M launched a new brand and logo, AECOM acquired URS and Ramboll bought ENVIRON.

A Verdantix report published earlier this year forecast the global market for business and IT consulting services related to EH&S information management and EH&S software will grow from $475 million in 2015 to $817 million in 2020.