Silverfern IT orchestrates sustainability project

Silverfern IT along with IBM and sustainability consultancy, HFM secured a sustainability project with a Western Australian government agency.

The project will involve delivering an energy use, cost and greenhouse gas emissions tracking and reporting system that is being delivered in three phases.

Silverfern CEO Liong Eng said there were two companies shortlisted during the tender process.

“We put together an orchestra. Silverfern were the conductors among a team of very talented musicians,” Eng said. “At the time, I was pretty nervous because we’re a boutique company and we’re good at project management and working with subject matter experts. It was a courageous move to take on this project.”

Eng said the project aligns with the state’s ambitions of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by about 80 per cent by 2030 and to reach net-zero by 2050, which is aligned with the federal government’s initiatives.

The aim is to onboard more than 100 government agencies onto the SaaS platform. Silverfern has been an IBM business partner for nearly 30 years and began engaging in IBM’s Envizi ESG platform, which IBM acquired two years ago. 

Set to be delivered in three phases, the project has moved from phase one to phase two. 

Phase one, which took 12 months, involved a proof of concept to fully understand the platform, its functionality, and whether it is capable of delivering expectations. Phase one involved three departments. 

Phase two, which is currently taking place, involves adding more than 90 agencies to the platform as part of a five-year contract. Phase three involves the transition to provide support and maintenance, which also includes elements of using AI within the service desk.

“The platform will let users send requests for level one support and provide a checkbox that can help filter service requests, and if it can’t be resolved, it will be escalated to level two/three support,” he said. “This is a perfect time for us to create a model that we can train, and I have already been in conversations with IBM and another partner.

“I’m very proud of our team and the effort we put in. As the conductor, we’ve been able to pull all these great people together and do something innovative. A service desk and a checkbox are not new, but being able to develop something for this particular project for the government is amazing.”

Sustainability is a relatively new vertical for Silverfern, and Eng said he was encouraged by IBM to work out how they can create a business model around this. 

“It presents a tremendous opportunity, and there is so much demand as we get closer to 2030,” he said. “I’m going to grow that part of the business.”