Aila

Aila is a technology company that assists small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in integrating climate-friendly practices into their businesses. Climate responsibility is made possible for SMEs through a platform that allows them to calculate their carbon footprint, make environmentally friendly product and service purchases, and report their climate responsibility to relevant stakeholders. Aila aims to provide SMEs with a clear and reliable way to transition to sustainable practices.

Challenge: Facilitating and Communicating the Green Transition for Businesses

Aila emerged from an understanding of how challenging and labor-intensive it is for SMEs to meet genuine expectations regarding reducing their carbon footprint, reporting it, and communicating about it. While many companies offer services that include carbon offsetting, finding truly low-emission services and products can be difficult. Additionally, carbon footprint reporting and responsibility communication are perceived as challenging. Despite the availability of consulting services and ready-made products from various sources, managing the overall process is difficult due to scattered components. Partners on Aila’s platform can offer new and innovative ways to reduce emissions, methods that SMEs might not immediately consider.

“We noticed that there are many tools and information available for companies related to carbon footprint, but the information is scattered, hard to understand, and often targeted at large enterprises. Moreover, the focus is often on compensation rather than reducing their own emissions. This led to the idea of a platform specifically designed for SMEs,” says founder and operational director Meliina Räty.

Solution: Online Platform Tailored to Users and Stakeholders

Monad gained understanding by mapping the expectations and desires of Aila’s key stakeholders regarding the platform. Based on this understanding, a unified and clear user experience was developed.

The result was a clear concept for a platform that combines carbon footprint calculation, a marketplace, and a tool for communicating actions and choices. User experience (UX) development aimed to ensure that all parts of the platform work well together from the user’s perspective. A key starting point was low user barriers and registration, enabling the use of calculations and choices even later on.

“Monad brought new and smart ways to implement things to our team, enriching our collaboration in various ways. Communication with Monad was also exceptionally fast, promoting efficient cooperation and decision-making,” summarizes Räty regarding the collaboration.

Based on the concept, a unified platform was created, implemented as a modern web application (SPA, Single Page Application) consisting of one page and dynamic elements. Monad designed and implemented the user interface and experience, developed the system architecture, set up the cloud environment, and built a maintenance tool for Aila’s content management, utilizing open-source solutions.

Result: Versatile Platform for Carbon Footprint Calculation, Communication, and Sustainable Choices

Aila is an online platform that enables SMEs to calculate their carbon footprint, make product and service purchases based on clear environmental impacts, and communicate and report their climate responsibility to various stakeholders. Aila also offers a marketplace for companies and organizations selling sustainable services.

“Monad helped us create the best possible product with our resources, allowing us to stay on schedule and within budget,” says Räty, continuing, “This has been a learning journey for us, and it’s crucial that our partner is flexible as the idea evolves towards the final product.”

Significance: An Easier Journey Towards a Green Transition

Aila facilitates the measurement and reporting of the carbon footprint for small and medium-sized enterprises, allowing them to find partners who directly help reduce their carbon footprint and promote their green transition.

At the same time, reporting on sustainability becomes mandatory for large companies according to the Sustainable Development Reporting Directive from 2024. While reporting obligations don’t directly apply to small businesses, larger companies may demand more detailed sustainability reporting from their supply chain. Aila enables SMEs to easily and seamlessly calculate and report data related to their carbon footprint.