The Use of Information and Communication Technology in Company Environmental Awareness Amplification

Our investigation of over one hundred Czech companies with a certified Environmental Management System (EMS) has identified ten main barriers to EMS implementation. They obstruct the adoption of EMS principles and decrease environmental awareness of internal interested parties. We have developed a modified holistic model of creating and overcoming barriers in EMS implementation and in its continuous improvement through being based on five basic pillars and five interconnected business processes. Related to this is the development of a prototype for a web-based information system that supports overcoming barriers in the process of EMS implementation. The prototype, using mainly Java technologies, assists companies to easily communicate and generate tailor-made EMS documents/records/reports with information specific to different target groups, in particular to internal interested parties. This enables the increase of their environmental awareness. This open source prototype has been tested in cooperation with ten Czech companies.