How an Irish tech company is transforming the environmental services sector
“Digital ways to a cleaner world” is the motto of Limerick based AMCS, who enable digital transformation in the environmental services sector through unique software solutions. The increasing need for automation, end-to-end standardisation and optimisation of business processes has provided opportunities for AMCS to solve issues like operational inefficiency, revenue leakage, and vehicle productivity using technology.
It all started back in 2003 when it became clear to AMCS co-founder, Jimmy Martin, that “there was enormous potential for the waste management industry globally to become cleaner and greener through the implementation of software and technology”, a vision that the growth of the Smart City and the Circular Economy concepts have confirmed.
The founding members of the AMCS team knew that the future lay in treating waste as a resource, and they devoted their efforts to creating solutions that would enable their customers to capitalise on this.
AMCS’ core customer group are waste management and recycling companies. Whether municipal, commercial & industrial, construction & demolition, pure recycling, or a mixture of the above, AMCS provides sector-specific solutions with decades of industry best-practice built in.
AMCS has grown rapidly from humble beginnings to become one of the world’s leading SaaS providers in the environmental services sector – with almost 3,000 customers, supported by 12 offices and 750 employees around the globe.
Success stories from the Nordics
“The Nordic region was a no-brainer for AMCS when it came to expanding our European market, given its history at the forefront of climate change action, waste reduction and circular economy practice.” Jimmy Martin, CEO, AMCS Group
AMCS first entered the Nordic market in 2008, when they won a contract with Kristiansand municipality in Norway. Enterprise Ireland’s in-market assistance has been instrumental to the company’s success in the Nordics having provided assistance ranging from set-up help, market research, access to local networks, and enhancing AMCS brand awareness. AMCS is now well established in the Nordics, having grown both organically and through acquisitions.
The acquisition of Transvision, the Nordic market leader in route planning and transport optimisation solutions, made it possible for AMCS to establish a centre of excellence in Copenhagen, specialising in intelligent transport optimisation solutions, not only for the waste and recycling industry but also for verticals like building materials, livestock transport, fuel distribution and other verticals, which can benefit from transport planning, optimisation, dispatch and execution.
In the waste management sector, one Nordic success story that stands out is Retura Iris. The AMCS Platform has enabled them to strengthen their position in the Norwegian waste management industry through modern technologies and to deploy new digital services to their Customers and fulfil their UN Sustainable Development goals. As Retura Iris CEO Anders Tverbak explains, “we plan out the logistics of the waste collection, handle our customer relations and invoices, and connect our administration with our drivers to create an efficient internal work process. Unlike our previous ERP system, AMCS gives us an intuitive real-time overview of all of our business processes.”
Outside of their traditional environmental services sector, another success story is Unicon, a Nordic leader in ready-mix concrete production (and a subsidiary of Cementir). Unicon has realised massive efficiency gains in its ready-mix distribution operations thanks to the AMCS Concrete Planner solution. They have increased the number of deliveries per truck per day by 20-25% and seen an increase of up to 5% in revenue thanks to more accurate and automated charging of waiting time.
“Our aspirations for the Nordics are the same as our global ones; to be the partner of choice for digital transformation in the waste & recycling industry and to lead the way in leveraging the latest technology like AI & Machine Learning to strengthen and further the Circular Economy and Smart City programs.” Jimmy Martin, CEO, AMCS Group
Choosing the right partner for your digital transformation journey
According to market analysts, the failure rate of Digital Transformation projects is a whopping 70%, and most of those failures are due to incorrect vendor choice. Frank Bolsø explains how AMCS helps their customers get around this problem:
“The success of AMCS is very much based on our customer focus, we work closely with our customers to truly understand their business situation and agree on a set of positive business outcomes that will add significant business value such as accelerated top line growth and enhanced environmental sustainability.” Frank Bolsø, Sales & Account Manager, AMCS Nordics
Innovation for a greener future
Innovation is central to AMCS’ success. An almost 100-strong team of developers and product owners are supported through investments in R&D which, compared to their competitors, puts AMCS at the top of the league table.
“Senior leadership at AMCS gives priority to fostering innovation within the company, and this year we were proud to announce the inaugural Global Innovation Conference, an internal event that sought to highlight the very best in product innovation at AMCS.” Eamon Hynes, Chief Technology Officer, AMCS Group
As well as creating added value for customers, the next generation of AMCS solutions will also assist in changing and improving behaviours around waste sorting and recycling in general – actively working to tackle the most pressing issue in the world, climate change.
