The impact of remote sensing on monitoring and reporting-The case of conformance systems

The rapid development of remote sensing technologies (such as airborne, unmanned aerial vehicles and terrestrial sensors) as surveillance tools to monitor the environment exposes firms, industry sectors and national economies to new levels of transparency. The veracity and timeliness of remote sensing technologies outpaces the surveillance capabilities of existing monitoring and reporting practices in organisations and their supply chains - which are often based on in situ observations and operated through processes that were largely developed in the pre-internet era. This paper provides a conceptual analysis of the impact of remote sensing conformance systems (also referred to as assurance systems) - an infrastructure that is typical for standards, monitoring and reporting mechanisms such as ISO 14001, the GRI or ESG. The analysis is grounded against backdrop of the Eco-index (a cross-disciplinary scientific initiative in New Zealand) that develops a surveillance system to monitor biodiversity. The socio-technical perspective is used as the theoretical underpinning. A con-ceptual analysis demonstrates that conformance systems need to undergo a transformational change. This change is discussed in the paper in terms of the critical socio-technical components (technological, actors, task and structure) that are needed to transform and align with the needs of the digital economy.