Building a Faster, Smarter Future for Product Compliance and Sustainability Intelligence

Michael Southworth
By Michael Southworth

I spend a lot of time talking with our customers, and lately I’ve been hearing the same thing: keeping up with compliance is getting harder.

For years, Assent has helped manufacturers understand what’s in their products by giving them better visibility into their supply chains. They need confidence that every product meets market requirements while also understanding its environmental and compliance impact across its lifecycle. The consequences of not doing this well can be painful –  fines and penalties, a reputation hit, or inability to sell in high revenue markets. As products, regulations, and supply chains become more complex, they need one trusted source of product compliance and sustainability intelligence, and they need real-time insights, not in days or weeks. 

Assent has been solving problems like these for years, and we’re doing more than simply making the old way of doing things a little bit easier, faster and more efficient. We’re fundamentally changing the way manufacturers and distributors use product compliance and sustainability information to make better business decisions throughout the product lifecycle. Here, we don’t just improve compliance and sustainability, we fundamentally change how companies design, source, and manage products.

That’s why today, Assent acquired IPOINT.

“We’re fundamentally changing the way manufacturers and distributors use product compliance and sustainability information to make better business decisions throughout the product lifecycle.”

For more than two decades, IPOINT has helped manufacturers navigate complex product compliance, lifecycle assessment and automotive requirements, particularly across Europe. By bringing that expertise together with Assent’s already robust product compliance and sustainability intelligence network, we’re strengthening the data, regional expertise and industry depth behind the solutions our customers rely on every day. Enhancing our data network means we can apply AI across a richer data set, and provide faster answers for you.

I’m excited to welcome the IPOINT team to Assent. They’ve earned the trust of manufacturers through their work in automotive, product compliance, and European regulations. Just as importantly, they share our commitment to helping manufacturers solve increasingly complex challenges.

The time is right

Product compliance, sustainability, lifecycle management, and supply chain transparency have traditionally been managed separately. Increasingly, manufacturers need those capabilities working together in one place, with AI doing the work of connecting them. That’s the direction the industry is moving, and an important step toward helping customers prepare for Digital Product Passports and an evolving regulatory landscape. That only works when accurate data is available and the underlying understanding of the regulations and how they apply to your product and suppliers is contextually understood. 

Manufacturers are expected to answer harder questions than ever before: 

  • What’s in this product? 
  • Where did it come from? 
  • What’s its environmental impact? 
  • Will it meet tomorrow’s regulations? 
  • Will it continue to be used in global markets?

Our job is to make those answers easier to find and quickly. By bringing together Assent’s product compliance and sustainability intelligence with IPOINT’s lifecycle and sustainability capabilities — and enabling AI across that combined data — we’re creating a stronger foundation to help manufacturers navigate that complexity with speed and confidence. Today’s announcement is another step toward that goal.

What this means for our customers 

In the near term, very little will change. You’ll continue working with the teams and products you know today, with no interruption to the support you receive. Over time, Assent customers will gain access to expanded lifecycle and product sustainability capabilities, while IPOINT customers will benefit from Assent’s global supplier network, supplier engagement capabilities, and regulatory expertise. As our plans take shape, we’ll share our roadmap openly and communicate along the way. If you have questions about what this means for your team or your account today, our FAQ walks through what we can answer right now, and we’ll keep it updated as more details are confirmed.

Ultimately, our goal is simple: Help customers spend less time collecting and connecting data from multiple sources and systems so they can make better, faster decisions with confidence.

I’m looking forward to what we’ll accomplish together and, more importantly, to what it will help our customers accomplish.

Michael Southworth
Michael Southworth
Chief Executive Officer

Michael Southworth is a lifelong innovator. Throughout his career, Michael has demonstrated a strong commitment to business transformation, team development, and stakeholder value. As CEO of Assent,  Read More

This information is provided for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or regulatory advice. The information is current as of the date of publication or send. Your organization remains responsible for confirming compliance obligations.

Michael Southworth
Michael Southworth | Chief Executive Officer

Michael Southworth is a lifelong innovator. Throughout his career, Michael has demonstrated a strong commitment to business transformation, team development, and stakeholder value. As CEO of Assent, he brings over 20 years of experience in high-performing technology companies to support Assent’s r...

Read More

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