Working towards a more equitable and thriving planet
There was much attention focused on the recent COP26 Conference in Glasgow, Scotland and for good reason. We all know the impact of carbon emissions on global warming and the consequences for a 2C temperature rise. But did you know the poorest 50% contribute to only 7% of emissions, but are most likely to suffer the impacts of climate change?
Many organizations are already making positive contributions to the environment and society by creating jobs in areas where quality opportunities are scarce, making significant investments in projects, such as improving water quality in at-risk communities, and championing zero waste programs and renewable energy. There is more work to be done to create a more equitable world and a thriving planet. But sometimes, it is the small things that combine to build momentum for the much harder tasks which are to follow. As organizations begin to ask what they can do to make a difference, the good news is that sustainability initiatives can be supported through flexible, customized solutions to align with the specific needs. Organizations can adapt, improve, and innovate their business process beyond what is available in packaged enterprise solutions.
Sustainability is core to the vision of the Intelligent Enterprise
Making the world a better place can be good for business and the bottom line. Sustainability initiatives, for example, are driven by data. They are all about increasing efficiency, streamlining operations, and using fewer and cleaner resources. All these elements align perfectly with improving the bottom line. An increasingly important challenge for organizations is the availability and quality of the data relevant to assess sustainability. Through the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), organizations can develop and deliver digital process automation to become Intelligent Enterprises. This also provides the foundation for a sustainable enterprise. The platform enables organizations to integrate and extend applications across their business networks, optimize sustainable growth and innovation, and allow visibility of fragmented data for compliance, such as ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) reporting, holistic steering, and supply chain transparency. This is realized through data and analytics outcomes, integration enablement, and extensible and personalized application solutions:
• Analytics has an important role to play in sustainability. For example, Energy Management Analytics which is an analysis and predictive tool based on IoT (Internet of Things) data for Energy Management. This reduces network emissions and energy consumption, and enables organizations to reduce their emissions. The energy analytics data model correlates and visualizes key data sources including usage, consumption, technology, time of day, and so on. This demonstrates significant potential energy consumption savings per year.
• Integration enablement connects an intergovernmental organization with its NGO (Non-Governmental Organization) partners and to become a global operation. This is critical to responding to crises which require immediate disaster relief. Complicated data sets are brought together from many organizations which run on different ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems. This allows entities to communicate more effectively and provide greater transparency for accountability to donors.
• Extensible applications drive the use of a machine learning forecasting algorithm to predict the daily demand for products of a specific category. This reduces the waste of products. The retail sector often overestimates demand, resulting in expired food and lost revenue. More than 30% of the world’s food produced is lost or wasted before it’s consumed. With a global population expected to grow to 9.8 billion by 2050, improving the food supply chain efficiency will greatly contribute to the reduction of food scarcity and to the attainment of sustainability goals.
This is explained further in the BTP for Sustainability Point of View (POV) document:
BTP for Sustainability POV
Benefits of a Sustainable Enterprise
Investors have been voicing concerns about sustainability for several decades. Recently, they have they translated their words into action. Sustainable investments now dominate the stock market as part of the “Investor Revolution”. Research suggests there is now more value placed on brand image, customer loyalty, and employee engagement. Making the world a better place can be good for business and the bottom line.
Innovating capabilities and customizations through the platform deliver a wide range of benefits:
Brings everything together across different applications to create a holistic sustainability program
Automates and streamlines sustainability processes with a flexible, scalable platform
Boosts sustainability performance using fast, data-driven insight and action
Delivers more agile, resilient, and sustainable business operations
Addresses the specific needs of organizations delivering value for Sustainability, where businesses can run more productively, transform business models, and deliver disruptive growth.
With access to platforms, such as SAP BTP, it has never been simpler and faster to impact long-term business success in Sustainability.
Suggested further reading
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For an overview of how SAP BTP provides solutions to support sustainability, please read:
BTP for Sustainability POV
This blog post is part of a series on SAP Business Technology Platform, covering the following topics:
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Why Technology Completeness Matters to the Success of a Business Technology Platform
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How a Clean ERP Core Breaks the Code of Your Data’s Secret Language
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Digital Platforms Drive Innovation in HR to Deliver Trusted Employee Experiences
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How a Single Platform Turns Even the Smallest Projects into Big Outcomes
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Innovation in Procurement: Making All the Right Connections on a Single Platform
