SAP Ariba president Alex Atzberger chose the Women in Leadership forum held last week at SAP Ariba Live in Sydney, to highlight the problem of gender diversity in technology, admitting that SAP itself still has a way to go.
He said the growth of the event was testament to how important the issue was becoming for companies.
“We know an inclusive workplace creates value for organisations. Based on a Gallup study, an inclusive workplace generates 39 per cent more customer satisfaction. Why? Because you actually connect to the customer better,” Atzberger said.
“The second thing is when you look at companies that actually embrace gender diversity in management, they are 48 per cent more profitable than companies who don’t. So there’s a clear business case for change.”
Atzberger said beyond the numbers, recognising equality is key to embracing diversity.
“I think the tech industry has a real issue with that. I spent a lot of time in Silicon Valley, and I am shocked at the challenge tech companies today have to embrace diversity,” Atzberger said, pointing to recently publicised issues at Google and Uber.
“So this is not some HR topic – it’s about how do you actually creative a better company and serve your customers better,” he said.
Atzberger also referred to SAP’s recent achievement of its goal to have 25 per cent of women in leadership by the end of 2017, and notes there is still a long way to go for the vendor.
“We are still very much on the journey, and it’s a fact that if we continue as a group of companies the currentrate of inclusion and hiring decisions, it will take 100 years until there will be gender parity. So the fact is that we need to accelerate and we need to move faster. I hope that this sort of dialogue will help us to advance the conversation.”
