New SAP solutions added to a portfolio of sustainability-specific products aim to enable businesses to successfully transform into a sustainable, intelligent enterprise.
Extending beyond the traditional scope of value creation, SAP strives to embed sustainability into all core business processes by prioritising operational excellence, regulatory compliance, and responsible innovation and growth. The next steps in establishing an intelligent enterprise, according to the German software giant, are to develop strong business networks and to place a strong focus on sustainability. One of the biggest announcements at the SAPPHIRE NOW 2021 is the portfolio of SAP solutions designed to foster the ability to measure sustainability practices.
Unveiled at the recently concluded online conference for partners and customers, the upcoming products aim to promote environmentally conscious initiatives and new sustainable business models. Delivered jointly on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) through the SDG Ambition accelerator, the portfolio consists of the following solutions: SAP Responsible Design and Production, SAP Product Footprint Management, and SAP Sustainability Control Tower.
In his global keynote speech, Christian Klein, Chief Executive Officer at SAP, shared:
“It is time to build sustainability into the fabric of how we do business to make sustainability a standard dimension of corporate management. The SAP community has the power to protect our planet and create a future our children want to be part of. We have created a new sustainability portfolio to help you drive sustainable practices inside your organisation and across your entire value chain.”
Meanwhile, Daniel Schmid, Chief Sustainability Officer at SAP, believes embedding sustainable data criteria in SAP’s entire solution portfolio makes a huge difference. He explained:
“Because the decision-makers in the companies have both the financial and non-financial data being combined, they can make simulations with this data and make the right decisions to manage their sustainability performance.”
SAP Solutions Helping Organisations in their Journey to Becoming a Sustainable, Intelligent Enterprise
Last April, an expanded collaboration between SAP and Accenture was announced to help businesses capture value from sustainability. By accelerating the development and delivery of SAP Responsible Design and Production, the two tech giants aim to assist producers in responding to Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) obligations and other public commitments. Planned for availability in the fourth quarter of 2021, the solution will help businesses keep track of new regulations, allowing them to better control operational costs connected with downstream processing and obtain a better overall view of material flows.
Stephanie Guimbellot, Managing Director for the SAP Business Group at Accenture, explained:
“It is about putting a value on these, extracting all the information from the data flow, information production flow, supply chain flow, and being able to do calculations of climate impacts starting with carbon footprints. The objective is to extend to the financial ledger with a ‘green ledger,’ and for that, you need the lowest level of granularity.”
Moreover, Sustainability Management by SAP, which was unveiled at the first SAP Sustainability Summit, will help organisations assess and minimise their carbon footprint, boost resource productivity through circular processes, and conduct safer, more sustainable operations.
Adding to the list of the new sustainability-specific products is SAP Product Footprint Management. Expected to be available in the third quarter of 2021, its goal is to make customers’ product footprints transparent. This solution will provide companies with the insights they need to cut carbon emissions across their value chains while also allowing them to share data with customers, suppliers, and business partners.
The SAP Sustainability Control Tower solution, on the other hand, aims to meet the hyper transparency requirements of customers on their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance by providing a higher level of granularity than what has previously been available through reporting and disclosure.
Furthermore, InsideSAP is also gearing towards green recruitment to pave the way for more sustainable SAP projects. The implementation of a simple yet powerful TRP (Talent Resource Planning) system will drive sustainability in a company all while saving time and money.