Sustainability Performance Management software from SAP BusinessObjects
We live in a time when sustainability is becoming a rising priority for companies as a vast number of stakeholder groups such as investors, management and employees try to understand the social and environmental implications of the company’s operational and financial activities and decisions. Sustainability has become “both a strategic imperative and a performance driver” that strives to maximize business impact (Gorbach, 2009)
SAP is one of the major companies in the world with an interest in identifying new solutions for tracking and measuring Sustainability Performance Management. SAP BusinessObjects Sustainability Performance Management Application is an example of such a solution. It aims to help organizations measure and communicate their sustainability performance, by enabling them to “ set goals and objectives, manage risks and monitor activities” all these with the promise of shortening the time to collect data and significantly reducing the costs associated with this activity.
Starting from the premise that in today’s business world more than 80% of the Global FORTUNE 250 companies report their sustainability performance, SAP identified a large number of business challenges that companies face when reporting their sustainability performance and built the application by targeting these challenges with key features, expected to deliver specific benefits:
- Business Challenges, encountered while measuring sustainability performance:
• “Resources tied up in collecting sustainability data
• Multiple overlapping sustainability standards and guidelines
• Lack of auditability and transparency in performance reporting
• Lack of alignment between sustainability activities and other management activities
• Inability to implement a sustainability strategy that the rest of the organization will follow” (SAP BusinessObjects, Sustainability Performance Management, 2009)
- Key Features of the SAP BusinessObjects Sustainability Performance Management application:
• “Defining reporting frameworks – Manage multiple sustainability frameworks and key performance indicators (KPIs) while optimizing opportunities for reuse
• Data collection – Automatically gather quantitative and qualitative sustainability performance data from people and systems
• Performance management – Align sustainability KPIs to corporate objectives and risks; turn sustainability data into actionable information to improve financial and sustainability performance; and set goals to motivate improvement
• Integration – Leverage existing data and management processes by integrating with other SAP applications” (SAP BusinessObjects, Sustainability Performance Management, 2009)
- Business Benefits of the SAP BusinessObjects Sustainability Performance Management application:
• “Reduce the cost of measuring sustainability performance
• Turn strategy and data into actionable insights where sustainability performance improvements also improve profitability
• Improve enterprise transparency and performance by making key drivers visible
• Provide sustainability results to the right levels in the organization so information is actionable
• Manage and mitigate stakeholder risk
• Incorporate sustainability into existing management systems and processes through strategic planning, initiative creation, risk management, and process streamlining” (SAP BusinessObjects, Sustainability Performance Management, 2009)
By incorporating a streamlined tracking, measuring and reporting performance management system the SAP BusinessObjects Sustainability Performance Management application can be a good alternative for companies interested in addressing sustainability issues.
To learn more on the key features and benefits of the application follow www.sap.com/solutions/sustainability.
References:
- SAP, Sustainability Performance Management – drive social, environmental, and economic improvement, United States official website
- SAP BusinessObjects, Sustainability Performance Management (2009) – Solution brief: Find opportunity in sustainability
- Gorbach, Greg (2009) – SAP Analyst Report: Deliver sustainability promises – New SAP Solution Helps Companies Deliver Their Sustainability Promises
Additional Resources:
Image Source: Silicon Angle
Tags: Environment performance, Green initiatives, Performance Management, SAP, Software, Sustainability performance
