According to a research study by SAP on sustainability, 75% of businesses will at least maintain or increase their sustainability investments and see strong or moderate positive relationship between sustainability and long-term profitability.
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed unprecedented business challenges of massive proportions– from labor shortages to global supply chain disruption– proving some organizations to be more resilient than others. More than ever, enterprises have recognized the social, economic, and environmental impacts of embedding sustainability in business strategies to thrive and compete in the post-pandemic era.
Almost three years into the global health crisis, The SAP Environmental Sustainability Report, conducted by the SAP Insight Research Center in 2022, revealed that companies are on their way to becoming sustainability talents. Of the 6,600 business leaders across 40 countries and regions across 29 industries, 60% shared that sustainability has a significant impact on long-term competitiveness and profitability of their companies.
In Hong Kong, one of the countries included in the survey, the majority (55%) recognize how sustainability directly affects business success, competitiveness, and revenue growth of a company.
Recognizing Value Behind Sustainability Investments
Over 140 respondents from the country, including C-suite executives and sustainability leaders, shared how sustainability plays a part in their business strategy and the importance of collecting quality data to measure the impact of their sustainability efforts on the overall business.
According to the SAP report, Hong Kong enterprises are aware of the significant role of sustainability in their financials. More than 40% said that environmental issues are either already affecting business outcomes or will do within five years. Almost the same percentage of the companies (≈40%) have sustainability strategies in place to bolster revenue and profit growth and develop new products and services.
In addition, Hong Kong businesses’ heightened appreciation of sustainability investments also requires better visibility through high-quality accurate data to ensure business success. With regards to environmental data, the survey showed that only 11% of the respondents are completely satisfied with what they have due to three main reasons such as the infrequent collection of data, incomplete data, and the lack of transparency in data calculation.
SAP Hong Kong Managing Director, Esmond Tong, said:
“Enterprising business leaders in Hong Kong realize that sustainability is a contributing factor to drive business growth while supporting them to be more environmentally responsible. It is no longer just a cost implication. Embedding comprehensive sustainability data collection into their operations not only facilitates data-driven decision-making but also supports companies to future-proof their long-term success.”
The last SAP NOW Hong Kong conference held in July 2022 emphasized the tech giant’s focus on helping companies become “Intelligent Sustainable Enterprises” for a future anchored on data-driven operations. Among the solutions highlighted in the event was RISE with SAP, a cloud solution that has received massive adoption globally to support many organizations’ digital transformation and sustainability strategies.
SAP has a wide range of solutions under the SAP Cloud for Sustainable Enterprises portfolio to help businesses manage their carbon footprint, reduce material wastes and become socially responsible. One climate action solution is SAP Product Footprint Management which offers organizations insights on their products’ environmental impacts across their entire lifecycle for disclosure and internal product and process optimization.
Another sustainability solution from the software enterprise multinational is the SAP Sustainability Control Tower solution, which allows companies to enhance their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) transparency while improving business performance.
We, at InsideSAP, advocate sustainability practices into SAP projects through our own TRP (Talent Resource Planning) platform, InsideSAP Careers. Aside from championing contactless and paperless recruitment, we plant trees for every person hired, across every project, every month.
