Millennials, sometimes dubbed as ‘generation green’, are the most sustainability-savvy generation so far and are more likely to consider a company’s ethics, sustainability and wider purpose when making purchasing decisions. With an estimated 62% of millennials currently in management roles, ethics and sustainability are very likely to have an increasingly bigger influence on purchasing decisions.
I have personally noticed this trend increase over the last few years. When talking to prospective customers in the midmarket, more decision-makers are asking me for information on SAP’s sustainability ethos, what we’re doing to improve the world and for evidence of our values and ethics.
Helping the world run better and improving people’s lives
SAP’s mission statement is: ‘To help the world run better and improve people’s lives’. As part of this mission, SAP is supporting the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. We aim to make a positive impact worldwide – economically, environmentally and socially. We intend, and are on track, to become carbon-neutral by the end of 2023 and for fourteen years have ranked in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices.
One of our core sustainability pillars is to help tackle the global issue of climate change. Our CEO, Christian Klein made a commitment at the 2020 World Economic Forum in Davos to deliver a significantly cleaner ocean by 2030. He said: “We want to achieve this objective together with customers, NGOs, governments and partners and will provide them with the tools, insights and solutions to eliminate waste and maximise resource productivity.”
In 2020, we launched SAP Climate 21 to support businesses worldwide to transition to a low-carbon economy. In June 2020, we released the first Climate 21 product, SAP Product Carbon Footprint Analytics, which delivers transparency on the carbon emissions of a product across the entire value chain. We are also involved in local initiatives such as partnering with the Carbon Community to create the SAP Forest UK in Wales – you can donate to plant a tree here.
Powering the growth of sustainable companies
We are naturally attracting companies who have strong social aims, whose values align with ours. It is so satisfying to be a core factor in a company’s growth and success, but even more so when that company is such a force for good in the world. I’d like to share a few examples of fast-growing SME customers of ours, that have sustainability at the heart of their philosophy.
Bboxx was founded in 2010, with the aim of ending energy poverty in third world countries. Bboxx is positively impacting the lives of over 2 million people through the manufacture, distribution and finance of affordable, decentralised solar powered systems.
The organisation was looking for a cloud-based platform that would help it expand into new markets, and chose SAP Business ByDesign – Supply chain and Finance implemented by SAP partner, Orchard House Solutions, along with Grow By SAP, an exclusive program designed to support fast-growth scaleups and start-ups.
Bboxx is now live on SAP Business ByDesign, which is providing the business with advanced supply chain, finance and accounting, and customer service across three major continents. Anthony Osijo, Group CFO at Bboxx, says: “We want to accelerate access to power in developing countries and continue to transform lives and unlock potential through access to energy. Because of the scale of these targets, it’s vital to have a strategic global partner like SAP that is flexible and innovative enough to want to work with us on that journey.”
Frugalpac is another fast-growing, midmarket SAP customer. Based in Ipswich, Fruglapac is a sustainable packaging company which has just launched the world’s first wine bottle made from 94% recycled paper.
To drive innovation and growth, Frugalpac needed to replace its manual, disparate systems with a company-wide solution that could standardise business processes, enable 24/7 visibility and increase efficiency. Frugalpac chose SAP Business ByDesign, which was delivered by SAP partner Sapphire Systems.
Frugalpac’s Financial Controller, Natasha Houston, says of the SAP Cloud ERP system: “By introducing SAP Business ByDesign, Frugalpac has created a platform to optimise business growth by ensuring that we have the ability to scale quickly whilst focusing on core activities…We’re very much looking forward to embracing our next growth phase with game-changing digital capabilities and new expertise at our helm.”
In December 2020, SAP’s CEO, Christian Klein said, “Sustainability combines the vision of the Intelligent Enterprise and SAP’s purpose to help the world run better and improve people’s lives in the most natural way. It also presents a unique opportunity for us to create a lasting, positive impact for future generations.”
I am very proud to work for a company that cares and is actively taking steps to make the world a better place. SAP is creating innovative solutions, increasing collaboration and helping companies who also want to make a positive difference to be even more effective. I feel lucky to be part of an organisation that is making a difference.
Discover more on how SAP is Making a Difference with Sustainability by joining us at the SAP Midmarket Summit on the 21st October 2021.