These market conditions fall into three main areas: Money, Energy and Supply. The cost of capital, energy cost volatility, regulation, and geopolitical disruption have all impacted on business and will continue to change the cost base of a business on short notice. Modern, high performing finance functions recognise that the speed of change has radically increased requiring much higher precision and speed in forecasting and decision-making, to ensure that relying on yesterday’s information won’t sink today’s business.

Finance must be in the driving seat for designing new organisations which can cope with these changes, because no one else has a complete view across the landscape and making decisions in isolation leads to local failure. Only finance has visibility covering everything from input and overhead costs, to consumer preference, to the impact on margin.

We see this review reflected in the priorities of FTSE 40 controllers, who highlight the need for:

• (Affordable) Beneficial technology, getting the most return on investment
• Value from their data assets, to respond to shocks quickly
• Staying ahead of new controls regulations and requirements
• Responding to changes in ESG reporting and compliance

Getting these decisions right will give the business confidence to continue investing in growth platforms like new sales channels, new business models, store modernisation, marketing and developing their people, providing the right platform for the future.

Technology to beat the business trap – What are the ‘pivot’ options?

Businesses are faced right now with either pushing up their prices and hurting customers or cutting their margins and swallowing supplier price increases, neither of which is palatable; technology can offer a third option; using the capabilities we will describe in this article, the CFO can direct resources to help sustainably grow the revenues, margin, and remain competitive. How does this modern technological alchemy work?

The CFO supports the top line and bottom line of the enterprise, traditionally in a relatively passive manner delivering visibility and controls over profitability, liquidity, auditability, and compliance. Technology is giving the CFO the opportunity to become active in the health and growth of their businesses. To make the CFO a ‘star’ contributor to the business, at a time of severe challenge, we would encourage exploring the innovative finance capabilities described in this article.

Reimagine Finance Operations

The CFO has the opportunity to leverage technology, data and insights to model future business options indeed, to critically analyse prior decisions, what worked well and what didn’t. According to Gartner, decisions governing everyday operations often lack financial rigor, which can result in a loss of 3% or more of profits for organisations. This is primarily due to fragmented systems with siloed operations and an inability to access financial information in real time to make proactive decisions. As a result, CFOs recognise the need to modernise finance operations to reduce manual effort and enable their employees to focus on more value-added activities. A case in point is , which faced rapid growth after COVID-19, resulting in high volumes of data and an accelerated need for the company’s digital transformation. The e-commerce and fintech leader in Latin America achieved an 85% automation rate in treasury and cash management by streamlining their finance operations on a unified platform.

Delivering Assurance

It is expected that over the next 6 months the UK will be transferring from the Financial Reporting Council (FRC) to the Audit Reporting and Governance Authority (ARGA). Although recently the government have stepped back from their plans to introduce UK Corporate Governance Code led improvements around Financial Controls and CFO attestation statement on Fraud, the change in regulator is expected to deliver sharper teeth and greater pressure on external auditors to report more accurately. The upcoming changes to the Economic Crime and Transparency Bill, relating to Fraud, will include a new ‘failure to prevent’ offence and is currently moving through parliament, due in the firstquarter of 2024. A recent University of Portsmouth report outlined that Fraud may have cost the UK private sector in the region of £158Billion in 2022. Fraud still represents a 5% revenue loss for many organisations, money which if protected could be reinvested to promote growth. Business resilience is a key area where an integrated controls, risks management and machine learning/AI technologies have proven to deliver significant loss avoidance whilst also enabling businesses to remain on the correct side of regulatory requirements.

Optimise Cash Management

The CFO and the finance team need to have great visibility, effective control and collaborative execution for that finite, and most valuable business resource, cash! The poor understanding of cash flow is the key reason why many businesses fail. Businesses need integrated, intuitive tools that give them instant insights on the complete value chain, including receivables, payables, and associated supply chains. They need actionable information about cash, liquidity, and working capital, and their treasury platform should allow them to predict liquidity, make proactive decisions and mitigate financial risk. Zalando achieved 100% visibility into cash and accounts through redesigning their treasury and risk management and Zalando Payment system built their unique computing and monitoring model to provide deep insights into its factoring related cash flow movements and became compliant for regulatory requirements as a multinational .

Manage Profitability

Finance teams need to be active participants in managing profitability for the business, they may not be responsible solely, but they can best support the business by providing finance data and models in a timely, reliable and enabling fashion. The typical challenges that prevent retailers from proactive steering is the poor visibility to the real economic costs of products, customers and channels. According to Ventana Research, the most commonly mentioned challenge for companies in managing customer profitability is analytics. Using the right technology retailers can understand the real cost dimensions of their business and better control the margin challenges. Brakes – leading food service supplier in UK – achieved 2% improvement in margins through remodelling and digitizing their pricing and .

The CFO and his team have the opportunity to play an even bigger part in the future success of their business. Not only are the Finance team the keepers for financial data, they have the opportunity to proactively consult with the business teams; partnering in agile decision-making, providing business insights, actively supporting investment choices, helping identify success or failure in a rapid manner. Transforming the finance function provides the opportunity for businesses to escape the business trap of higher prices or lower margins, it can help you to pivot to increased competitiveness, revenue growth and success with customers, these are definitely the numbers worth pursuing.

If your organisation would like to know more about how these solutions can support your success, then please contact the authors:

• Shaid Latif, Industry Advisor Expert – Retail & Life Sciences at SAP
• Elif Kuralay, Industry Advisor at SAP
• Blair Robinson, Partner, Business Consulting at EY
• Matt Smith, Alliances Director at EY

The post Using Finance To Manage The Bottom Line And Pivot To Growth” appeared first on 51ˇçÁ÷UK News Center.

London – Ěýtoday unveils the results of its annual revealing that 8 in 10 (83%) UK leaders will maintain or increase their investment in sustainability action by 2026. Yet, despite these intentions, UK businesses continue to create their own barriers to environmental progress.

The global study of over 4700 business leaders, including over 300 from the UK, is the third edition of SAP’s annual Sustainability Study exploring the key motivations and challenges facing organisations looking to reduce environmental impact at scale.

It finds that while 31% of UK businesses say environmental action is already having a strong impact on revenue and profit opportunities, just 12% have assigned accountability for this work to the Chief Financial Officer (CFO). While almost one-in-three (28%) have difficulty proving return on investment, making long-term progress harder to prove and sustain.

Sustainability as a Financial Incentive, Not Burden

In the past, measures to safeguard the planet may have been seen as just a moral or ethical obligation but the business mindset is evolving and today, UK businesses are increasingly seeing the long-term financial benefits. In fact, almost two-in-five (37%) report that revenue and profit opportunities are a leading motivator for sustainability action.

Against a backdrop of inflation, supply chain issues and a rising cost-of-living, UK leaders are steadfast in their environmental commitments as they view sustainability action as a means to offset economic uncertainty. Now, over half (57%) of UK leaders expect to see a positive financial return on their sustainability investments within the next five years.

Commenting on the research, Renaud Heyd, Chief Financial Officer, 51ˇçÁ÷UKI said: “Our study shows that it’s time that finance leaders realise that having a solid sustainability action plan makes business sense. It is imperative to attract funding from investors who need to make their portfolio greener, and to get a competitive advantage as customers demand sustainable products throughout the supply chain. As taking steps to improve the planet becomes more than just an ethical question, and UK leaders see long-term material gains, CFOs have the authority and expertise to champion the environmental roadmap.”

Building Their Own Sustainability Barriers

Yet, despite the link between environmental action and long-term revenue generation, SAP’s research shows that UK businesses are not involving finance leaders in taking sustainability actions and this is holding back progress.

Currently, just 5% of businesses have assigned responsibility for setting the strategic direction on sustainability action to their organisations CFO. Instead, it falls to an array of other leaders, including the Board of Directors (25%), CEOs (21%), Chief Sustainability Officers (15%) and Chief Operating Officers (10%). The study suggests this approach isn’t working to translate the economic value of sustainability progress across the business. As many as 38% of UK businesses cite funding issues as one of the top five barriers to taking sustainability action, while 20% cannot get the support from senior stakeholders to take concerted action.

Falling Into the Measurement Trap

Matters are made worse for UK businesses who continue to find that measurement is a stumbling block to progress, and ultimately economic returns.

Just 37% can track scope 1 emissions (greenhouse gas emissions produced directly) to a ‘strong degree’, while 10% are not able to track scope 3 emissions (those produced indirectly across the supply chain) at all – causing many leaders to rely on estimates or ‘gut feel’ when disclosing environmental impact. UK leaders are also struggling to adopt a standardised reporting framework, with over one third having no consistent methodology for calculating the environmental impact of their products.

This is being further exacerbated by the use of conflicting measurement methods for reporting. While leaders are overwhelmingly using direct measurement to track energy emissions (83%), resource availability (82%), fresh water availability (75%), solid waste (74%) and materials use (73%), they rely upon guesswork and estimates for air pollution (83%), nature loss (78%), supply chain impact (69%) and water pollution (60%). This is leading to almost nine in 10 (89%) reporting difficulty with gathering or analysing data for regulatory compliance, at a time when UK leaders are already having to navigate an assortment of changing regulations, taxes and levies associated with carbon footprint.

Stephen Jamieson, Global Head of Circular Economy Solutions, SAP said: “In a climate where stricter regulations are now requiring businesses to disclose environmental impact, leaders who cannot accurately report this data risk allegations of greenwashing, and fines and reputational damage. Focusing on implementing a standardised reporting framework will ensure businesses are substantiating their green credentials, getting measurement right, and setting in motion steps that will directly lead to long-term impact. Organisations can use this data to redesign products, reuse materials, reduce waste and regenerate natural systems across the supply chain – in effect, powering the circular economy.

“Our portfolio means we are well-equipped to support businesses and ensure they are in the best possible position to navigate these challenges in the years ahead. This will allow leaders to unlock further investment, reap the financial rewards of taking sustainability action, comply with changing regulatory requirements, and reach net zero in the future.”

Commenting on the research, Edward Manderson, Lecturer in Environmental Economics at the University of Manchester, said: “The connection between sustainability action and financial performance will play a critical role in shaping environmental progress in the future. Over the last few years, academic literature has shown that firms benefit financially from sustainability measures, and SAP’s research demonstrates that this is indeed a reality for businesses who are looking to recover fast from the pandemic environment. As this research shows, business strategy and sustainability action are now so intertwined that there is simply no excuse for organisations if they fail to address shortcomings in their environmental performance and enact meaningful change.”

For more information about SAP’s Sustainability Report 2023 .

Visit the 51ˇçÁ÷News Centre. Follow 51ˇçÁ÷on Twitter

About SAP

SAP’s strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 51ˇçÁ÷customers generate 87% of total global commerce. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers’ businesses into intelligent enterprises. 51ˇçÁ÷helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want – without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, 51ˇçÁ÷helps the world run better and improve people’s lives. For more information, visit .

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LONDON, UK – 7 September 2023 – (NYSE: SAP) and today announce a visionary new partnership to show how carbon accounting could be standardised for business customers by piloting the recently launched 51ˇçÁ÷Sustainability Data Exchange (SDX).

51ˇçÁ÷SDX enables BT to collect, trace and share carbon data across its own supplier base, providing unparalleled visibility into the carbon footprint of its business products and services. BT can then share this information directly with business customers when they purchase products through . Furthermore, BT can complement this with data-driven insights from its and to help customers optimise their own IT for both carbon and energy.

Key to the decision to select 51ˇçÁ÷SDX was its adherence to the carbon data interoperability standards set by the (PACT), hosted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). This means that global and UK business customers do not have to implement their own carbon accounting platforms to calculate, collate and share emissions data. Instead, they simply request it through 51ˇçÁ÷SDX for their BT products and services.

BT is sending a strong signal of intent to standardise sustainability reporting across global business customers’ value chains to help themĚýtackle and drive environmental progress. This will also contribute to the delivery of the pledge to help customers avoid 60 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030.

Sarwar Khan, Global Head of Digital Sustainability, Business, BT, said: “Typically, value chain emissions represent a greater proportion of a business’ carbon footprint than operational emissions. Tracking, measuring and acting on these and bringing more suppliers and partners on the journey will not just accelerate net-zero targets, but set a new precedent for sustainability reporting. Collaboration fuels progress and access to data is fundamental to getting it right.”

“The lack of standardisation in sustainability reporting has been a roadblock to progress for too long” commented Ryan Poggi, Managing Director of 51ˇçÁ÷UKI. “This creates confusion and an inability to validate real change. Our partnership with BT gives us an opportunity to refresh the guidelines and offers a blueprint for a universal standard in sustainability reporting. The aim is to create an environment for organisations to transparently tackle global challenges together.”

51ˇçÁ÷SDX merges granular and accurate carbon data with financial transactions on the . It provides businesses with unmatched insights into their environmental footprint and standardises how to communicate learnings and action across value chains. In adopting 51ˇçÁ÷SDX, BT can request product-level carbon data from key suppliers for its business customer services, support smaller partners to calculate their carbon footprint and securely share and standardise this information across its value chain. To build scale, BT is working with key partner Cisco to deploy SDX to receive product carbon data for core network devices, simplify and secure data exchange with business customers backed by its global connectivity services, and boost traceability.

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Sapphire Barcelona – 24 May 2023 – , the maker of Guinness, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker, today announces a five-year business transformation program in partnership with 51ˇçÁ÷(NYSE: SAP) and IBM (NYSE: IBM). This new initiative, which marks the company’s most significant ever investment in technology and services, will redesign and improve Diageo’s processes across the 180 countries where it operates.

Fully global in nature, the programme will revolutionise Diageo’s IT environment by introducing intuitive processes, powered by market-leading technology, to provide more information to enable the company to make better and quicker decisions. This transformation will enhance Diageo’s business resilience in a constantly evolving external landscape, improve its customer service offering and help the company adapt to a fast-changing consumer base.

The programme involves a move to , with the support of . Diageo’s implementation of the new cloud-based model will ensure its IT infrastructure is simplified and supported in a unified way.

IBM Consulting, which has been selected to lead the project, has a proven track record in the consumer sector and supporting client transformations and migrations to the 51ˇçÁ÷S/4HANA Cloud platform. Diageo, 51ˇçÁ÷and IBM will work together to apply the latest technology to make Diageo’s business more efficient.

The five-year programme will transform Diageo’s business finance operations in a number of areas:

• Advanced workflow solutions will allow orders to be tracked in real-time on a global scale and facilitate more effective customer engagement and better customer service.
• By moving to a single operating platform, Diageo will simplify its technology support model and IT landscape, making it easier for the company to do business and evolve amid changing consumer trends and market needs.
• The program will transform Diageo’s performance reporting capabilities, giving the company better insight into trade and growth opportunities.
• The digitisation of controls and compliance will make the business more robust, resilient and adaptable to changing market conditions.

Lavanya Chandrashekar, Chief Financial Officer, Diageo, said: “This partnership with IBM and 51ˇçÁ÷demonstrates our continued investment in digital transformation. It will enable greater agility in how we respond to our global consumer and customer needs. It will provide us with world-class actionable insights and enhanced data capabilities to support growth whilst allowing us to be more efficient in our day-to-day operations.”

Ryan Poggi, Managing Director, 51ˇçÁ÷UK & Ireland, said: “In today’s disruptive consumer goods industry, success lies in navigating unpredictable supply chains, managing ongoing macro-economic volatility and staying one step ahead of ever-shifting customer demands. Through our continued partnership with Diageo, one of the world’s leading brand builders, we’re proud to support them in building a more resilient business that is enhancing the customer experience and can adapt to rapidly changing market pressures, realising its vision to revolutionise the consumer goods industry.”

Rahul Kalia, Managing Partner, IBM Consulting, UK & Ireland, said: “The consumer goods industry is striving to address the challenges posed by inflationary pressures and supply chain disruptions, while staying focused on delivering exceptional products and services for its customers and consumers. IBM is proud to partner with Diageo and 51ˇçÁ÷to bring our global business and digital transformation experience on this exciting journey.”

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With a wide range of business areas including container shipping, port terminals, logistics and supply chain businesses, Maersk, headquarted in Denmark, operates more than 700 vessels and covers around 343 ports in over 100 countries worldwide. Strategically, Maersk is moving away from being a shipping company to becoming an end-to-end supply chain provider.ĚýĚý

From Container Shipping to End-to-End Supply Chain ProviderĚý

“Maersk is on its way to becoming an end-to-end supply chain provider, and this requires us to move into other areas of the transport sector, including air freight and land transport, as well as warehousing and distribution. With less than 10% of the money spent on supply chain and logistics going to ocean transport, Maersk needs to move into other areas to expand its business and continue to grow,” says Tapan Dash, Engineering Director, Maersk Technology, and continues:Ěý

“Maersk has developed a platform-based model to help us accelerate the transformation. The model consists of several different digital platforms, each of which consists of multiple entities, all of which create value for customers, suppliers or employees. Each entity integrates different business functions, applications, data and analytics. Maersk currently has 10-15 end-to-end platforms, such as finance, order management for ocean transport, supply chain management, etc. We are constantly adding new platforms and recently we created a sustainability platform to address this growing area.”Ěý

Designed, Built and Delivered by MaerskĚý

Maersk is well on its way to implementing . “The idea is to run a standard 51ˇçÁ÷S/4HANA solution, and then have the 51ˇçÁ÷Business Technology Platform as the platform that supports the innovation. I think this is the most optimal and where the magic happens”, says Tapan Dash, and continues:Ěý

“We’ve had a big focus on insourcing over the last couple of years, going from around 1,500 people in the technology organisation to over 6,000 now. In our 51ˇçÁ÷team, we were only around 35 in 2019. In 2022, we were 300, and the target is +550 51ˇçÁ÷tech profiles by 2024. We work from a concept we call ‘designed, built and delivered by Maersk’.”Ěý

51ˇçÁ÷Business Technology Platform Plays a Central Role Ěý

The , which brings together data and analytics, artificial intelligence, application development, automation and integration in a single environment, plays a key role in accelerating Maersk’s new end-to-end strategy.ĚýĚý

“Technology plays an important role at Maersk and is one of the key drivers of transformation. We want to simplify our IT landscape and make it more agile. With the 51ˇçÁ÷Business Technology Platform, we can streamline our business processes and make our applications more agile and provide users, whether customers, suppliers or employees, with a more intuitive and user-friendly experience.”Ěý

Specifically, Maersk has used 51ˇçÁ÷BTP to develop and implement applications and solutions in areas such as:Ěý

• Customer Credit Management: Previously, a lot of manual activity was involved in the process, which could lead to errors and delays. Now Maersk uses 51ˇçÁ÷BTP to automate and differentiate their customer credit management process. The solution includes a credit score from BVD (third party), which is integrated via 51ˇçÁ÷Cloud Platform Integration. Using the 51ˇçÁ÷Fiori user interface, Maersk has created different roles, such as sales representative, credit analyst and approver. “So we have created a one-stop-shop that the employee logs into and from there he or she can manage the entire credit process for the customer,” says Tapan Dash.
• Vendor Account Reconciliation: Reconciling accounts payable statements is a challenge for many organisations. Maersk used 51ˇçÁ÷BTP’s automation layer and intelligent robotic process automation (51ˇçÁ÷iRPA) to perform automated actions such as scanning emails and extracting attachments, converting unstructured data into structured data, and building validation logic into the rules within the 51ˇçÁ÷BTP platform, thereby reducing manual processes in Maersk’s shared service centres.
• Treasury Guarantees: Previously, this process was quite paper-intensive and could cause data quality issues, which in turn led to delays. Now, through 51ˇçÁ÷BTP, Maersk has automated the process and created two specific roles: bank guarantee applicant and approver. The solution also includes integration with external banks.Ěý
• Customer Cargo Release: Maersk also has customers who are cargo customers, i.e. they pay before their cargo is released. This requires a very time-sensitive process to ensure that payment has been received before the cargo is released. The workflow is triggered across multiple backend systems. Through built-in AI and process automation in 51ˇçÁ÷BTP, the payment is matched against the invoice, the bill of lading and the container release events. Maersk has created an AI trust quota that automatically authorises if everything is 100% correct. “Using the machine learning algorithm, we then find out why something is 70%, why something is 80%, and what we need to do to make it 100%. So, it’s fine-tuned based on that learning. We use the workflow, which again is an integrated development within 51ˇçÁ÷BTP, to get the approval process in place and get the invoice approved so that the container or the freight can be released to the customer if everything is not right in the first place,” says Tapan Dash.
• Planning and analysis: Maersk’s entire finance, planning and analysis is in the process of being moved to 51ˇçÁ÷Analytics Cloud. This enables Maersk to provide end-to-end financial planning and analysis, including budgeting and forecasting. Self-service options for planning and analysis in over 100 countries are a game changer in decision-making, with scorecards to visualise performance and productivity across regions.ĚýĚý

“At Maersk, we are excited about the ongoing transformation where technology is at the centre and we strive to create business value by focusing on the customer, agility and high employee engagement” concludes Tapan Dash.Ěý

The post Maersk Uses 51ˇçÁ÷Business Technology Platform to Accelerate Strategic Transformation appeared first on 51ˇçÁ÷UK News Center.

Ěý

LONDON, UK – (NYSE: SAP) has today announced that is the first hydrogen-electric and battery-electric vehicle manufacturer to select 51ˇçÁ÷to update its IT and technology infrastructure to deliver sustainable transport and logistics across the UK.

Having recognised the demand and need for sustainable transport amidst a climate emergency, the pioneering manufacturer is investing in technology to continue to transform its IT environment and support the development of the UK’s first hydrogen-electric truck.

As a new 51ˇçÁ÷customer, Tevva will integrate to ensure its IT infrastructure is aligned with product demand. Part of the ongoing development of Tevva’s infrastructure included recognising the need to rapidly expand in order to meet market demands, which is where the with 51ˇçÁ÷value proposition came in. The exclusive growth engine, aimed at hypergrowth companies, has helped to accelerate Tevva’s business in the most sustainable and efficient way possible with a SaaS solution and partnership package spanning marketing, talent, funding & IPO and growth hacking.

Now with a scalable 51ˇçÁ÷service in place, deployed via a secure and highly resilient Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud-based infrastructure platform, Tevva has been able to build stronger links between each part of its business, and thereby assure its future growth.

In addition to transforming its core ERP via the latest cloud version of 51ˇçÁ÷S/4HANA Cloud, Tevva will also be leveraging Capgemini’s out-of-the-box . Part of Capgemini’s industry solution, Auto Path enables the supplier to align its operational and production plans with execution and performance measures, bringing it up to speed with global competitors. What’s more, the combination of 51ˇçÁ÷and Capgemini is empowering the organisation to simplify its IT estate and fully embrace the benefits of the cloud. 51ˇçÁ÷S/4HANA Cloud will be adopted across manufacturing, procurement, finance and supply chain – providing an approved modernisation process.

Tevva CEO and Founder Asher Bennett said: “At Tevva we’ve worked hard to deliver a product that is sustainable, scalable and fit for the future. We firmly believe that the post-fossil fuel future, which is quickly approaching, will see a new range of technologies and fuels take centre stage in the transport industry. But it was only right that to support the development of this that we examined what we had in place and understood what might be possible to bolster our rapid growth.

“51ˇçÁ÷and Capgemini have, no doubt, helped with our expansion and we have certainly benefitted from their input and innovation.”

Umar Khan, Head of Grow with SAP, EMEA North, added: “Our partnership with Tevva is one we’re extremely excited about. It is a company that shares the same values and vision as ourselves, that a sustainable, zero-emissions future is very possible and collaborations like this are critical to achieving that goal. They’re the first electric hydrogen vehicle manufacturer to embrace RISE with SAP, recognising just how critical investment in technology is for the future.”

“Grow with 51ˇçÁ÷is the accelerator programme for fast growth scale-ups. As a true strategic partner, 51ˇçÁ÷will provide Tevva with advanced supply chain, procurement, finance and accounting, helping the business to expand its footprint in the most sustainable way possible.”

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The publication of the government’s aims to address this need by setting out ambitious plans to narrow the country’s geographical, social and economic inequalities. This has promised to boost productivity, improve access to public services, and raise living standards across the UK – while also placing local leaders at the centre of wider government decision-making.

However, in order for this to be achieved, leaders of local communities must be equipped with the tools, knowledge, and information needed to drive this transformation going forwards. While not a silver-bullet solution, technology could be the answer to creating jobs, enhancing service delivery, and streamlining local authority processes in the months and years ahead.

Driving economic growth beyond the SoutheastĚý

from the Centre for Economics and Business Research has shown that automation has the potential to increase productivity across the UK by 15%, particularly in critical services industries such as transportation and healthcare. This could create up to 3.3 million additional jobs across the country, helping to narrow the current North/South divide.

In fact, a has predicted the creation of 365,000 jobs by 2050 due to the transition to net zero, with the Northwest seeing the highest number of new roles in the UK. This growth will also be concentrated in specific sectors, such as the production of electric vehicles and electrical equipment.

Key to achieving this is narrowing the gap between public sector organisations and technology companies – from multinational corporates, all the way to smaller start-ups. However, despite living in an age of connectivity, technology companies and local decision-makers often work separately from one another.

Business networks can play a crucial role in filling this gap by offering a combination of products, services and platforms for transacting, analysing and optimising the vast swathe of processes needed to function as a business in a modern globalised economy. For example, the 51ˇçÁ÷Business Network can help public sector organisations become a lead coordinator within their region. Local authorities can use these business networks to direct public sector procurement spend, providing local businesses and start-ups with a fully digitalised process that reaches across suppliers, services and providers.

Streamlining processes and enhancing service delivery

With public sector organisations facingĚý, adopting an agile operating model is now vital. This means being able to understand the long-term demands and requirements of citizens, and using these to inform ongoing improvements to service delivery. Agile organisations are also generally more flexible in their adoption and deployment of new technologies, allowing them to continually adapt their operations in line with socio-economic changes.

Software such as financial spend management can also help streamline local authority processes by freeing up an organisation’s time and allowing businesses to allocate their resources towards larger priorities. With added capacity, this could help support local activities such start-ups, mentoring and coaching. This can help public sector organisations deliver a seamless, efficient and more agileĚýservice to citizens in their region.

Using data to build citizen profiles

Accounting for the needs and demands of citizens when streamlining and modernising business processes will allow public sector organisations to incorporate citizen feedback into the decision-making process. This will help organisations deliver a citizen-centric programme that caters to the issues that matter to local communities.

Collecting sentiment data from citizens about their experiences with public sector services and storing the information in a unified customer data platform can allow public sector organisations to build a robust profile of respondents. When combined with business process intelligence data, organisations can not only place citizens at the heart of local government decision-making, but also identify areas that require improvement. This data could also be used to support local economic regeneration activities for employment, encouraging the competitiveness and prosperity of local regions.

A key example of this was the adoption of by Christchurch City Council in 2018. This enabled the council to effectively visualise constituent service requests, helping to develop a greater understanding of citizens. As a result, the council has been able to adopt a citizen-first approach, meaning they can effectively serve and represent constituents in the years ahead.

While there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach towards levelling up the UK, technology and digital transformation could help drive economic growth, enhance service delivery, and provide greater insight into citizen demands. This will allow the public sector to adopt a citizen-centric approach, while also helping to meet future targets for levelling up.

Satpal Biant is head of Public Sector for 51ˇçÁ÷UK&I.

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At SAP, people sustainability is defined as treating people – within an organization’s workforce, across their supply chains and in the communities in which they operate – ethically and fairly. We define it through six core pillars: health and safety, diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), well-being and balance, trust and transparency, empowerment and growth, and organizational purpose and corporate social responsibility.

New People Sustainability Research Sponsored by SAP

While many organizations still think about sustainability primarily from an environmental perspective, they need to address people and economic sustainability as well.

From May to August 2022, 51ˇçÁ÷sponsored IDC to conduct a study to discover if investment in people sustainability could drive positive business outcomes. IDC surveyed more than 3,500 employees and business leaders across 11 countries and four regions.

The result was resoundingly positive: the research suggests that a focus on people sustainability can not only impact an organization’s performance but positively affect economic and environmental outcomes too.

In fact, 84% of organizations in UK&I believe that investment in people sustainability can drive better business performance. Respondents believe that investment in people sustainability can improve job satisfaction, employee engagement, and a company’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) score. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that respondents feel that organizations can gain a competitive advantage in recruiting and retaining top talent.

A Holistic Approach to ESG

The survey concluded that a holistic, unified strategy is required. 80% of respondents in UK&I surveyed found that addressing people sustainability topics through a single, unified strategy is valuable.

One CEO said: “I don’t think these pillars exist separately. The [people sustainability] framework is helpful to make sure you’re covering the terrain, but in my experience, every entry point…leads to the other.”

That said, there are challenges to this approach. The main concerns of respondents related to employee engagement, ESG reporting, and articulating the value of this approach.

Behaviour Change and Better Technology Required

To pursue a people sustainability framework, 75% of respondents UK&I believe a cultural shift is required at all levels of an organization, including at the leadership (77%), manager (80%) and employee level (77%).

While most respondents are satisfied with their firm’s ability to track and measure progress across all sustainability pillars, investment in more tools and technology was cited as essential for supporting a metrics-driven approach to people sustainability initiatives.

The Future of People Sustainability

With increased competitiveness in the job market, a growing skills gap, and growing pressure to address inequity and climate change, organizations need to look at their sustainability strategies holistically. Investment in people sustainability will fuel positive outcomes across the organization.

Read the IDC InfoBrief, sponsored by 51ˇçÁ÷SuccessFactors, (IDC Document #US49724322) and join the on October 27, 2022.

From May through August of 2022, IDC conducted qualitative and quantitative studies of employees and business leaders across multiple countries and industries; 2 focus groups in the U.S., 16 in-depth interviews with executives across 3 regions, and a survey of more than 3,500 employees and business leaders in 11 countries across NA, EMEA, APAC, and Latin America.

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LONDON, UK –Ěý (NYSE: SAP) today announces that it has been selected to sponsor and develop an academic research project to make the UK’s motorways more efficient, reduce their environmental footprint and accelerate the transition to a net-zero Britain.

In collaboration with the and , and through an existing partnership with , the UK leader in engineering and construction solutions, 51ˇçÁ÷will participate in the initiative to support research into connected physical and digital road infrastructure, and improve how the UK’s highways are designed, built, operated, and used. This will support National Highways’ 2025 Digital Roads ambitions and is a continuation of SAP’s work with Costain on UK infrastructure projects.

It is one of a portfolio of projects being developed by the newly-created Roads Research Alliance which has brought together 22 organisations from across the highways industry to help shape the development of innovation in the sector over the next five years.

The Digital Roads of the Future initiative comes at a time of unprecedented change in UK transport. With the government’s commitment to meet a net-zero target of 2050, the transport industry has fallen into the spotlight as it remains one of the country’s biggest contributors to carbon emissions. The sector faces pressure to both support the UK’s levelling up agenda and rebuild the economy, but also build back greener and to lead by global example and fully decarbonise. This research alliance is critical in understanding how technology can drive environmental progress.

51ˇçÁ÷will fund an academic researcher who will develop a motorway-specific data model using the to solve existing issues with interoperability, whereby current field data cannot communicate effectively, and enable efficient, reliable, and secure data collection and analysis. The model will be used to generate a ‘digital twin’ of the motorway, which is a digital representation of physical assets, so it can be updated in real-time with accurate field data.

This technology will enable the UK’s motorway stakeholders to assess the environmental impact of scope 1,2,3 emissions, create effective maintenance strategies and enable proactive asset management to better maintain the lifecycle of motorways. By funding a researcher, 51ˇçÁ÷will also support ‘what-if’ scenario planning and help deliver predictive analytics to assess the impact of lowering emissions, increasing efficiency, and reducing public expenditure on the UK’s highways.

Commenting on the research project, Michiel Verhoeven, SAP’s UKI MD, said: “We need only look at this summer’s heatwaves to understand the importance of accelerating the decarbonisation of our society – whether that’s in the lifecycle of our goods and services, or indeed the roads that we drive on.

“The Digital Roads of the Future initiative will deliver groundbreaking research into how technology can shape the future of our transport infrastructure, delivering operational and sustainable best practice. We’re delighted to work with prestigious institutions like the University of Cambridge, and leading industrial partners like Costain and National Highways, to sponsor a researcher and showcase how our platforms can drive real industry change.”

“In order to make accurate decisions on the future of our road infrastructure, the UK’s motorway stakeholders need to have reliable and trusted access to real-time data,” said Tim Embley, Director of Research, Innovation and Development at Costain. “Our work with 51ˇçÁ÷to sponsor an academic researcher will support the digitisation of our roads, bringing them into the twenty-first century, and will lay the foundations for more sustainable, efficient highway management.”

On Tuesday (27 September), the 22 members of the Roads Research Alliance – including National Highways, Costain, the University of Cambridge and 51ˇçÁ÷– gathered at St Catharine’s College at the University to formally agree on and sign the research charter, officially launching the alliance.

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Since the sport’s debut in 2014 in Beijing, races have been won or lost based on decisions made in fractions of a moment. And I’m not just talking about the driver’s instincts and judgement calls on the track. Behind every driver is an entire team of support staff, analysts, mechanical engineers, operational teams, painters and many more, all of whom align on the same principles of accuracy and detail – they share a belief that this ethos is the key to getting their team over the line in pole position.

What’s more, the sport is evolving, and making the need for precision all the more vital. With a new price cap in play for the 2022/23 season and strict sustainability regulations governing Formula E, the need for accuracy transcends the fibre-thin adjustments made on the track and across the sport at large.

Fortunately, the technology used to optimise this sort of detail has developed alongside the power and innovation you see on race day. Our partnership with Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team is an example of how we’re helping the team to build a sustainable and efficient business that wins races and fans, while staying on the right side of tighter regulations.

Here are three ways we’re working with Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team to drive excellence, on and off the track:

Harnessing data to win races

As Mercedes-EQ Team Principal Ian James put it last year: “We are genuinely a startup, which means to get that competitive edge, it’s incredibly important that we really look after every detail, and technology very much helps us do that.”

For James, technology – and the data that underpins it – is the lifeblood of his operation. In fact, around a terabyte of data is fed back from the car to their support team on any given race day, feeding back information on everything; from air humidity and track moisture levels, to the power consumption levels of the car. This detail then enables the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team team to make hairline adjustments to optimise their car’s performance, while relaying information back to the driver on how to strategically tackle the race. Mechanics can even order replacement parts right from the track, to get them ready for their next races.

With such high volumes of data, it’s important that the teams have the tools for deeper analysis to optimise their performance for future races. The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team use 51ˇçÁ÷S/4HANA Cloud to improve that operational speed and agility, with the Cloud capability meaning they can operate seamlessly from multiple geographies.

It also helps them to understand their fans. With technology capable of collecting and analysing fan feedback, the team have the tools available to create the best fan experience possible.

Enabling smart expenditure with the price cap

Later this year, a will be implemented on manufacturers and teams for the 2022-24 Formula E seasons – equating to €13 million per season. These spend regulations will aim to monitor and control spending levels on competitors, while increasing equitability among teams.

With stringent measures around spending in place, it’s more important than ever that race teams have a comprehensive view of their finances. As part of their work with SAP, the team have the tools at their fingers to have a bird’s eye view of their spend globally, as well as across other partners covered by the cap.

Again, detail is of the essence. When you consider that even support members touching the car will trigger the inclusion of their salary in the price cap, it’s easy to see why having total financial oversight is so important.

Driving more sustainable outcomes

With electrification at the heart of Formula E’s mission, it’s not surprising that sustainability pervades every element of the motorsport. In fact, ‘environmental excellence’ is one of the ABB Formula E World Championship’s overriding principles by “monitoring, measuring, reducing and offsetting the championship carbon footprint with the aim of minimising our environmental impact.”

As part of our partnership with the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team, we help the team to measure their performance against the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. For the Mercedes team, it’s not just about environmental management – it’s about continuously improving processes and technology, both in the car and out, that help them to operate in a sustainable fashion. We work with Mercedes to help them understand where these sustainability improvements can be made by giving them visibility on their commitments.

With Formula E being so fast paced and, at times, dramatic, it can be easy to forget that races are won or lost on minute, fractional judgements. As the sport evolves and places more of an emphasis on cost and sustainability, Formula E is becoming more dependent on technology than ever before to understand how to gain a competitive advantage when faced with increasingly tight regulation. For teams at the top of their games, such as the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team, the devil is very much in the detail.

The Formula E Championship continues in London this weekend and we’re all hoping that the Mercedes-EQ Team and driver Stoffel Vandoorne can extend their leads at the top of the leaderboards.

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