Technology investment should support your sustainability goals. Not the opposite

Technology can help meet sustainability goals, achieve outcomes, and solve problems. But technology should not be the starting point for any initiative. It shouldn’t enter the conversation until goals, outcomes, and problems are clear. While this holds true for any business area, for sustainability, the stakes, responsibilities, and opportunities are immeasurably higher. To declutter the technology and sustainability conversation, don’t pre-select technology and attempt to fit a business and sustainability case to it. Be clear up front on the case, then build the underpinning strategy, processes, talent, and data before finally turning to technology.

SAP was barely mentioned at an SAP hackathon. Good.

I spent a recent morning at a hackathon (workshopping session) with PWC, where a selection of its employees explored how SAP’s enterprise platform and technology could help address the global sustainability context in
Exhibit 1.

SAP was rarely mentioned. And that’s fantastic—both for sustainability and SAP. Rather than spending all day figuring out SAP’s capabilities and limitations and how they affected sustainability outcomes, the session focused on outcomes and problem solving. The attendees only considered suitable technologies and platforms as enablers after they had settled on a problem-solving approach and desired outcomes.

It was also positive to observe discussions about combining technology and people to align with PWC’s Human-Led, Technology-Enabled approach across its business. Discussions acknowledged the role all employees must play toward sustainability, from CEOs and boards embedding metrics and culture through to day-to-day business processes like procurement. To paraphrase an adage, technology, without people and processes, will not solve anything.

Another common hackathon topic was data. More often than we’d like, we hear enterprise leaders criticizing an over-focus on platforms and technology and an under-focus on finding and integrating data from across an organization’s value chain and ecosystem. A Chief Procurement Officer once captured the general mood with, “If I had better data, I’d use better data.” Organizations must have a well-thought-out data strategy centering on collaboration with myriad ecosystem partners if they want data-focused technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, or automation to have any impact.

Exhibit 1: Mapping how enterprise platforms and digital technology can help to address the global sustainability context

Source: HFS Research, 2023

Technology firms are often guilty of sounding identical, especially on sustainability

Most cloud, enterprise platform, and technology companies take similar approaches to sustainability. They decarbonize themselves (the energy powering their technology and operations) and position their technology for customers to address sustainability elements across environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.

The trouble is that it’s very hard to tell them apart and to determine the unique value proposition of any firm, product, or service. That’s not all bad—there’s so much to do to address the climate and sustainability emergency. But where there are differences, it makes it harder for decision makers to see how a particular platform and technology combination is best positioned to help solve their problems and meet their targets. By ensuring a narrative of outcomes and problem solving rather than technology, PWC’s hackathon was a refreshing break showing positive signs for how it might go on to leverage SAP and other technologies for sustainability.

The Bottom Line: Technology will find its best sustainable self by taking the back seat.

Digital technology has an immense role in addressing the global sustainability context over the coming decades. It can help trigger the systems-level change we need now by enabling new levels of collaboration and data analysis. It will also be central to the execution of sustainable business models, physical technology, and organizational processes required to meet the SDGs. But confusion over technology’s role stands in the way. To overcome the confusion, leaders must first remove technology from the discussion. They must clarify goals, outcomes, challenges, and roadmaps and ensure talent, process, and data plans are in place. Only then will leaders—in business and beyond—be in a position to determine where and what technology is best placed to deliver the outcomes they (and sustainability) seek.