The Best-Run Businesses Run SAP

Earlier this month experts gathered at The Plaza hotel in New York City to discuss a sustainable future for cities through the viewpoints of policymakers, city planners, energy companies and others. Organised by SAP the discussions focused on challenges, models and success stories which cities are facing when considering economic and physical growth. One of the keymessages was kept short by Scott Bolick, VP sustainability solution management at SAP “It only works if it’s economically viable.” For more key messages and highlights read ”In conversation – sustainabiliity and the city“.

How can we make tomorrow’s energy industry safe, environmentally friendly, and affordable? SAP customers and partners met with analysts to address this question at the 8th International SAP Utilities Conference. “We’re going to have to be very creative and come up with common solutions,” said Klaus Heimann,  senior vice president of service industries at SAP. Read the full SAP.info article.

Energy management is an emerging challenge in enterprises. Not only is data center energy consumption the fastest-growing cost, it is also the single largest line item in a CIO’s operating expenses. See how SAP Global IT is successfully reducing CO2 emissions and cost. (more…)

Many executives see the drive toward sustainability as a forced march, one in which the government plays the role of drill sergeant, yelling at companies to be more efficient and cut carbon emissions and then punishing them with regulations. In an interview with CITO research Peter Graf, chief sustainability officer at SAP, explains the four stages that most companies move through as they use sustainability principles as a lens to better understand operations and improve efficiency and productivity.

“Incorporating sustainability is not a software challenge, it’s a business leadership challenge,” said Graf. “By making a corporate strategy sustainable, you ensure that your business model works in the future.”

Read the article: “Four Steps to Improving Profits through Sustainability“.

How to meet Europe´s urgent energy demands? How to face rising prices,  climate change and sustainability considerations or an ageing infrastructure? How to make sure that supply is secured despite global changes and challenges?

SAP presented recently a white paper entitled Smart Grids for Europe – Benefits, Challenges and Best Practices to EU Commissioner Günther Öttinger, arguing that there are few ICT transformations that are as promising as Smart Grids. Read the full article.

With sustainability core to its strategy of making the world run better, SAP today released its fourth annual sustainability report.  The report details the company’s progress in driving impact via the delivery of innovative customer solutions that turn sustainability into a business opportunity, leveraging innovation to improve SAP’s own sustainable operations, and pursuing social innovation to help meet people’s basic needs and create sustainable growth and economic opportunity. To encourage an ongoing dialogue with stakeholders, the report is available in an online, interactive format — accessible via mobile devices, including iPad — that features tight integration with social media platforms. Read the newsbyte.

The SAP Labs in Palo Alto are equipped with latest sustainable solutions – solar panels, the rectifier, LED lighting, sustainable food services, electric vehicle charging stations as well as bioswale. Watch Larry Morgan touring the campus.

Readers of The New Economy have selected SAP Americas as the best software systems integrator in the field of “smart grid” technology. As the publication notes, smart grids will transform the way electricity is supplied and used, saving consumers money through greater efficiency and contributing towards a low-carbon energy system. The Smart Grid Awards recognize the companies which are set to guide the new energy future. Watch this video of James McClelland, senior global director, Utilities and Energy, SAP Americas discussing SAP technology for smart grids as well as the potential of electric vehicles.

Tom Raftery of GreenMonk blogs on his trips to Santa Clara and Palo Alto last week for SAP events where the company shared some of its carbon reduction policies and strategies.

As mentioned previously, I was in Santa Clara and Palo Alto last week for a couple of SAP events. At these events SAP shared some of its carbon reduction policies and strategies. According to SAP Chief Sustainability Officer Peter Graf, the greatest bang for buck SAP is achieving comes from the deployment of telepresence suites. (more…)

In the home appliance industry, a variety of home-made problems is hampering the ”IT greening process”. According to Wolfgang Schwab from Experton Group, companies are mostly interested in range, innovation, financial return and energy savings when analyzing green IT projects.

Read here how companie are overhauling entire IT landscapes to meet sustainability criteria.