The Best-Run Businesses Run SAP

What do desert shrimp, Miracle Whip and 3,000 tons of ice have in common? They all play important roles in an oft-overlooked area: innovation found in unlikely places. (more…)

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“.

The notion that energy savings can be achieved through SAP NetWeaver was first raised during the SAP Influencer Summit in December 2010 by SAP Chief Sustainability Officer Peter Graf. He used similar data to show how SAP development takes advantage of energy savings possibilities, which results in lower costs for operating our software and reducing carbon emissions. (more…)

Blogger Matthew Wheeland attended SAPPHIRE NOW and reported: “SAP, the business intelligence software giant, has thrown its weight behind sustainability in a big way in the last few years, which you know if you’ve been reading these pages for any length of time. But how strong a grasp have SAP’s customers got on green issues? To what extent do they factor efficiency and emissions, among many other concerns, into daily operations? Before attending SAPHIRE NOW, I would have guessed “not much.” But the answer actually seems to be both more and less than you’d think.” Read the article: “What’s Holding Back Corporate Sustainability Efforts.”

Are you curious what a real-world application of SAP HANA software in-memory computing technology looks like? SAP’s Ingo Brenckmann shows Smart Meter Analytics running in-memory computing.

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For many IT groups, “sustainability” means nothing more than making their data centers more energy efficient. As important as that is, a growing number of companies have realized that the effective use of IT is the key to running their entire business in a sustainable fashion, providing a clear view into energy use and costs; driving insights, action, and savings; and simplifying stakeholder reporting.

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In an earlier post, I talked about SAP’s sustainability focus at SAPPHIRE NOW this year, noting that the topic has continued its maturation within SAP and is now insinuated in the SAPPHIRE NOW program across multiple areas and sessions. With 25 sustainability sessions on Monday alone, as a physical or virtual attendee, you have a lot of options (check out the agenda builder here and search on “sustainability”). Even better, in an interview with Marty Etzel from SAP’s sustainability team, I learned that fully 80 percent of the sustainability sessions this year will feature SAP customers and partners sharing how they are seeing real-world business impact today through sustainable business practices.

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SAP has built a “Do Your Part” section into its latest sustainability report, in order to start dialogue and discussions with people as they read the report. By leaving comments, sharing ideas and thoughts via social media, and working with the materiality matrix, SAP receives structured feedback and encourages the readers to take action.

Interested in getting involved? Read the GreenMonk blog on “SAP’s 2010 Sustainability Report demo” and watch the video.

For many SAP employees, the month or so before the annual SAPPHIRE NOW conference in May means endless planning meetings, lots of pre-work, strategizing, and long days (and nights). In fact, it’s easy to get SAPPHIRED-out before you even start (note to my boss: not that I have anything but unbridled SAPPHIRE NOW enthusiasm, but I hear some have this problem…)

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SAP today released its quarterly sustainability update and shared that it has saved approximately EUR 170 million between 2008 and today as a result of focused sustainability initiatives. The report also details preliminary, unaudited greenhouse gas emissions for the first quarter ending March 31, 2011, which totaled 111 kilotonnes (not including Sybase), an increase of six percent compared to the first quarter of 2010. Read the press release.