Today large global companies like Tetra Pak, Unilever, Apollo Tyres and home-grown brands like Safexpress are making conscious environmental, social and governance (ESG) investments and integrating smart technology into their business operations to implement sustainable supply chains. Parallelly, we see technology players helping clients advance their ESG mandates and create sustainable supply chains.
Talking about the shifting priorities of business leaders and the role of technology, Jon S Chorley, chief sustainability officer and Group vice-president, Supply Chain Management Product Strategy, Oracle shares: “Because of its value to businesses, ESG remains a top priority for board members – CIOs, CFOs, CMOs, and CXOs. Organisations are not only debating the issue but are also looking towards technology partners to take significant actions around their ESG mandates.
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That is why we are operationalising sustainability by embedding ESG into the skeletal structure of finance, manufacturing, procurement, and human resource operations. We distribute data across a single SaaS solution to access the right data at the right level of granularity, making ESG part of doing everyday business.”
Oracle recently conducted a survey called No Planet B, and one of the interesting findings was that business leaders and consumers, are looking to technology for assistance, specifically, AI technology.
That view is echoed by Ewonne Lennartsson, global integrated logistics director, Tetra Pak. He says: “Sustainability has been a big part of our journey from the beginning since we work with a renewable source, paper. Our founders said a package should save more than it costs, and that is really a principle that we are trying to live by. For our logistics specifically, Oracle has helped us a lot, to see what is ahead of us. Now the more technology we have, the more we can see.”
Businesses embracing tech
Manufacturers and logistics providers such as Unilever, Safexpress, Tetra Pak, and Apollo Tyres are implementing actionable practices to increase sustainability across their operations. They are utilising Oracle’s Supply Chain Management solution to improve agility and promote eco-friendly ways to conduct ethical business practices.
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“We are committed to growing our businesses sustainably with Oracle Transportation Management, Unilever is contributing to a more sustainable supply chain through streamlining shipping, improving communications with providers and helping reduce CO2 emissions,” says Wendy Herrick, vice-president, Supply Chain – US, Unilever, while talking about Unilever’s commitment to reducing CO2 emissions.
Similarly, Safexpress, a logistics and supply chain firm, is committed to long-term growth by reducing their carbon footprint through ‘Go Green’ initiatives. Its adoption of the Oracle WMS platform was centred on achieving agility and sustainability through paperless operations, increased accuracy, and overall logistics efficiency.
Data holds the key
Data remains at the core of how technology is helping firms optimise their supply chains – processes such as data analysis, data management, and data optimisation are assisting supply chain players in achieving transparency throughout the supply chain process. This implies that all processes, from production and manufacturing to delivery, are integrated onto a single cloud platform, assisting managers and producers in keeping track of the entire process. Overall, streamlining the process aids in the implementation of more sustainable practices by identifying, analysing, and then resolving unsustainable processes.
“While data is essential, organisations must be able to collect it to analyse it in order to first report and then begin to optimise,” says Chorley. “That is the transition that organisations around the world are going through. It is a transition from reporting, or ‘defence,’ to optimisation, or ‘offence’. The key is to treat this information as seriously as all other information in the ERP and supply chain systems. Hence, data management and analysis must first be treated as a first-class component of business operations.”
In the long run, the reliance on technology and the pressure on firms to implement ESG processes will only increase, and it is up to industry captains to take concrete steps in the right direction.
CLEAN BUSINESS
- Embedding ESG into HR, finance & manufacturing is key to operationalising sustainability
- Unilever, Tetra Pak, Safexpress, Apollo Tyres use Oracle Cloud for ESG initiatives
- Data is at the core of how tech is helping optimise supply chains
(Findings from Oracle’s No Planet B study)
