People demand Action & Proof of Sustainability & Social business efforts

Beware of the climate change amongst consumers around Sustainability, Corporate Social responsibility, and the progress (or lack thereof) around ESG.

• A 2022 global study [1] finds 94% of people believe society has not made enough progress on sustainability and social efforts.

The frustration is very high

• 78% of people are fed up with the lack of progress made by businesses

Even higher is the consumer demand for proof

• 89% of the 11,000 people surveyed believe it’s not enough for businesses to say they’re prioritizing ESG. They need to see more Action and concrete Proof.
• 70% of people claim to be willing to cancel their relationship with a brand that does not take sustainability and social initiatives seriously.
• 69% would even leave their current employer to work for a brand that places a greater focus on these efforts.

Customers continue to be Kings & Queens and businesses feel the pressure from the people.

• 83% of people would work for companies that can clearly demonstrate the progress they are making on environmental and social issues.
• 83% would invest in companies that can clearly demonstrate the progress they are making on environmental and social issues.

At the same time, while Business leaders understand this climate change, the complexity to take the multiple necessary actions and share solid evidence of the progress, shouldn’t be underestimated.

• The biggest challenges for businesses include obtaining ESG metrics from partners and third parties (35%); the lack of data (33%); and the time-consuming manual reporting processes (32%).

In Data & Machines we Trust is the way to go and address these business challenges while at the same time providing transparent evidence to consumers who are voting for or against businesses in more than one way. 93% of the Business leaders surveyed believe in this. The top Smart ways of adopting advanced technologies to succeed in these business & social challenges are:

1. Tech to collect different types of data without error (43%)
2. Tech to make rational, unbiased decisions (42%)
3. Tech to predict future outcomes based on metrics/past performance (41%).

Sustainable value and social impact can be created in many ways and in all aspects of life and business. Once leaders are clear on their sustainability and social goals, technologies can help to act and provide concrete and trustworthy evidence.

Here are three inspiring such use cases that Oracle has enabled with a combination of its technologies, from Cloud, AI, IOT, and Blockchain.

1. Tech & Fauna: Cloud data collection and analytics are used to protect insect populations. The Swiss center of Fauna cartography in collaboration with Oracle technology are working on the alarmingly high rate — 60% — of the endangered or nearly endangered insects. Their work is not only providing the necessary information to protect endangered species, but it has also helped discover unknown insects and has also been used to protect people from invasive species like the Tiger mosquitoes. [2]

The threatened Insect species rate in Switzerland has risen to 60%.

2. Tech & Agriculture: Data and AI is used to protect the environment from blanket use and over-usage of pesticides. AgroScout, an Israeli-based company of the Oracle for Startups program, is another inspiring agritech story. The technology not only protects the environment, but also helps farmers know which pests and diseases to treat, improve their production, lower their costs, and feed more people.

Farmers in the US only, lose 20%-40% of their crops to pests and diseases

3. Tech & Financial Inclusion: Affordable, reliable, and renewable energy is paramount to financial inclusion. d.light is another Oracle tech-enabled company producing extremely affordable portable solar lanterns all the way to solar home systems. This hardware can power multiple lights, mobile phones, and small appliances, including a flat-screen television.

Since 2006 dLight has delivered power to more than 100 million people in 70 countries. The company has used Oracle data warehousing, analytics and insights that make it easier for its customers to make the transition to renewable energy. Over the past decade, Dlight products have offset 23 million tons of CO2 emissions.

Dlight has also developed recently a Pay as you Go financing platform for those who cant afford the upfront cost of these systems.

About 2 billion people live without reliable electricity mainly in India, Africa and China.

The climate change amongst people around Sustainability and Social responsibility efforts, ESG greenwashing, and not enough action with proof; is the new normal. Businesses that grab the opportunity to respond to this bottom-up pressure, will be rewarded in many ways.

Pamela Rucker, CIO Advisor and Instructor for Harvard Professional Development, says. “This is an opportune moment.` and Juergen Lindner, senior vice president and CMO, Global Marketing SaaS, Oracle says “People are looking for decisive action and are demanding more transparency and tangible results”.

I add that

`Deploying Technologies towards Sustainability and Social business efforts is the new Leadership normal`

I`d like to thank Oracle, the sponsor of this post, for providing the research on this topic. All opinions expressed are my own.

[1] “No Planet B: How Can Businesses and Technology Help Save the World?” study by Oracle, Savanta, and Pamela Rucker, CIO Advisor and Instructor for Harvard Professional Development.

The research findings are based on a survey conducted by Savanta, Inc. between February 25 — March 14, 2022 with 11,005 global respondents from 15 countries (United States, United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, France, China, India, Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and Mexico).

[2] More details Info fauna manages data to protect endangered species in Switzerland with Oracle Cloud

📌 Twitter: https://twitter.com/efipm

📌 Subscribe to my YouTube Channel with my insights and industry leader interviews. New video every Wednesday: https://www.youtube.com/EfiPylarinou

📌 Spotify Podcasts. Follow here: https://open.spotify.com/show/5bRkZEYHSwPiGx7vTqylw6?si=Mg3hN5PDQ86K10GjeK52jw

📌 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/efipylarinou/

📌 Web: https://efipylarinou.com/