This blog was co-written by Brad Bate and Liam Bossi.
Corporate sustainability is undergoing a fundamental shift; for an
indication of just how far it has come, look no further than SAP. The
enterprise software giant has added environmental metrics
to many of its core offerings, allowing information about environmental
impacts to be seamlessly incorporated into everything from executive
management to operations. It indicates that sustainability is starting
to be internalized by at least some of SAP’s customers, which include
many of the largest companies in the world.
The size, scope and sophistication of corporate environmental data has
exploded in recent years, as recognition of potential savings through
efficiency along with the pressure for disclosure have intensified the
need for large companies to understand more about their operations. This
will only increase as “smart” technologies become more prevalent and
everyday objects create their own piles of data. The challenge is
managing and drawing meaning from billions of data streams in order to
understand it, apply it and make more informed decisions with it.