Mastering the art of data: the skills that will get you noticed

Posted on 08/17/2021 by scott

The number of ‘just add data’ off-the-shelf analytical and AI solutions is growing in availability, and with AI, intelligent automation and augmentation of power users on the business side, a big question looms – is the role of data scientist even relevant anymore? Absolutely.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report puts data analysts and scientists, AI and machine learning specialists, and big data specialists in the top spots in its list of positions of growing job demand. There’s an evolving need for skills in technology combined with critical, analytical thinking and creativity, as well as the values and attributes which the global pandemic has reinforced – active learning, resilience, flexibility and stress tolerance.

As every business inadvertently becomes a technology business, so must every enterprise become data-powered – tapping into the continuous flow of data to learn, improve, and optimise. But while the demand is there, the talent is missing. Almost three in four businesses say they lack the talent to complete AI and data science initiatives. So for those who want in, there’s a huge opportunity to make your mark – here’s how.

You do the math
No doubt about it, AI and smart machines are doing more of the heavy lifting of data science and analytics. But a deep affinity with algorithms and mathematical logic, even when technology evolves into new areas (like deep learning and reinforcement learning), is vital. Data masters need to understand what lies beneath the surface if they’re going to make informed decisions about which approaches and tools will work best for the problem at hand.

Technology is your friend
Ultimately, it’s about creating outcomes by the data-powered enterprise. Technology is only a way of achieving that. But it is technology that brings us a surge in real-time data points from so many more sources. Technology is what gives us the means to collect this data, to store it, integrate it, and analyse it. It enables us to visualise insights at any point of action and take intelligent, automated action – so embrace it.

Open your mind
A data team which can clearly comprehend the complex metrics, math and logic involved in an AI system is a no-brainer. But cold, hard data means nothing if it cannot be clearly articulated. If you don’t understand your problem, you’ll never be able to solve it. It’s not just artificial intelligence which matters – emotional intelligence will create empathy, conversational capabilities and the ability to balance the objectives of being data-powered and being human.

Get down to business
In a technology business, the best use of data is typically made far from central IT and data management. Sector or domain knowledge needs to be nothing less than substantial. Once that’s mastered, successful data scientists need to keep their ears pricked for relevant external and open datasets – and increasingly algorithms – to bring into every new project – that’s the litmus test for their industry insight.

What’s your story?
I hate to admit it, but sometimes the data scientist doesn’t get their way. Even the most imaginative, smart insights and predictions can fail to land. Why? Because beyond the data, attractive storytelling and visualisation skills are needed to tempt clients and colleagues into the data-powered journey. And the best thing? Inspiration can come from anywhere.

Don’t just do well – do good
We’ve all got that friend who thinks being immersed in data means we’re up to something suspicious. We’re not – but they still have a point. It’s up to every practitioner to seriously understand the ethical considerations of data and AI, and then live and breathe them every single day. There is no shortcut. Unsure how your organisation abides by ethical data rules? Not good enough. Get out there, figure out how others do it well, and learn from it.

Be like water
In business, adaptability is crucial. You need to be like water: ultra-agile, ultra-adaptive, and ultra-responsive. How? Through tightly integrated, multi-disciplinary teams that can rapidly bring solutions to operations. There’s no time for silos – or worse, egos. All the skills mentioned here – they’re important for the individual, but the whole team has to play ball – because specialisation is bliss, but fusion is better.

The rise of digital currencies in the emerging world

Posted on 07/30/2021 by scott

The benefits of this normalisation of cryptocurrency have been spelled out in no uncertain terms by President Bukele, who points to two key areas of interest: financial inclusion and cross-border remittances. As the President notes, 70 percent of El Salvador’s population doesn’t have a bank account – as such, the financial inclusion Bitcoin represents will allow Salvadoreans “access to credit, savings, investment, and secure transactions.”

According to the World Bank, meanwhile, around 20 percent of El Salvador’s GDP is comprised of cross-border remittances – money sent back to the country by workers abroad. By pivoting towards cryptocurrency, the cost of commissions involved in cross-border transactions can be reduced, leading, at least notionally, to greater prosperity.

These exciting changes in the emerging world, with crypto being used in legitimate and pioneering ways to stimulate growth and provide greater financial opportunities to ordinary people, are the backdrop against which much of the global banking community continue to display a reluctance towards crypto adoption. What the example of El Salvador shows, however, is that – like it or not – crypto is here to stay. As such, it’s worth reflecting on banking attitudes in Western countries such as the UK/EU/US and determining where attitudes on the subject are beginning to thaw.

Thawing the ice of banks’ crypto hesitancy
The ice is, in some areas, almost entirely solid. A recent survey from consultancy firm Cornerstone Advisors has shown that among senior bank and credit union executives, there is a high level of disinterest towards offering cryptocurrency investing services – eight in 10 institutions have no interest at all, and only two percent of respondents described themselves as ‘very’ interested.

Resistance isn’t solely due to disinterest, however. NatWest has announced that it will actively refuse to serve any business customers who accept payment in crypto. Morten Friis, head of the bank’s risk committee, has cited cryptocurrency as too “high risk” to deal with.

This is an attitude which has been replicated across the industry: according to the Boston Consulting Group, “financial services leaders remain sceptical of the value that cryptocurrency has as an asset class, and individual cryptocurrencies have lost market capitalization at times.” Similarly, the Financial Conduct Authority began the year by warning that “if consumers invest” in crypto assets, “they should be prepared to lose all their money.”

This conflation is part of the issue. Banks focus on the crypto piece and not on the currency. I somewhat support the notion that crypto is an unstable investment, but I wholeheartedly support the decentralisation and instant nature of the digital currency as a method for El Salvadorean’s and others to cheaply, quickly and efficiently move funds. We need to get to a point where we’re thinking more of this currency aspect and then we will be able to wrap the same KYC/AML framework around it as we do with fiat currency and get over this dated mindset that crypto is all bad. And whilst it is not all good, it does have a very positive and beneficial utility.

The kind of attitude demonstrated by Western institutions might reasonably cause some eyebrow-raising: the same entities would have found it entirely uncontroversial for an investor to buy stocks in cruise business Carnival Corp in 2019 – a company which lost 70 percent of its market cap in 2020. Risk and volatility are not limited to the world of crypto and in my view rejecting digital currencies on that basis isn’t the most persuasive position in the world.

Besides, if we return to another Cornerstone Advisors survey, it’s worth remembering that there are a lot of people to persuade. 60 percent of crypto owners would use their bank to invest in cryptocurrencies if the opportunity were presented to them.

Lighting the touchpaper
Fortunately – albeit slowly – banks are starting to create that kind of opportunity. While UK banks like NatWest and regulators such as the FCA remain slow to catch up, there has been a recent flurry of activity in the US that points towards a burgeoning acceptance of the asset class.

JPMorgan, for example, has recently announced a bitcoin fund in spite of CEO Jamie Dimon embodying the disinterested individuals surveyed by Cornerstone: he recently noted that “I have no interest in it” but that “clients are interested.” It is hard not to think that a lot of the banking world’s resistance to crypto is that they see it as an existential threat rather than there are any real concerns about the KYC/AML framework.

And once this blanket denial is overcome and we can start to apply the same compliance oversight to crypto as we do fiat currencies then the dated preconception that crypto is less safe than fiat will surely pass.

The high levels of interest in crypto banking clearly signpost the futility of banks’ resistance to crypto, and this has been highlighted in similar moves across several other major institutions, including industry darling Goldman Sachs and its recent relaunch of its crypto trading desk.

Of course, as the situation in El Salvador indicates, these moves made by Western banks pale in comparison to the enthusiasm for crypto to be found in the emerging world. Bank of America has found that according to a number of different metrics – adoption rates, trading volumes, levels of mining – the top 10 countries are all found in the emerging world.

As such, Simon Peters an analyst at social trading platform eToro is right to say that “with some of the largest banks in the world now moving to offer their clients bitcoin via a variety of products, we think this is lighting the touch paper for an explosion in interest in cryptoassets.”

The fireworks that follow, however, will be at their brightest, not in the world’s traditional financial centres, but in the emerging markets which have grasped the nettle and begun to demonstrate the many rewards that enthusiastic adoption has to offer.

Cleaning up the plastic pollution pandemic

Posted on 04/12/202104/27/2021 by scott

The Covid-19 crisis has brought many issues into much sharper focus over the course of the past twelve months – and ocean pollution is certainly one of them. The pandemic has sadly served to exacerbate an already concerning plastic pollution problem that has been plaguing our oceans for many years. Pre-Covid, our seas were in a sorry state, with eight million metric tonnes of plastic waste ending up in our oceans each year – that’s the equivalent of a truckload of plastic being dumped into the sea every single minute. For our fragile ocean ecosystems, this is quite simply catastrophic. Fish, marine mammals and seabirds often mistake floating plastic for prey, with many regrettably passing away as a result of ingesting this harmful material. In fact, at least 267 different species are known to have been affected by plastic pollution, while up to 90 percent of seabirds are thought to have pieces of plastic in their stomachs.

Since the onset of the pandemic, meanwhile, the situation has only worsened. One unfortunate societal side effect of Covid-19 has been an explosion in single-use plastics. Each month, an estimated 129 billion face masks and 65 billion latex gloves are discarded across the globe, with much of this waste ending up in our oceans. Polymers in this personal protective equipment (PPE) are breaking down into microplastics, which are easily consumed by both marine wildlife and the delicate coral reefs that play such an essential role in our ocean systems.

Divers from the Mediterranean through to the Philippines have found discarded single-use masks and gloves washing up on shorelines and covering seabeds, in what has been a dire but important reminder of how our actions of today will affect our oceans of tomorrow. Organisations such as French non-profit Opération Mer Propre and the global Professional Association of Diving Instructors have been on a mission to tackle this urgent issue, working to remove plastic waste from the waters on litter-collection drives and attempting to publicly raise awareness of the Covid impact on our oceans.

But along with sounding the alarm on this looming litter crisis, diving organisations across the globe are also using the enforced downtime of the Covid-19 lockdowns to pause and reflect on how they can make their operations all the more sustainable when they are able to reopen once more. Travel bans and national lockdowns may be keeping many divers out of the water for now, but this break in activity serves as a moment for the industry to plan and prepare for a greener post-Covid future. Indeed, British charity The Reef-World Foundation is calling on dive and snorkel operators to keep sustainability at the very top of their agendas both during and beyond the Covid-19 crisis, calling upon those in the industry to do all they can to further reduce their environmental impact when they are able to safely restart operations. There are many ways that companies can ensure environmental best practise, from enacting “no touch” policies when reef diving to using mooring buoys instead of anchoring. Going forward, litter collection and effective waste management should also be at the forefront of divers’ minds as they enter the water – after all, every little helps when it comes to keeping our oceans clean. We may have a great challenge ahead of us, but it’s time to strike while the iron is hot and to create the sustainable future that we so desperately want to see post-pandemic.

Howard Angel is a marine ecologist who regularly writes about diving and the conservation of our oceans

How will corporation tax change under Making Tax Digital?

Posted on 10/13/2020 by scott

The UK government unveiled an ambitious 10 year plan to reform the rest of the tax administration back in July. Keen to capitalise upon the success of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for VAT, it announced it would be opening a consultation on what the design for MTD for corporation tax should look like, the reform of which is likely to prove far more difficult and disruptive than VAT.

Overdue for reform
Corporation tax processes have been largely unchanged for over a decade. An established process; it requires software to calculate and file the return online on an annual basis, although very large organisations with profits in excess of £20m pay by instalments.

The main expectation of the market is that quarterly reporting will be introduced under MTD for corporation tax. This could mean we see as many as six returns a year (four quarterly, a true-up and an annual return), compared to the single return we have today. Whilst the quarterly returns are likely to be more ‘light touch,’ this means we can expect a material increase in the time spent on corporation tax reporting annually than at present.

Some calculations carried out under corporation tax are very complex and are unlikely to be easy to perform multiple times a year. Take Corporate Interest Restriction (CIR), brought in in 2017, which features multiple steps to calculate the interest allowance, group ratios, limits and debt caps etc. Other sectors, where sales are seasonal, such as in the retail space, could find it problematic to apply specific calculations on a quarterly basis without this skewing reporting.

Quarterly reporting is also likely to increase workloads and this could change how large corporations allocate resource. This will therefore have an impact on resource models and may change the operating model of the tax function overall.

The role of technology
What about technology, surely MTD is all about digitalising the returns process and reducing the workload? Under MTD for VAT, the entire process from source to submission will be digitalised by the end of 2021, when the use of digital links has been mandated. This in turn has driven the adoption of technology across the sector, seeing Excel models replaced with dedicated technology solutions.

It is not yet clear if we can expect the same with corporation tax, but if digital links are required this would change the way many corporations prepare their report. Even those already using commercial software would have to look at eliminating manual calculations within their process.

Today as much of 75% of the time taken to carry out corporation tax reporting is spent on the first step: gathering together the source data. This takes up an inordinate amount of time and, as it is done manually or semi-manually, can see errors creep in. Automating this process is therefore going to be vital if quarterly reporting is introduced. To help address this problem we can expect to see MTD for CT focus on ETL (extract, transform, load) capabilities which can quickly pull data from one data source into another.

Projections versus reality
Corporation tax currently sees the business attempt to estimate its tax liability in order to determine the amount of corporation tax that should be paid. This method is far from ideal, as we’ve seen under the COVID-19 crisis, where projections have not matched reality. It’s expected that corporation tax repayments for 2020 will put a large dent in tax revenues as many businesses will seek to claim back money paid for loss making periods. Quarterly reporting should help prevent such large-scale repayments in the future particularly if predictive analytics are incorporated into the software required to submit the return.

MTD for corporation tax is therefore likely to be a more difficult process to digitalise, requiring technology that can automate more complex calculations and provide additional functionality, such as forecasting. It’s liable to increase tax workloads, at least in the short term, and could even see new business models emerge. But ultimately it does promise to make the process more accurate and efficient, provided that is the government’s consultation acknowledges and seeks to resolve these hurdles.

Pests cost the economy billions every year – but natural predators can help

Posted on 09/23/202009/22/2020 by scott

When the coronavirus spread around the world in early 2020, rumour circulated that the disease had been produced in a laboratory and wilfully exported by the Chinese government. This theory has been widely debunked. Nevertheless, the purposeful exporting of diseases is far from fiction.

Myxomatosis is a disease infecting rabbits that originates from South, Central and North America. In the 1950s, it was intentionally introduced into Australia, France and Chile to control rabbit populations. It was extraordinarily effective. The initially released virus had case fatality rates in excess of 99 percent. Given the damage rabbits can do to crops, a 2013 paper published in Australian Economic History Review estimates that the virus, along with rabbit haemorrhagic disease, saved Australia’s agricultural industries A$70bn ($51bn) over the course of 60 years.

Since the mid-twentieth century, biological control has been prevalent in the agricultural industry as a means of protecting crops from pests. The use of a disease to control a population is a relatively rare method. More commonly, biological control means introducing a natural enemy into the environment. It’s a more environmentally friendly method of pest control – but intervening in an ecosystem like this requires a careful hand.

Natural predators
Pests are more than a nuisance. They can also take a heavy toll on the economy. According to a 2017 paper released by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London, pests and pathogens could cost up to $540bn per year if left unchecked. The growth of international trade is only accelerating their spread. A 2016 study found that the US and China, due to their huge trade volumes, are the biggest sources of invasive species to the rest of the world.

The most expensive to control are those that feed on commodities. The Khapra Beetle, considered one of the most destructive pests in the world, consumes a variety of dried foods, including rice, and can damage up to 70 percent of grain stores during an infestation. Meanwhile, corn rootworms – which, as their name suggests, eat corn – cost US producers about $1bn annually in yield losses and input costs to control them.

Stefan Toepfer, Research Scientist at the Centre for Agricultural and Bioscience International, explains that corn rootworms are notoriously difficult to control, having developed resistance to some pesticides and even to some cultural methods such as crop rotation. They are particularly difficult to control in areas they aren’t native to. “In the invaded areas, such as Europe, western corn rootworm is an alien species, and is therefore lacking specific natural enemies as they have been left behind in the area of origin which is Mexico and Central America,” said Toepfer.

There are a number of methods of biological control against corn rootworms, but one of the most effective is the use of entomopathogenic nematodes. “These are tiny worms that are natural antagonists of soil insects pests,” said Toepfer. “There are other options, such as parasitoids, fungal pathogens or soil bacteria. But all those are in early research phase for this specific insect.”

Using natural predators has become an increasingly common way of keeping pests at bay. It’s been found to be highly effective; research by the University of Queenland recently found that this form of biological control is saving farmers in Asia around $20.1bn to $26.8bn per year.

There are many biological control agents out there and choosing the right one for the right pest is crucial, as Brian Spencer, President of Applied Bio-nomics, a biological pest control firm, explains. “In tomatoes, our most popular product is our non-refrigerated Encarsia formosa, a tiny whitefly parasitoid. In cannabis, it is the small black beetle, Stethorus punctillum, which is extremely climate adaptable and effective against spider mite,” he said. “Overall, the soil mite Stratiolaelaps scimitus is our most popular. It is used in almost every crop and is truly the enforcer of the soil, helping to manage fungus gnats, pupating thrips, root weevils and root aphids, over-wintering spider mite, pathogenic nematodes and many more.”

Biological warfare
One of the downsides of bio-control agents, however, is that it can take weeks before farmers see the results. “The one advantage that the synthetics still have is speed,” said Spencer. “Biological pest control requires planning and an understanding of the plant-pest dynamics.”

One only needs to look at to look at times when biological control has gone wrong understand why research and planning is so important. The cane toad in Australia, for example, was originally introduced in the hope that it would eat the cane beetles that were destroying sugar cane fields. In Australia, over A$20m ($14.6m) has been spent trying to control the spread of cane toads. Similarly, the European starling, which was initially introduced to North America, Australia and New Zealand to control insect populations, is known to decimate agricultural crops.

There are other methods of biological control that could be used. The introduction of myxomatosis to kill rabbits is not the only use of viruses as pest control. Baculoviruses have been sprayed across large areas of forest in North America to kill the larvae of the gypsy moth, a highly destructive pest that consumes over 500 species of trees, shrubs and plants.

Another method of biological control is sterilisation. This involves mass rearing a pest, sterilising it and releasing it into the population. In 1982, the US successfully eradicated the screw-worm – a parasitic fly that gets its name from its ability to burrow into skin of warm-blooded animals – using this technique. It’s estimated that the North and Central American save over $1.5bn a year as a result.

Eradicating a pest, however, is a decision that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Trying to eradicate large numbers of one animal can wreak havoc with the food chain. For example, when Mao Zedong, the founding father of the People’s Republic of China, called for the extermination of sparrows, he unwittingly caused the spread of insects – usually eaten by the sparrows – which devoured food crops around the country. It’s thought this contributed to the Great Chinese Famine, in which 20 to 45 million people died of starvation.

Protecting the environment
The agricultural industry has shifted its focus to biological control of pests partly due to increased concern over the environmental and health effects of using chemical pesticides. Over the years, the EU has banned a growing number of pesticides, which in turn has driven its trading partners to use alternative means of control.

“Now, in most cases, biological pest control is less expensive and more efficacious than the synthetic pesticides,” said Spencer. “This is partly due to the reduced availability of the extremely toxic synthetics, such as the organophosphates that were all based on nerve gas, and now, the noenicitinoids which are extremely dangerous to the bees.”

Certain insecticides can cause widespread environmental contamination, spreading through the food chain. Considering this, the introduction of a natural predator is potentially a much less serious encroachment on a given ecosystem. But it still needs to be managed carefully. For example, another problem with using natural predators is the paradox of biological control – the more effective a predator is, the more likely it is to eliminate its own food source and die out, causing a resurgence in the pest. But when applied in the right conditions, natural predators can be the perfect ally to pest-stricken farmers. As the saying goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Social Impact: Embedding social impact into the heart of business

Posted on 09/22/202009/22/2020 by scott

Growing a business has never been more difficult. With the world experiencing multiple crises – a global pandemic, social injustice, overconsumption of resources and climate change – corporations need to rethink value creation. Across regions and industries, businesses should be asking what can be built on top of their core operations and mission to ensure a more prosperous, equitable and sustainable world.

Successful organizations will strike a thoughtful balance. More than ever, people seek personal fulfillment from their work and take pride in being part of a diverse and inclusive workforce. Sustainability, being forward-facing and solution-focused attracts talent and deeper commitment. Simultaneously, businesses want to be more agile, resilient and innovative to deliver long-term value.

Investors increasingly assess companies by their impact on society and the environment

At SAP, we do not view these as distinct outcomes. Our approach is to evolve holistically and align our goals. Our defining principle puts shared values and purpose at the core of business while harnessing digital technologies. This powerful combination inspires, engages and attracts people while it unlocks innovation, agility and resilience.

Inspired people and hyper tech prowess provide the infrastructure for other avenues of positive change and expansion, such as partnering with social enterprises.

Social enterprises are ordinary, for-profit businesses that have a humanitarian or environmental mission at their core. When they make money, they direct a significant portion of their profits back into that mission. Social enterprises represent a hugely under-tapped resource for corporations to meet the changing expectations of today’s consumers, employees and investors. Partnering with, or purchasing from, a social enterprise can transform something basic like obtaining goods and services into part of the sustainable growth strategy while deepening employee pride and customer loyalty.

Putting social impact first

Consumers expect companies to stand for both profit and social impact. This is evidenced by the dramatic shift in buying patterns. According to the NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business, 50 percent of growth in sales of consumer-packaged goods between 2013 and 2018 came from sustainability-marketed products.

Additionally, more and more employees expect their companies to promote solutions to global challenges. Today’s high-performing candidates seek businesses that support socially impactful endeavors and will help them apply their skills not only to the top and bottom lines, but to the “green line” of sustainable growth.

Investors increasingly assess companies by their impact on society and the environment and the financial implication is real. Environmental and social issues drive 25% of the money invested in the US. Globally, $23trn is now allocated to funds committed to responsible investing.

Social enterprises have been working for decades to drive more sustainable and inclusive business models. Often lean and with mission-driven operations, these organizations are struggling in the global pandemic. Corporations have a significant opportunity in this climate: Support these vital and growing enterprises and protect years of innovation and value creation.

The social enterprise sector is estimated to be worth $12trn globally and could increase employment by up to 380 million jobs by 2030. Through meaningful support and partnership with social enterprises, social change and more deeply embedded humanitarian missions can be woven into core businesses.

SAP One Billion Lives Platform

A tenet of SAP One Billion Lives is to find a better way for corporates to grow. SAP One Billion Lives’ ambition to positively impact one billion lives is realized in part by accelerating social entrepreneurs.

Internally, SAP One Billion Lives supports employees who conceive and develop a portfolio of sustainable, shared-value impact ventures. These ventures aim to help solve the world’s biggest problems by utilizing the best SAP has to offer — its people, technology, ecosystems and resources.

Social enterprises are ordinary, for-profit businesses that have a humanitarian or environmental mission at their core

Our employees, driven by their hearts and expertise and underpinned by SAP resources, created businesses that helped establish more effective cancer treatment protocols in India, improved disaster relief efforts around the world, made sustainable supply chain sourcing possible and set out to eliminate child labour in cobalt mines. In the face of a global pandemic this year, SAP One Billion Lives also drew focus on addressing COVID-19 challenges, from enabling humanitarian response during the pandemic, to better management of cohorts with different Covid-19 statuses in the workplace.

Harnessing social procurement

SAP One Billion Lives believes in integrating social enterprises into the global economy through procurement practices and by supporting social entrepreneurs. The platform’s mission externally now includes trumpeting the value – actual and inherent – of supporting social enterprises.

Social procurement is one of the easiest ways a corporation can drastically boost their contribution to a more sustainable, equitable world. The basics of a business can seem universal whether it is marketing services, coffee, or paper. Social enterprises exist which can meet these needs and many more. Value increases while the spend stays the same. SAP has spent 2.5% of its addressable spend in the UK with social enterprises and we plan not only to significantly increase this amount, but to take the program worldwide.

Our SAP Ariba Network, the largest B2B commerce network in the world, which processes over $3 trillion in transactions per annum established a partnership with Social Enterprise UK. SAP now includes their members running mission-driven businesses on the Ariba network, connecting myriad social enterprises with corporations across the world who want to make a difference with their spend.

Social enterprises have been working for decades to drive more sustainable and inclusive business models

SAP believes we have a vital role to play. We can drive more purpose-enabled value creation for our customers and communities by helping them run sustainably, innovate for impact and partner for a more equitable world.

SAP stands behind the three themes laid out in the first article in this series. The challenges we face today aren’t independent, but rather interdependent. We deeply believe that the best-run companies of the future will seek profit, resilience and sustainability in equal parts. The formula is clear: Act with purpose and lead in growth.

To learn more about how SAP is leading with purpose, visit sap.com/purpose. And to explore how SAP is helping corporate business grow through purpose-driven innovation with social enterprises, visit sap.com/socent.

Trump’s plans to ban Chinese app WeChat blocked

Posted on 09/21/2020 by scott

President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban the Chinese app WeChat was meant to go into effect on 20 September. But a federal judge in California has temporarily blocked the ban, claiming that it could infringe on users’ first amendment rights.

The plan to ban it was challenged by a group of WeChat users who argued that removing the platform would prevent many from communicating with Chinese friends, relatives and business connections. The Chinese-owned messaging app has around 19 million users in the US and is particularly popular among Chinese-speaking Americans.

“The plaintiffs’ evidence reflects that WeChat is effectively the only means of communication for many in the community, not only because China bans other apps, but also because Chinese speakers with limited English proficiency have no options other than WeChat,” wrote Judge Laurel Beeler, who issued the preliminary injunction.

However, the Trump administration has alleged the app threatens national security. It has accused the Chinese government of using the platform to collect data on US citizens. Tencent, which owns WeChat, denies the allegations.

The justice department had urged Beeler not to block the order, saying doing so would “frustrate and displace the president’s determination of how best to address threats to national security”. But Beeler argued that an outright ban of the platform was unjustified. “As the plaintiffs point out, there are obvious alternatives to a complete ban, such as barring WeChat from government devices, as Australia has done, or taking other steps to address data security,” she wrote.

The injunction against the ban comes after President Trump announced that he had approved a deal between TikTok and US firms Oracle and Walmart. This would enable TikTok to continue operating in the US.

Google says it has wiped out its carbon footprint

Posted on 09/15/2020 by scott

Google has eliminated its carbon footprint, the company announced on 14 September. The business has been carbon neutral since 2007 but has now wiped out all the carbon it has ever produced, by investing in “high-quality carbon offsets”.

As part of its announcement, the company also revealed plans to run all of its data centres and offices on carbon-free energy by 2030. “This is our biggest sustainability moonshot yet,” said Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai in a statement, “with enormous practical and technical complexity. We are the first major company that’s set out to do this, and we aim to be the first to achieve it.”

To reach its goal, the company plans on investing in new technological approaches, from pairing wind and solar power sources to optimising electricity demand and forecasting through artificial intelligence. Pichai claims this endeavour will create 12,000 jobs over the next five years.

Google is one of many large tech companies aiming to limit their environmental impact. Microsoft announced in July that it plans to become “carbon negative” by 2030, while Apple has revealed plans to become carbon neutral across its business operations and supply chain by 2030.

Also, Facebook was hot on Google’s heels with an announcement of its own. On 15 September, the social media company unveiled the launch of its Climate Science Information Centre, aimed at combating climate change misinformation on its platform. Both companies’ green pledges come as California, home to Google’s headquarters, is ravaged by wildfires made more deadly by climate change.

Why the biggest tech companies are investing in India’s Jio

Posted on 09/09/202009/07/2020 by scott

For years, India has been referred to as the world’s next tech hub. But so far the country has struggled to make this a reality. Its IT sector is beleaguered by ageing infrastructure, foreign companies dominate its tech industry and its workforce lack the digital skills needed to help build world-class start-ups.

This may be about to change, thanks to the arrival of Jio. Jio is the telecoms and internet unit of the Indian conglomerate, Reliance, owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani. In April, Reliance announced that Facebook would pay almost $6bn for 9.9 percent of the business. This prompted a deluge of queries from other large companies, including Google, which in July paid $4.5bn for a 7.7 percent stake in the company.

It’s the first time an Indian firm has attracted this level of attention from some of the most prolific companies and investors. The interest the business has garnered on the world stage shows that India’s technology scene now stands at a key inflection point.

Untapped growth
On a visit to the country in January 2020, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said that “the 21^st century is going to be the Indian century.” While digital markets in Europe, the US, China and Japan are increasingly saturated, India is on the verge of huge digital growth.

“Smartphone penetration in India is still low compared to other big economies. This means that hundreds of millions of new users will become part of the digital economy in the coming years,” said Hanish Bhatia, Senior Analyst of Devices and Ecosystems at Counterpoint Research. It is set to have 2.1 billion connected devices by 2023, up from 1.5 billion in 2018, according to Cisco.

The coronavirus pandemic is only hastening the country’s transition to a digital economy. The Reserve Bank of India has found that India is now recording around 100 million digital transactions a day, five times the number in 2016.

For tech platforms such as Facebook – which has seen audience growth begin to plateau in the US – the rapidly digitising country represents a huge opportunity. Google has launched a fund to invest $10bn in Indian digital businesses over the coming years.

“Facebook and Google have been taking an interest in India for some time now. The major reason is demographic and to do with the size of the population. India, on paper at least, is the largest integrated market in the world after China,” said Jaideep Prabhu, the Jawaharlal Nehru professor of business and enterprise at the Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge. “But unlike in China, where the government and the economy have their own ambitions for their home-grown digital giants and have been suspicious of foreign firms like Facebook and Google, the Indian economy is in some ways more open.”

With tensions between the US and China continuing to rise, India looks increasingly attractive as the next up-and-coming market for US companies to invest in. And Jio presents itself as an obvious entry point for this market.

The next tech giant
Jio is India’s leading mobile phone carrier, equipped with a 4G network that covers most of India. But it is much more than just a telecoms company. “Jio has enabled a billion users to use internet banking, digital wallets, online streaming, ecommerce, eLearning, gaming and much more,” said Bhatia. “It’s created an online marketplace of consumers which has been a big boost for the app economy. It has further opened doors for various tech start-ups which are now trying to cater to various consumer needs which were never thought of before.” As KKR’s co-founder Henry Kravis said when announcing his investment in the business: “Few companies have the potential to transform a country’s digital ecosystem in the way that Jio Platforms is doing in India.”

Aggressive pricing and close scrutiny of US tech rivals have helped the company get to where it is today. Reuters reported seeing documents in which a Jio team was tasked with creating a set-top box “similar to Apple TV”. However, this product would cost around $110, compared to Apple TV, which sells for approximately double that in India.

Another element key to the company’s success, Bhatia argues, is it deep integration in India’s communications sector. “Most telecommunication companies control only a portion of the connectivity value chain. Jio is omnipresent across all of them. It owns the digital ecosystem right from the network, devices, apps, retail, cloud as well as analytics,” he told The New Economy.

The person who stands to benefit the most from Jio’s growing influence within India’s economy is Ambani, Reliance’s CEO and currently the sixth-richest man in the world. He already dominates much of Indian industry. As a well as telecoms unit, Reliance has a brick-and-mortar retailer, an oil complex and a news network. Ambani has said he hopes Reliance can one day become an “everything company” – an ambition that looks more and more within his grasp.

Navigating India’s digital economy
The world’s largest tech companies first turned their attention to India some years ago. Google, for instance, began operations in the country in 2004. Now they are starting to reap the rewards.

“India has about 290 million Facebook users, more probably than any other country in the world,” said Prabhu. “Add to that another 200 million or so on WhatsApp and you can see why India is important to Mark Zuckerberg. Google has also been trying for some time now to reach India’s vast rural population through the internet with its services. For instance, the Google Loon project was focused on using balloons to bring the internet to the countryside. And Google also offers free wifi in Indian train stations where poor, young customers go online on their phones.”

But getting access to India’s market isn’t without its challenges. For example, Facebook has come up against many regulatory hurdles in the country while trying to monetise its user base there. Regulators obstructed its attempts to launch an internet provider called Free Basics in 2014 and the company hasn’t yet been able to launch payments on WhatsApp in the country.

Jio could help investors navigate the country’s complex regulatory landscape. And with over 400 million subscribers, it already has unparalleled exposure in this market. “It has the scale, the deep pockets, the insider connections and local knowledge to success in digital commerce in India,” said Prabhu.

Jio has a vital role to play in advancing India’s digital economy, having brought millions of Indians online for the first time through the provision of very affordable 4G data. However, its cheap mobile packages have come at a heavy cost and today the company has a net debt of almost $10bn. The flurry of investment, therefore, could not have come at a better time for the tech company. Meanwhile – for Facebook, Google and Amazon – this presents a crucial opportunity to establish their place inside the world’s fastest growing digital market. The question is whether Jio can deliver what they hope.

Climate change: Managing the ‘Green Line’ to address climate action

Posted on 09/08/202010/13/2020 by scott

COVID-19 has caused tremendous economic and human loss. But the impact of climate change could be even greater, so it is important that we learn from our response to the pandemic in order to help avoid ecological disaster in the years ahead.

The pandemic has shown that local action has global consequences. Just as a health crisis in one part of the world can quickly touch every corner of the globe, unsustainable business practices can accelerate an environmental catastrophe that affects us all.

That’s why nations must build resilience into the heart of their economies. With the convergence of crises, many see a green recovery as critical to accelerate action on the environment but also on public health and the economy.

Time is of the essence. Without a healthy planet, there can be no basis for a return to long-term growth and shared prosperity. The environmental impact of COVID-19 is set to reduce global emissions in 2020 by about 8 percent, but we clearly remain on an unsustainable path and pressure is mounting. We must act now to shape a sustainable recovery.

The changing role of business

By driving production and consumption, global business has an enormous impact on our planet. While businesses often are cast as culprits in the environmental crisis, they also play a key role in the solutions, for example by driving the transition to a low-carbon, circular economy.

Historically, the foundation for sound business has been managing profitability and growth. The pandemic has revealed the importance of a second and third foundation for business: resilience and sustainability.

Increasingly, industry leaders are moving these to the top of the corporate agenda. They see that resilient, sustainable business is not only good for communities and the environment but can have a positive impact on their overall competitive performance.

The pandemic has shown that local action has global consequences

Company leaders will need to do much more than just manage their top and bottom lines to keep investors and other stakeholders happy. They will also need to manage their “green line”. This will require openly disclosing, among other information, how they are reducing the carbon footprint of their business down to their individual products and services.

At SAP, we use the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a common global framework for our efforts on sustainability. We believe that steering a company holistically – considering the financial, economic, environmental AND social impacts of corporate actions – leads to better outcomes.

We cannot act alone. To address global challenges such as climate change, businesses must partner on all levels and across organisations, industries and regions.

Leading companies are already taking action. Allianz no longer insures coal-fired power plants, Maersk has committed to having zero-emission vessels commercially viable by 2030 and WalMart wants to eliminate one billion metric tonnes of emissions from its supply chain by the same year.

Meanwhile, more than 950 companies have signed up for science-based emissions reduction targets – many even in line with a 1.5°C trajectory to limit global warming, just as SAP has. But meeting these ambitious targets presents a huge challenge.

The Climate 21 programme

To reduce their overall environmental impact, companies with large and complex supply chains will need to generate a complete “carbon ledger” upstream and downstream.

Once businesses can see the value of carbon management, they will more effectively capture the value of reclaimed resources and be able to keep resources in use for longer periods of time. As well as reducing emissions, this will accelerate the circular economy and help companies optimise all resources in their operations.

SAP supports and enables organisations to do this through the Climate 21 programme. The programme provides insights to help companies assemble, assess and act on their CO₂emissions footprint along the supply and value chain.

It does this, firstly, by assembling CO₂ emissions data on inputs, production and operations at all levels of the enterprise. This is essential so businesses can understand the sources of CO₂ emissions and engage with suppliers to reduce CO₂ emissions of their inputs.

The SAP Product Carbon Footprint Analytics application is now available as the first solution in the Climate 21 programme. The application uses data from SAP S/4HANA and third-party sources to calculate this information within SAP Analytics Cloud. This helps customers understand their emissions down to the individual product level.

SAP ultimately will help customers transform their business to minimize emissions

In the second stage of the Climate 21 road map, SAP aims to enable customers to visualise their emissions inventory, analyse trends, conduct benchmarking and identify investments that provide the best returns on lowering emissions.

In the third stage of the program road map, SAP will provide integration tools to help companies operationalize their climate plans. By looking at their end products, which have accumulated the emissions generated by suppliers and the company’s own processes, they will have the insights on how to transform their business processes to minimise their CO₂emissions footprint.

SAP ultimately will help customers transform their business to minimize emissions, but also give organisations the power to adapt their supply chains, business models and customer engagement approaches as necessary in order to reach net-zero carbon emissions.

SAP has the scale and industry expertise to lead on climate action. We serve over 400,000 businesses in more than 180 countries, including 92 percent of the Forbes Global 2000 companies, 98 percent of the 100 most valued brands, and 97 percent of the greenest companies.

Our Climate 21 programme puts us in a strong position to support and enable organizations around the world to run as sustainable intelligent enterprises. We will create value for our customers by helping them reach their carbon objectives and make business decisions that promote sustainability. Together, we can make profits sustainable and make sustainability profitable.

To learn more about how SAP is leading with purpose and addressing climate action, visit sap.com/climateaction.

India bans 118 Chinese apps

Posted on 09/04/2020 by scott

On 2 September, India’s IT Ministry announced that it would block 118 apps with linkage to China that are “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.” The move comes months after the country banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, the popular video app for which India was believed to be one of the biggest markets.

Among the apps named in this latest ban are Chinese search giant Baidu, the mobile payment app Alipay and cloud storage service Tencent Weiyun. Tencent’s mobile game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, or PUBG, was also included in the list. This decision is considered especially controversial given PUBG’s popularity in India; it was the top mobile game by monthly active users in India last year, according to analytics from AppAnnie.

The government said it had received complaints from “various sources” about “misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorised manner to servers which have locations outside India”.

Tensions between the two countries have been escalating recently due to an ongoing dispute along the Himalayan border. In June, a deadly clash between the two neighbours in the Ladakh region left 20 Indian soldiers dead. Multiple rounds of military talks since then have failed to end the standoff.

In addition to blocking Chinese apps, India has also taken steps to reduce its economic reliance on China. Earlier this year the country tightened its foreign investment rules to limit Chinese takeovers of Indian companies as well as increasing scrutiny of visas for Chinese businessmen and academics.