Environmental Social Governance (ESG) is a self-regulating model that helps organizations be socially accountable to themselves, their stakeholders, and the public. Through ESG, companies can be conscious of their impact on all aspects of society, including their economic, social, and environmental impacts.
First coined in 2005 in a landmark study entitled Who Cares Wins, “it has become clear that investing in ESG facilitates long-term growth. These three letters encapsulate a broad set of issues, from sustainability to social impact, and these factors aren’t always easily measured or managed.”
Heading in the same trajectory, the advancements in tech have reached unprecedented speeds, with McKinsey reporting an acceleration of 5 years in digital adoption within the first few months of the Covid-19 pandemic. The correlation between these is clear, and it might just be that tech is the secret weapon to facilitate and maximize the return on ESG initiatives.
Often the customers we work with approach us with a focus on digital transformation. While we agree this is a priority, we challenge them to address the journey as a reinvention. Within this, we want to explore how ESG initiatives can spark reinvention as organizations adopt digital-first strategies.
Driving business efficiency
A shared objective of any digital transformation or ESG policy is efficiency. We can look at this from multiple angles, all as valuable as each other. Starting with the sustainability aspect, in line with government requirements and growing social pressures, companies must optimize supply chains and minimize waste to reduce their carbon footprint and improve efficiency. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems and other technologies are great platforms that track this; however, having multiple systems goes against our desire for efficiency. With Salesforce, the aim is to create a single source of truth by integrating existing platforms and eliminating disconnected data with solutions such as MuleSoft.
This connected data source and insights relays efficiency to other aspects of the business. Employees can access all the relevant information they need within Customer 360, enabling them to make data-driven decisions. For example, a clear snapshot of energy usage patterns via Tableau will improve trust with customers, employees, and potential investors.
Enhancing customer experience
Customers continue to become savvier and savvier about ESG, so meeting and exceeding expectations is an ongoing commitment. Collecting and collating data provides organizations with valuable insights into their customers, allowing them to understand their community better and align their actions with each stakeholder’s values.
In recent years, there has been a seismic shift in climate change’s impact on consumer behavior. More and more conscious consumers are seeking sustainable offerings, and, married with their aptitude to utilize digital platforms to survey alternative options, competition is fierce. Organizations must demonstrate their efforts to remain competitive and avoid the costs associated with not adopting ESG initiatives and digital transformation. Honesty and transparency are key for creating the right experience, providing easy access to key metrics demonstrating your commitment to ESG. Words without data are guaranteed to create a less favorable experience.
Empowering employees
We’ve already mentioned the impact ESG has on the customer experience. Still, we mustn’t forget employees’ pivotal role in that journey and the value they can add to accelerating growth. Values once gone unchallenged behind corporate walls are now exposed as businesses appear to operate in glasshouses where values, culture, and conduct are visible to all. The social stake starts from within, and having an engaged and empowered workforce on key initiatives such as ESG should be considered a high priority.
Empowering employees, including key decision makers, with executive-ready dashboard data is key to success. Providing rich data visualization and dashboards to evaluate corporate environmental impact and track energy patterns and emission trends helps decision-makers better understand and create a plan to drive sustainability solutions.
Salesforce’s ability to connect data across the organization from Service and Marketing Cloud to Tableau and other third-party integrations can hugely influence ESG initiatives’ success. To track environmental costs and an organization’s carbon footprint, Salesforce launched a Sustainability Cloud to measure climate impact.
Unsurprisingly, in addition to providing ESG enablement solutions, Salesforce is Net Zero, delivers a carbon-neutral cloud, achieved 100% renewable energy for their operations, and is a founding partner of 1t.org.
Earlier this year, we announced that Globant has also achieved Carbon Neutrality. As part of the Race to Zero journey and the wider global movement, we have signed the Science-Based Targets Business Ambitions for 1.5°C commitment letter and were involved with discussions at the recent COP26 conference. Discover more about the initiatives Globant is undertaking as part of our Be kind to the planet ethos and the support we offer businesses through our Sustainability Studio.
For more information on ways in which Globant’s Salesforce Studio and Salesforce can support your ESG through digital transformation, please get in touch with our team.
