How Smart Technology can drive Sustainability in Finance and Controlling

Companies must be able to steer their business operations based on key figures that allow to track the impact on the environment and help to drive sustainable investments into markets, products and services...

Control and steer based on sustainable key figures and invest into opportunities that have a positive impact on the environment and brand image

Finance and Controlling are at the center when it comes to transform a business based on a sustainable-driven strategy. It is about helping management to take the right decisions that make a positive impact on sustainability, comply with regulatory requirements and foster a positive brand image. It is also about innovating with a model of corporate social responsibility. By leading with a sustainable purpose, the finance and controlling department helps the entire line of business focus on what matters most to customers and business partners. Finance also ensures that investments are done in areas that influence products and services development in regards of sustainability and eco-friendliness. Controlling helps to handle climate relevant factors like budgets and helps to create the necessary key figures and metrics in order to steer based on relevant cost factors. Controlling spans across the whole value chain and therefore plays a crucial part in the company’s endeavor to make a change and to have an impact. Each transaction for procurement or production creates an emission trigger which can be handled as a finance and controlling value with a respective budget. So companies can make better decisions because they know what the impact on the environment really is. They can have clear view of the impact for each of their products or services. This transparency also helps to invest or stop investing into markets, suppliers or products that will cause costs over time since they are not good for the environment.

Smart Technology is the enabler for sustainable finance and controlling practices as it helps to create the necessary data foundation. Process Intelligence can be used to mine and to create the relevant key figures for each business transaction in order to optimize sustainable steering of operations. Data Intelligence which can be used to simulate and visualize the impact of business operations and investments into sustainable markets, suppliers and products. Machine Learning can help to support decision making while reducing regulatory risks. Smart Integration & Connectivity helps to integrate all different financial data, internal and external. It will allow to make sure that a company can better predict investments into sustainable material, business partners and markets.

🌎 Understand the impact of each business operation and investment activity and focus on sustainable options

🌎 Get the transparency of the emission impact of your products and services and start to handle the relevant key values in your budgets

🌎 Introduce agile investment methods and make sure that every business partner can benefit

I believe it is time to revolutionize the way we do business. It is time for a Purpose-driven Wellbeing Economy. But to achieve this goal we need new finance and controlling practices which help to make sure companies have the full transparency about the impact of their business operations and invest into the right business partners and business ideas that really make a change and help to build a sustainable economy for all beings. What do you think?