Innovation + Responsibility

Have you seen SAP's latest sustainability report? If not, I highly recommend you check it out. This is one of the best reports I've seen, and sets a high bar for the technology industry in particular and reporting companies in general. (Full disclosure: I have met the Chief Sustainability Officer at SAP and have had occasional discussions with SAP employees about sustainability issues. That said, I actually learned about the publication of the report from a friend's Facebook status update.)

There are a few things I find particularly compelling about SAP's 2008 report.

*First of all, a simple design and depth and breadth of content is a difficult combination to successfully achieve, and SAP has done it.

*Secondly, and probably more importantly, SAP's use of its own products to collect, manage and report the data included in this report is a great example of what stakeholders are always asking companies to do - clearly demonstrate the link between what your company makes and sells, and sustainability. For SAP that means creating software applications that can be used to manage a company's social and environmental performance. That SAP uses its own sustainability report as a proof of concept is just plain smart. But you don't have to be a software company that can facilitate reporting in order to make the link. The link can be made in how a company makes its products - for example ensuring factory workers are well-treated and paid fairly, leading to reduced turnover and therefore cost savings. A company can connect its core business to sustainability through the way it offers its services - for example utilizing technology to cut down on business travel whenever possible, saving GHG emissions and also dollars.  A company can use its core assets to educate, enable and empower its customers to consider their impact on the planet and communities. You get the point.

*Third, SAP takes a bold step by allowing its corporate sustainability report to double as a product marketing brochure without sacrificing the integrity of the report itself (in my opinion).  The "Our Solutions" section of the SAP report, which is a synopsis of the sustainability challenges facing global businesses today and the corresponding SAP software products that can help businesses manage these challenges, is one of the better sustainability marketing efforts I have seen.

*Lastly, SAP again worked to create a report loaded with compelling interactive features that allow a visitor to do more than just read it, it allows one to manipulate the presentation of the data, take a survey about the report's content and participate in a dialogue with SAP about its overall efforts.  Although, as compelling as this interactivity is, time will tell how much that feature actually gets used (my recollection of the first report, which I lauded in this space when it was first released back in December 2008, was that participation in this part of the report was low).

SAP's report is certainly not flawless - I wish there was a way to more
easily interact with the content and leave comments and feedback
directly into the report, for example.  I also wish the report itself was more integrated throughout sap.com, with more places on sap.com pointing out to the report, just as many parts of the report point back to sap.com. But what fun would it be if SAP's report was perfect its second time out!? And lets face it, the real measure of a report is not in its presentation, but rather in the performance the report reveals.

That said, the importance of the presentation of this data cannot be overstated - SAP created a report that is designed to be inviting, which means more people are likely to actually read it, meaning more stakeholders are going to be informed of SAP's performance and therefore able to hold the company accountable, which hopefully leads the company to continue improving its business practices and processes in ways that maximize positive social and environmental progress and minimize negative social and environmental impact, all while continuing to improve financial performance. After all, isn't that why companies report in the first place?