Making a Case for a Sustainable Business Network

Earlier this week I was joined by Dr. Alexander Dreiling (twitter @alex3ling) of SAP Research at the America’s SAP User Group (ASUG) Community Fall Focus event in Anaheim, California. This tw0-day event had a specific focus on field developments throughout SAP and its customer base in the areas of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM).  The development of procurement and supplier relationship management (SRM) disciplines as a part of a broader SCM strategy has been a passion of mine in the area of sustainability for some time.

Over the past year I have worked with a number of partner groups inside both SAP Labs and SAP Research to understand the best practices and most appropriate frameworks to introduce into a sustainable business network (SBN).  A Sustainable Business Network consists of supply chains that provide financial, environmental and social value.   The value proposition for SBN across commercial organizations and supply chains include several compelling points and value propositions:

1. It returns profit, or at least does not run unprofitable,

2. It enhances the lives of people involved in it, or at least does not create disadvantages for them (similar to principles of the Natural Step),

3. It enhances environmental health, or at least does not harm the environment

This week SAP Research announced a limited ramp-up with selected customers to promote its current version of a Sustainable Business Network platform.  Over the next several weeks I will be providing more information on how this new platform is being leveraged inside selected organizations and what the promise is to fulfill the key value statements and points.

Presentation materials for the conference are available at ASUG Online here (site registration required, reference session code ACF0711)