People around the world are demanding more progress on sustainability and social efforts and are looking to businesses to step up, according to a new study by Oracle and Pamela Rucker, CIO Advisor and Instructor for Harvard Professional Development.
The study of more than 11,000 consumers and business leaders across 15 countries including the UAE found that people are fed up with the lack of progress society is making towards sustainability and social initiatives, want businesses to turn talk into action, and believe technology can help businesses succeed where people have failed.
“The events of the past two years have put sustainability and social initiatives under the microscope and people are demanding material change. While there are challenges to tackling these issues, businesses have an immense opportunity to change the world for the better,” said Pamela Rucker, CIO Advisor and Instructor for Harvard Professional Development.
“The results show that people are more likely to do business with and work for organisations that act responsibly toward our society and the environment. This is an opportune moment. While thinking has evolved, technology has as well, and it can play a key role in overcoming many of the obstacles that have held progress back,” she continued.
The events of the past two years have put a spotlight on sustainability and social efforts, with people worldwide fed up with the lack of progress and calling for businesses to step up. For example, 99 percent of people in the UAE believe such factors are more important than ever and 94 percent said the events over the past two years have caused them to change their actions.
Close to 97 percent believe society has not made enough progress with 47 percent attributing that to people being too busy with other priorities, 43 percent believing it is the result of more emphasis on short-term profits over long-term benefits, and 42 percent believing people are too lazy or selfish to help save the planet.
As such, 96 percent UAE respondents believe businesses would make more progress towards sustainability and social goals with the help of AI, and 74 percent even believe bots will succeed where humans have failed.
“It’s never been more critical for businesses to invest in sustainability and ESG initiatives, as people don’t just want to hear about it – they’re looking for decisive action and are demanding more transparency and tangible results,” said Juergen Lindner, senior vice president and CMO, Global Marketing SaaS, Oracle.
“Business leaders understand the importance, yet often have the erroneous assumption that they need to prioritise either profits or sustainability. The truth is this is not a zero-sum game. The technology that can eliminate all the obstacles to ESG efforts is now available, and organisations that get this right can not only support their communities and the environment, but also realise significant revenue gains, cost savings, and other benefits that impact the bottom line.”
Business leaders know sustainability efforts are critical to corporate success and even trust bots over humans alone to drive sustainability and social efforts. For example, 95 percent believe sustainability and ESG programmes are critical to the success of their organisations. Executives identified the top three benefits as strengthening the brand (40 percent); increasing productivity (50 percent); and attracting new customers (44 percent).
Almost all business leaders (96 percent) are facing major obstacles when implementing sustainability and ESG initiatives. The biggest challenges include obtaining ESG metrics from partners and third parties (46 percent); a lack of data (38 percent); and time-consuming manual reporting processes (40 percent).
Therefore, 99 percent of business leaders in the UAE admit human bias and emotion often distract from the end goal, and 97 percent believe organisations that use technology to help drive sustainable business practices will be the ones that succeed in the long run.
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