Pixabay This summer, Spend Matters is focusing on ESG, and particularly sustainability in the procurement context, as a discussion topic with the industry, with vendors, buyers and suppliers. This will take the shape of in-depth analyst-written PRO articles, podcasts with procurement professionals, panel discussions and more — all accessible from the Spend Matters site. Why? Because we think it's time to take a look at the bigger picture, from different angles.
To discover what sustainability means; what ROI can be expected from a sustainability focus; what the tech landscape looks like and why we need ESG-enabled technology; the implications for e-procurement and how procurement can influence the ESG agenda, read our PRO series here.
As our technology analyst Bertrand Maltaverne puts it in that article and in the wake of the failings exposed by the Covid turbulence:
“Many organizations are also victims of a self-inflicted injury that jeopardized their capacity to operate during the crisis. ... However, it seems like Covid will be the wakeup call that the supply chain world was waiting for. As a reaction to the events of the last months, the realization that organizations need better supply assurance (and that the Procurement function is critical in achieving this) spreads among organizations and management boards. This shift in priorities and mindset is an opportunity to go beyond ensuring business continuity. It is in fact a chance for building more antifragile, and more sustainable supply chains.”
To accompany our broader look at ESG in practice, this short series captures personal views on sustainability — we've posed three questions to a cross section of procurement and supply chain practitioners from the worlds of consultancy, specialist organizations and forums, FMCG, retail, oil and gas, tech and so on, to get a top-level understanding of what being sustainable really means to them (not their company’s mission statement).
We hope this will reap a set of interesting and useful answers for procurement software vendors to take note of, and for other practitioners to consider.
Today we hear from Martin Thompson, founder of The ITAM Forum, a non-profit organization that champions the IT Asset Management (ITAM) industry and owner and founder of The ITAM Review, an online resource for worldwide ITAM professionals. We asked: How do you ensure sustainability is not just a tick-box exercise for your organization?
In an ideal world: How can procurement be a catalyst for change to create a more sustainable world?
How would you ensure in your organization that ‘sustainability and responsibility’ is not just a tick-box exercise?
"Sustainability needs to be the responsibility of everyone, and every department, no matter how niche. I look at this issue from the very specific niche of IT Asset Management (ITAM), the profession which focuses on the optimization of IT assets within an organization. While usually most associated with cost reduction and compliance, a mature ITAM practice has the power to make a real impact in terms of an organization’s corporate social responsibility, environmental impact and energy costs. Every single IT Asset Manager can make a positive impact on energy consumption and sustainability by making smarter environmental decisions throughout the IT Asset Lifecycle, from more sustainable IT procurement (repair, buy second hand, etc.), prolonging the useful lifetime of assets (reducing the mining of precious materials, landfill, etc.), reduced energy consumption (measuring and reducing consumption, carbon offsetting) and even reduced data consumption (e.g., promoting behavioral changes which lead to reduced data storage like smaller files, fewer emails, etc.)."
What would help you 'embed' sustainability and responsible practices/thinking into procurement?
"ITAM should be involved in IT procurement process already, so a greater emphasis on sustainability among the ITAM community will naturally feed into the procurement practices of an organization."
If you are doing a tech selection, you can get a shortlist fast with TechMatch℠.
Many thanks to Martin Thompson and the The ITAM Forum — our analysts will take an aggregated look at all our responses in the coming weeks and give their take on the common themes that have emerged. Look out for the other voices in the following weeks as we hear from the people who are ‘doing’ sustainability.
Here's an index of what to expect in our ESG series this summer
If you are involved in sustainability in procurement for your organization, feel free to comment below or submit your own answers to info@spendmatters.com.
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