Sustainability

Trash Talk, Butt Bags, Worm Poop and SAP

Thomas Odenwald — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 17:55:49 GMT

....these were among the topics at the recent http://www.sustainablebrands.com/events/sb13/live last week (the biggest yet in terms of attendees). As always, it was inspiring to see what entrepreneurial spirits and companies big and small come up with. One of my favorite examples is the Landfill Harmonic, a youth orchestra in Paraguay where all instruments are made out of trash. Terracycle showed their ‘Butt Bag’ idea (a project conducted with the tobacco industry to collect and recycle cigarette butts), and Alex and Nikhil are very entertaining when they talk about their mushroom kit and aquaponics kickstarter.

Among all this SAP played a prominent role as well. Not only is SAP represented in the advisory board of Sustainable Brands, we also sponsored this year’s ‘Manufacturing & Supply Chain’ conference track; and we made additional headlines being announced as new corporate member together with the likes of BASF, Disney, Del Monte, and others. We had two presentation slots at the event, where we discussed Employee Engagement and our latest Integrated Report as well as SAP HANA as one of the ‘13 Hot Sustainable Products To Follow in 2013’.

One of the highlights of the conference was the keynote of William (Bill) McDonough, author of Upcycle and member of the SAP CEO Sustainability advisory panel. Bill talked about the fact that humans will run short on easily accessible, clean biological and technical materials from which to build and create a beneficial civilization. But he also provides a visionary roadmap how to break this cycle, namely through the described goal of upcycle. I highly recommend the book, it is a worthy read.

Wood Turner from our customer Stonyfield talked about our joint product footprinting project, and Kara Hurst (CEO of The Sustainability Consortium(TSC)) discussed the collaboration between TSC and SAP where we integrate key performance indicators produced by the consortium for a variety of product categories into SAP Business Networks. While SAP was not part of the ‘Sustainable Procurement’ panel, Eric Olson from BSR Business for a Better World (SAP is a BSR member) highlighted how important the involvement of SAP is in the context of The Center for Sustainable Procurement, since only through integration into mainstream enterprise solutions can this initiative be scaled.

SAP will host the next corporate membership meeting of Sustainable Brands in its SAP America headquarters on September, 26^th.

Sustainable Brands has always been and still is my favorite conference. Not only because the morning starts with a stand-up-paddleboard yoga class on the water, and not only because the conference is aiming to be a zero waste, carbon neutral, water neutral, ISO certified, 100% local food and 100% wind powered event. (SAPPHIRE’14 anybody?) Mainly because it’s also a great mix of thought-provoking, inspiring and motivating people, and it’s great to see how more and more attendees point to SAP when the implications of this year’s headline ‘from Revolution to Renaissance’ are discussed and companies are encouraged to push boundaries for a better future.

If you have a free minute, sit back, relax and enjoy some of the inspiring webcasts from the conference.

“It is the only conference I went to in my entire life where I felt happy! You could feel the energy, the hope and hear about innovative ideas that will have an impact on the world. ”

—Marc Gobe - Emotional Branding

All about Sustainability

Cristina Antelo — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 13:53:04 GMT

Dear all,

My name is Cristina Antelo and I have just joined the SAP Community Network as moderator in the Sustainability area.

Among other roles within the SAP family, I am the EMEA coordinator for the Sustainability Champions Network. The SAP Sustainability Champions network is a decentralized network with the objective to spread and facilitate sustainability inside the organization.

Sustainability is my passion. Our love story began at an early age while I was studying Economics at the University in Madrid and I took the International Trade and Development speciality. During these years I realised about the social an enviromental impact all economies have.

I am a believer ! I truly believe that society, environment and economy are closely connected, and they have to walk somehow, hand in hand. I hope in this blog we can define that "somehow".

I would like to welcome all of you to what I would like to become an interactive forum to debate about Sustainability and CSR topics. I would be happy if this space became an interactive blog where we can all participate and exchange knowledge, ideas and experiences around these areas and who knows....maybe even new solutions that help society, environment and economy walk hand in hand as I believe it should.

Happy week to everyone!

Cristina

Donation is not all in Corporate Social Responsibility

Yazhao Liu — Tue, 18 Jun 2013 08:38:33 GMT

SAP runs Corporate Social Responsibility programs in China for many years, includes donations, send small gift to the student in poor primary school, build one primary school in poor areas(we call it 'hope school'), and much more. However, China is developing country, many children cannot get education by variable reasons, but even they can go to school, many more difficulties are coming.

China is "world factory", but where are the labors coming from? Actually except the people in cities, many young people whatever men or women, left their hometown and their home, go to major cities as one common laborer in industrial production. Sichuan is one of the biggest labor export province, more than 8.9 million people are working in other cities every year.

Are there any issues? Yes! For those workers, they don't bring their children when they work outside, this because of many reasons, the main reason is they do not able to take care their children, in most of large-scale manufactories, workers live in the factory day and night, and another important reason is, the education

cost is much expensive than the cost in their hometown, which they cannot bear.

Many workers left their children when they are still baby, for those children, they do not have love from their parents even from they were born. They were took care by their grandfather or grandmother, the old men/women can only take care their survival, but nothing on their education and none on the love which they shall get from their parents. Most of the children have psychology problem due to be far away from their parents for long time. We call those children "left-behind children" in China.

There was world known earthquake in Wenchuan of Sichuan province, on May 12, 2008, more than 69000 human life were killed. As one of Corporate Social Responsibility activities, SAP Labs China donated 1 million yuan to setup a new hope school in Guangyuan after earthquake in 2008, Guangyuan is about 500km to Wenchuan, also in Sichuan province.

After 5 years, Labs China decided to re-visit the hope school, to understand the current situation and to see what can we help after many years. Before the visit,

the hope school sent us the wish list, the most wanted is, they want to update their computers in electricity classroom, totally about 20 computers, and they want 4 computers with camera so the "left-behind" children could video chat with their parents. Labs China MD office passed the wish list to Labs China IT.

Global IT - Labs IT has involved in many Corporate Social Responsibility activities, but it is different this time. We meet two major problems: How to wipe the data on old computer to keep the data security of SAP and how to deliver the old computers to the school? We are using global disposal handling company for old computer disposal, if we donate the computer, we need a new process or we need to do data wiping by our own effort. We only have two weeks to collect the old computer, wipe the data and ship to the school, there is no time for a new disposal process and clean up the computers.

So we need to do data wiping by ourselves, it takes much time. For every computer, it requires 5 to 6 hours to wipe the whole harddisk to meet SAP security requirement. At last we spent one whole week to complete this task, hard work but easy. For 2nd - the shipment issue, desktops and monitors are too difficult to ship over the long distance. By initial checking, no express company is willing to help us to ship the computers, because the school is in mountains, no public transport. After internal discussion, we thought if we donate laptops, it would much easier.Fortunately we found one express company that they agree to ship the laptops to the school. Problem solved.

Considering their situation, we also prepared and shipped extra spare laptop and harddisk to them, because there is no any computer service in their place.

I were invited as one of major contributors, also as the representative of Labs China IT, to visit the school together with other colleagues on June 5. Before I go, I think I will see many happy faces because they get lots of donations. When I stepped in the school, I was shocked not because the tough environment, but when I know the fact - in our donated school, 99% student are left-behind children!

They did very happy when they saw the 'new' computers, but when anyone mentioned parents, some of them became silent, and some of them started crying ... At that time I knew donation is not all, we need to do more.

So there is always a question: what can we do besides donation in Corporate Social Responsibility activities? Our computer can give them short happiness and better learning environment, but cannot replace the love of their parent, actually nothing can. But does it mean we cannot do anything besides donations?

Finding your inner hero

Rachel Parikh — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 17:43:38 GMT

There was a buzz in the air. To my right sat an urban mushroom farmer. To my left a marketer from a consumer packaged goods company. Around me were people from all walks of life. A mindfulness teacher. A mother of seven. A leader of a major organization dedicated to the conservation of tropical forests. An activist, an artist, a journalist, a techie. People representing corporations, government organizations, non-profits. I wondered what brought this eclectic group of people together in this spirit of joyful expectation.

It was the opening evening of the Sustainable Brands conference. We had just finished watching the documentary I Am. I was pondering the film’s two main questions “what is wrong with our world?” and “what can we do about it?” And I was filled with questions about the potential of humans to create positive change and how people's energy can affect even the yoghurt in your cereal bowl.

A couple of thousand people had come together for four days to listen to and learn from each other, to ask tough questions, and to search collaboratively for paths forward to increase the positive impact that we all can have on humanity and all the living things that share our planet. I was struck by how this conference was truly a manifestation of that idea that we need to break through the walls of our individual organizations and partner with a diverse group of people in order to bring about the change needed to create a vibrant future for our planet.

So what was is that these people had in common? An awareness of the brokenness of our current system? Yes. Hope for a better future? Yes. A humble realization that we have a way to go to fulfill our potential, both individually and organizationally. Yes. And, perhaps most importantly, a sense of joyful possibility at the chance to lead the change and inspire others to join. There was an absence of the doom and gloom that has weighed down the conversation around sustainability over the years. The spirit of this conference was optimistic. “Share in a joyful way,” said Brian Welch, Author of Beautiful and Abundant. Because that sense of joy and possibility is contagious. Our job is to create opportunities for others to join in too. People want to do something meaningful. They want to be good citizens. They want to be empowered. They want to know how.

The stories we are telling are as important as the products and solutions we are creating. How can we help people to connect their work to a meaningful and inspiring vision? How can we help them see that more is possible, both for them individually as well as for us all collaboratively? How can we help them find their own inner hero and see how they can and are already contributing to helping the world run better and improve people’s lives?

I left the conference with a renewed sense of optimism. Even though we still have a long way to go to find solutions to many of the world's challenges, I was inspired by the power of coming together to share positive energy and ideas. The conference served to remind me that solutions are possible and already today there is a mighty group of people dedicated to making the vision of a better world a reality.

SAP Event: Helping Energy and Natural Resources Companies Achieve Operational Excellence

Peter Bussey — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:33:17 GMT

Are you responsible for manufacturing or EHS business processes and performance, or the IT systems to enable those? Are you looking for fresh ideas and information on how SAP solutions can enable operational excellence and sustainable operations in your organization?

If so, join your industry peers at an SAP-hosted customer event on June 24-25 in Walldorf, Germany to gain new ideas and insights to help drive operational excellence by improving safety, reliablity, productivity and sustainability in your operations. This event is open to all SAP customers, and there is no registration fee to attend. The content will be especially relevant for the energy and resources industries sector, such as Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Mining, Mill Products, and Utilities.

You will hear directly from SAP customers that have implemented and achieved business value from solutions for environment, health and safety (EHS), asset management, and energy managment. Featured customer speakers will include: Statoil, Ferrero, Taminco, and ArcelorMittal.

Event at a Glance

What: SAP Forum on Operational Excellence and Sustainable Operations

Focus Industries: Energy and Resources industries (Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Mining, Mill Products, Utilities, etc.)

When: June 24-25, 2013

Where: SAP headquarters in Walldorf, Germany.

Who: Manufacturing, Operations, and EHS business leaders and professionals. IT professionals responsible for enabling these processes.

Main topics: solutions and best practices in EHS management, operational risk management, asset management,

quality, energy and emissions management, and sustainability performance management

Why attend: gain the knowledge you need to collaborate, adapt, decide, and operate better. Hear SAP’s strategy and plans for future innovation. Network and share best practices with industry peers and SAP experts. Get the foresight to help your organization achieve operational excellence, facilitate compliance, and sharpen your competitive edge.

Cost to attend: the event is open to all SAP customers at no cost

Agenda

The two day program is packed with content, along with ample opportunities for networking, The agenda features case study presentations by SAP customers:

Statoil - Technical Integrity Management Solution
ArcelorMittal - Permit to Work: Enable Complex Permit Procedures
Ferrero - Energy Management: measure usage and drive energy efficiency
Taminco - Incident Management: Proactively Manage and Learn from Incidents

SAP solution leaders and experts will also share information on SAP's strategy, solution offerings, and outlook in the areas of:

SAP's strategy and innovations to enable operational excellence
Mobile solutions to improve productivity, uptime, and safety
EHS Management including incident managment, risk assessment, and management of change
Energy and Environmental Resource Management
Sustainability Performance Management
Quality Issue Managment
Rapid Deployment Solutions

See the agenda for more details: => Download agenda

How to Register

The event is open to all SAP customers. There is no cost or registration fee.

To register, please send an email to: Irina Neuner

=================================================================

For more information contact:

Robert Jaich, SAP

We look forward to seeing you in Walldorf on June 24-25 for a productive event with lots of knowledge transfer, best practice sharing, and networking to help you drive operational excellence and sustainable operations in your organization.

Best regards,

Pete Bussey

SAP

Sustainability Solution Marketing

Plugless Power: Will Inductive Charging Change the Game for EVs?

Moya Watson — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 15:28:30 GMT

Yesterday at the Silicon Valley Driving Charged & Connected EV symposium at SAP in Palo Alto I had the opportunity to witness plugless charging, in which an electric vehicle drives up over a charging pad and automatically starts charging -- without plugging in.

Not being an electrical engineer by training, I fumbled over what to call this thing - "wireless charging"? "touchless charging"? "plugless charging"? - finally settling on "thing with wireless piece" in my intro to this demo in which Geoff Ryder, Sustainability Principal at SAP, clarified what's actually happening in conversation with Adam Langton, Energy Regulatory Analyst at the California Public Utilities Commission:

Despite my fumbling over what to call this (the manufacturer, Evatran, favors Plugless Power, and in the streets people know this as "inductive charging"), I could imagine how this could change the game entirely for the electric vehicle and more should these things become ubiquitous.

Not so with this decidedly curmudgeonly take from Paul Scott from Plug In America:

I think it's kind of silly, to tell the truth. Not that it doesn't have applications, but if they think people will like EVs more because you can drive over a spot in your driveway and charge, saving you the arduous task of having to (gasp!) plug in your car, then they don't understand the nature of the American people I grew up with. Most of my friends are perfectly willing to spend the three seconds it takes to physically plug in the car.

The American people Paul would have grown up with, however, did not have to gas up their cars multiple times a day. Without long-range EVs available to most of us, the typical EV driver currently needs to constantly worry about where to find the next charge. This is hardly a "sexy luxury" - this is a true need of today's consumer EVs.

If you can imagine a future in which inductive charging is not just in every parking space but actually embedded in our roads, then you can imagine how this changes the game not just for EVs but for vehicular transport in general. According to the Rocky Mountain Institute:

Wireless charging is a big topic among car-share services because EV operators in a car-share often forget to plug in the car, leaving a drained battery for the next user. Embedding inductive charging within roads could actually supplement EV range and reduce range anxiety. For instance, the Nissan LEAF is rated at 73 miles on a charge. A trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas can’t happen in a LEAF, but if inductive charging was available every 50 miles while you drive in a boost zone, today’s EVs could make the trip.

In this future, one way or another, you can make the trip and never have to get out to charge -- or put fossil fuels into your car -- ever again.

And in that future, if you don't even have to connect to anything to charge, maybe the sky's not even the limit.

Students Charged With the Future at Connected Cars Winners' Workshop at SAP Palo Alto

Moya Watson — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 22:00:40 GMT

It’s a vehicular bonanza for cars innovation of all kinds from connected to electric to collaborative and alternative at SAP Labs in Palo Alto this week for employees, partners, automotive OEMs, and a special group of up-and-coming visionaries.

All week, SAP is hosting six bright students from around the world to jointly collaborate on building a connected cars application. These are the six winners of the 2012 Connected Car Contest.

Winning students and other collaborators in Palo Alto

Background, from left: Andreas Hauer, Sergej Trunchin (mentor - mostly covered), Christian Wuensche,Tobias Schlachtbauer (mentor), Tobias Schwan, Edson Fangwa (Audi)

Foreground, from left: Michael Schermann (assistant professor), An Dongmei, Kerstin Puchan, Dominik Goby (Audi).

Photo credit: http://www.facebook.com/ConnectedCarContest

One student - Dongmei An - is from the National University of Singapore and five other students - Andreas Hauer, Kilian Batzner, Christian Wuensche, Tobias Schwan, and Kerstin Puchan - are from Technische Universität München. During this five-day Winners’ Workshop they are fully immersing themselves together in the latest in connected and electric cars technology.

At the same time, SAP is not only leading a two-day commuter fair for employees looking for alternative commute options from ridesharing to biking, showcasing an EV Ride & Drive event tomorrow where employees can sign up for 10-minute drives in a number of the top EVs on the market, but also on Thursday and Friday hosting the Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s EV symposium: Silicon Valley Driving Charged & Connected.

Electric vehicles for test-drive Thursday at SAP Labs Palo Alto.

Photo credit: SAP Labs Communications

The students get to soak up these events and much much more while they collaborate on their application.

On Monday, Workshop Day One, students introduced their ideas and enjoyed a range of insider presentations at SAP on topics from “How to prepare a successful VC pitch” to a deep-dive in design thinking. Check out impressions from Dongmei An herself at http://scn.sap.com/community/uac/student-council/blog/2013/06/05/day-1-sap-palo-alto. You can also watch the collective video wrap here: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=380474142063698.

Yesterday, the students field-tested their collaborative idea, hung out with SAP colleagues and learned about SAP HANA, went to a special place called the Electronic Research Lab in Belmont together with Audi car professionals, and maybe even got to be seen in a coveted Tesla. Check out Day Two's wrap from the students: https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=380905062020606.

Students visiting the Electronics Research Lab in Belmont, CA.

Photo credit: http://www.facebook.com/ConnectedCarContest

The students are continuing to refine their idea today as well as paying visits to the local legendary institutions Stanford University and Google.

Tomorrow, the students will be able to participate in the symposium, hearing in person from disruptive technology thought leader Geoffrey Moore as well as Palo Alto Mayor Greg Scharff, SAP Chief Sustainability Officer Peter Graf, and a host of other leaders in the workplace charging and smart and connected vehicles space. Check out the whole impressive agenda of the two-day event.

Day Five on Friday is the last day of the workshop, and the students will wrap all the information they’ve assimilated into their refined idea and iterate on their actual real-world application. When the students submitted their ideas they were particularly interested in solving parking issues, and this is what they set out to jointly collaborate upon.

The result is taking shape in the form of a novel mobile app. From what I’ve seen so far, it has to do with parking-space handover – but not for a profit. Lucky holders of coveted parking spaces will get to connect with needy drivers with their collaboratively built application, but with a uniquely sustainable twist. You'll have to wait to see how this builds out, but I’m most impressed with the students’ initiative in addition to the commitment this demonstrates to sharing our precious resources as well as giving back to the community.

Join the Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/ConnectedCarContest for updates on the rest of the week as well as details on getting your hands (and your car) on the application itself when it’s complete and be sure to follow the works of these students here on the SAP Community Network and beyond. As you can see from their own reports, these students have had a bright week – and have an even brighter future ahead. It’s a future you will want to be a part of.

PS: Students from around the world will be able to continue to step up with their ideas and chances to attend workshops like these. Up next is a Utilities of Tomorrow contest – take a look and share with students everywhere:
http://scn.sap.com/community/uac/blog/2013/04/18/saps-new-utilities-of-tomorrow-contest-takes-next-step-toward-the-futures-of-universities--

Sign up and go - WomenSpark's success by stealth

Charlotte Otter — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 11:06:33 GMT

WomenSpark is a grassroots initiative at SAP that fosters networking and mentoring among women. After only 10 months, it has already attracted over 1,700 members. And what makes it unusual among a raft of many worthy diversity projects is that it is completely crowd-sourced – no budget, no approvals and no lengthy processes. It’s sign up and go.

I spoke to WomenSpark founder, Elisabeth Hamon, who, when she is not sparking connections between women at SAP works as Senior Project Consultant in the TIP Cross PM team.

Elisabeth, to what do you attribute the rapid growth of WomenSpark?

EH: We started small with a daily email to the dozen women who were interested in our LinkedIn challenge. As it grew through word of mouth, we eventually created a Distribution List and got our hands on various others of women in specific regions or SAP groups. We then took the guerilla tactic of signing them up for the WomenSpark mail once permission was granted by the DL owner or team lead. The onus was on them to ask to be removed from our mailing list and the onus was on us to provide interesting and challenging content. The number of people who asked to be removed from the list was very low. By being proactive, we very quickly grew our numbers. They also grew because so many women really care about growing their careers and improving their skills and simply need a helping hand to engage themselves.

And how does WomenSpark work?

EH: We encourage women to take steps towards developing their careers themselves. At big companies, there are so many programs that people don’t always have the time to find out what works for them and can become overwhelmed. We have shaped WomenSpark so that it requires women to take initiative and all steps are small as well as tangible. Once they have done that, it becomes one-on-one and personal.

There are a number of steps, each designed to help women with areas of their career where they have traditionally not had as much help – or are not as good at – as men. The first of these is networking and to practice this, women have to make 500+ connections on LinkedIn. This can take some time, so WomenSpark supports them during this time by sending a daily email celebrating those who have reached the next 100 LinkedIn connections. We call this the Centilink Parade. This email is a daily boost, a reminder to them to do something for themselves and for their careers. It’s like drinking a big glass of orange juice in the morning; it’s invigorating. They also gain comfort that they are not alone, that there are other women like them out there, working towards their 500+.

What happens when someone reaches 500+ LinkedIn connections?

EH: They then become part of the Maximum Visible Network (MVN). They have a one-on-one coaching session where they identify how they would like to progress in their career. We help them create a bio, so that they understand their own expertise and learn how to build their personal brand. And after that they are matched with mentors. We try to find mentors for people outside their lines of business and sometimes in different locations, so that they are challenged and their minds are opened by different perspectives.

Why did you choose LinkedIn as the core element of WS?

EH: Because it was there! Seriously, studies show that women are not as good at networking as men are. Women tend to prefer having a few deep connections than lots of more superficial ones. Since they are often also care takers, with children or older family members to tend to at night, they can’t always attend networking events out of office hours. LinkedIn is the modern way to stay connected and build connections, and through its algorithms, women can connect to people who are experts. Many people on LinkedIn stop at 200 or 300 connections, because that is the limit of the people they know. By pushing them to 500+, we encourage them to approach people they don’t know and that is often when the magic happens.

WomenSpark uses elements of gamification. How this work and how does it add to the initiative’s attractiveness?

EH: We have the Centilink Parade and the MVN, both of which are based on achieving numbers. LinkedIn made it easy for us here. These bring a challenge and a mild element of competition. We’ve also been working on the idea of a WomenSpark Bingo, which would encourage women to pursue new goals and skills in the steps we suggest after reaching MVN.

What makes the initiative different from other diversity initiatives at SAP?

EH: We are a grassroots group. WomenSpark isn’t limited to high potentials or senior women – it’s for everyone. We had no budget, no launch, no funding and apart from one executive sponsor who has supported us, it’s not executive-driven. We didn’t have to wait for approval; we just got on with it.

What do women appreciate about WomenSpark?

EH: WomenSpark helps women grow professionally by focusing on their confidence, visibility and leadership. It offers social activities to foster creative and cross-functional knowledge-sharing, provides a self-assessment tool where women can identify their optimal role in group dynamics and maintains a growing repository of educational content on career best practices. We’re also about to launch SAP’s first support group. Its concept mirrors the Lean In circles and offers a model for future collaboration. I think the WomenSpark members appreciate the sense that we are all in it together.

And is it self-sustaining? What happens when the WomenSpark champions leave or change roles?

EH: We are reaching that tipping point now, where we have to work out how to remain self-sustaining while also seeking executive support. We are having a lot of discussions. One option is to highlight certain countries where WomenSpark has been a runaway success and to make them location leaders. Another will be to address our local Business Women’s Network chapters. We are looking into it. One thing is for sure: we have a lot of very dedicated members who value WomenSpark enormously and everyone wants to see the great work – and the fun – continue.

What do you think is key for SAP – and other companies – to take from WomenSpark?

EH: As my colleague Jacqueline Vanacek puts it so clearly: “Helping women advance their careers is not a diversity issue. It’s an economic one. With more and more women in the workplace and the marketplace, we need to harness our diverse styles, skills and expertise to leapfrog our competitors. Men and women think and work differently in many ways: in leadership, management, communication, strategy, execution, even buying. Both ways are needed to build a high-performing team. And the art of management is applying the right skills and styles at the right time to each aspect of a business. When we combine the strengths of men and women end-to-end, we create an unstoppable machine. And that’s where WomenSpark can help.”

Are you involved in any self-sustaining grassroots organization at your company (whether diversity-specific or not)? Or are you involved in a Lean In Circle? How does your company handle female leadership development? Please let us know in the comments.

Unwavering Commitment and Service – All in a (JA) Day!

Jackie Montesinos Suarez — Fri, 31 May 2013 10:50:46 GMT

SAP Chicago employees give new meaning to the phrase “rain or shine” as they tackle huge obstacles to reach hundreds of kids for their annual JA in a Day service event.

After months of planning, 70 Chicago volunteers were ready to play “teacher for a day” to thousands of underserved students in the local community, but unfortunately the weather wasn’t cooperating. Last month, amidst one of Chicago’s worst storms that brought severe rain, hail, flooding, road closures and evacuations, this dedicated group made their way to Stevenson Elementary School for the 6th annual JA in a Day Service event.

Embarking on hours-long commutes through these harsh weather conditions, more than 2 dozen volunteers worked with students to teach them new skills from the JA curriculum. This year, students made (and implemented) mock business plans and even had a chance to use SAP products and software throughout the day!

“SAP employees, customers, partners and friends braved the weather to make this day special for the kids,” said Stacey Taborelli, Executive Assistant and SAP Chicago’s lead Volunteer Ambassador for the event. “It truly highlights our commitment to making future generations run better.”

Watch the video of the JA in a Day Service event.

VIDEO: SAP Labs Palo Alto Sustainable Garden

Moya Watson — Wed, 29 May 2013 18:29:09 GMT

I'm excited to attend next week's EV Symposium at SAP Labs (Silicon Valley Driving Charged & Connected -- http://svlg.org/policy-areas/transportation/charged-event-2013) and plan to report from there. In preparation for that and to support some other great sustainability-related things going on here at SAP Labs Palo Alto, I'm testing whether we can embed videos from Facebook here on the community. So I'm taking advantage of the opportunity to test it out by posting an old favorite.

WATCH: The SAP Labs Palo Alto Sustainable Garden -- check it out exactly as it appeared at launch in February 2012 in a tour led by our fearless and visionary facilities leader Larry Morgan:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151477889897545&l=9088109099730469039

It's such a great place.

(Still trying to figure out if we can get Jive Communities here to not strip the iframe in order to embed videos from Facebook -- or if Facebook offers an alternative to iframe for video embed. Let me know if you know!)

Teach a man to fish...

Nish Pangali — Tue, 28 May 2013 19:07:32 GMT

SAP has a unique opportunity to help accelerate the mission of non-profit and non-governmental organizations through technology donations. This provides a strategic boost to everything from effectiveness of fundraising processes, streamlined reporting out to key stakeholders, and even showcasing the impact of work to the world. But it’s not enough to simply provide software; there must be additional support to help the organizations understand how best to utilize these solutions.

Enter SAP Techtalk!

This exciting series provides a deeper understanding of not only the solutions in our donations offering but also insight on how to harness the power to drive more social innovation around the world. By bringing together product experts, NPO and NGO leaders who want to share their experiences and showcase their technology innovation, and thought leaders in the community, these sessions allow attendees to take away valuable insights that match their level of expertise and interest.

Register for an upcoming session:

Personalize your data story to the world using SAP Lumira - Friday July 12th

Broadcast your organization’s impact with SAP Crystal Dashboards - Friday Aug 2nd

A deeper dive into SAP Crystal Reports - Friday Sept 6th

Access previous recordings:

Visualize your data with SAP Lumira [Wednesday March 27th]

Showcase your organization impact with SAP Crystal Dashboard Design [May 5th]

Learn how ProSeniors Inc achieved operational excellence through SAP Crystal Reports [June 7th]

SAP technology donations provides over 5,000 non-governmental and non-profit organizations with solutions to improve critical business areas such as performance management, fundraising operations and donor reporting.

If you have feedback or requests for future content, please reach out to me – I’d love to hear from you!

The Power of Your Ideas!

Brittany Lothe — Thu, 16 May 2013 20:25:13 GMT

We live in an increasingly interconnected world. Access to education, scarcity of natural resources, volatile energy prices, an increase in connectivity through rapid expansion of handheld devices and population growth with one billion people aspiring for middle class, all have an impact on business and society. And we need to identify solutions collectively to help the world run better and improve people’s lives.

That’s why we introduced “Power of Your Ideas” at SAP SAPPHIRENOW. If you’v ever have an idea on how innovations in education, the role of technology or how SMEs can strengthening local economies this is your chance to tell us all about it.

The top three ideas, based on voting, will be implemented by SAP.

And best of all, for every idea submitted, SAP America will donate $10 to high schools in New York City and Chicago.

Help us to improve people’s lives around the world. Log your idea or vote on submitted solutions today at www.sapcsrideas.com.

Technology Powering Social Innovation

Nish Pangali — Tue, 14 May 2013 05:12:31 GMT

What do you get when you combine best-in-class software, game changing organizations, and a common goal to help the world run better by improving people’s lives?! The result is a powerful technology force driving social innovation: SAP’s technology donation program.

Our focus is to empower non-profit and non-governmental organizations around the world with tools to accelerate their mission and affect more positive change. Our global footprint is strong with 30 countries offering the SAP technology donation program today and expansion to new locations underway. In addition to software donations, we offer a variety of resources, events and enablement sessions geared to help you find quick ways to realize value with these tools. We encourage best practice sharing among organizations and are fostering a strong community within the sector.

To view recordings and register for upcoming sessions, click here.

These sessions feature success stories from organizations like yours who are using technology to better manage their volunteers, track goals and progress, conduct budgeting, reach out to their donor base, and present their vision and accomplishments to their boards, funders, and broader community.

Since the program’s inception in 2005, more than 8,000 solutions have been donated worldwide.

In 2012 alone 1,500 solutions were donated – a value of more than one million dollars!

You can learn more about the solutions that are available via our Techsoup partnership by clicking here

Stay tuned as we look at expanding our donation portfolio with some exciting new solutions. Together we can run better!

CSR at SAPPHIRE NOW: Roundtables Galore!

Mariana Guerrero — Thu, 09 May 2013 02:44:27 GMT

SAPPHIRE® NOW is right around the corner and the agenda of the Corporate Social Responsibility showcase booth is packed with roundtables all three days of the event. Be ready to experience Social Impact Like Never Before, and learn how SAP is Helping The World Run Better through its CSR programs worldwide.

There will be roundtables focused on Education, Entrepreneurship, Technology, Innovation, Diversity, and much more... in addition, to four interactive and insightful showcases at the booth.

Check out the schedule, reserve time in your agendas and contact Jackie Montesinos Suarez if you'd like to register to participate in any of the roundtables.

Not going to SAPPHIRE NOW? Follow us on twitter @SAPCSR to join the conversations online.

Tuesday, May 14th

Time

Activity

location

1:30 – 3:30 PM

Roundtable – Gender Diversity driving Innovation.

This discussion will explore critical issues around the future of women in technology including talent shortages; gender diverse leadership as competitive advantage; reflecting an increasingly diverse marketplace; and leveraging gender intelligence to drive innovation.

OCCC Booth

3:30 – 5 PM

Education Design Thinking Roundtable on Signature Initiative led by SAP NA Education and customers/partners

OCCC Booth

Wednesday, May 15^th

Time	Activity	location
12:30 – 2:30 PM	University Alliances Roundtable – Will focus on UA initiatives and the launch of the Bike Tour across North America.	OCCC Booth
3 – 3:30 PM	Studio 4 CSR Broadcast with Joel Bernstein and Jackie Montesinos	Studio 4 – located next to booth
3:30 – 4:30 PM	Influencer (Journalist) roundtable: Sustainability and CSR-Driven Innovation Helps the World Run Better This roundtable will feature Chief Sustainability Officer, Peter Graf, and CSR leadership. They will discuss how SAP has embedded sustainability and CSR in the heart of its business: technology innovation.	OCCC Booth
4:30 – 5:30 PM	SME Roundtable on the Power of Small – Discussion led by Lewis Schiff, author of Business Brilliant: Surprising Lessons from the Greatest Self-Made Business Icons. The goal of this Round Table is to leave with one or two concrete ideas on how SAP can help ignite social change for small businesses. No press or analyst will be included in the meeting. Just an open discussion with SAP and it’s SME partners, some of which are SME’s themselves, to discuss the challenges that SMEs face and how SAP and its ecosystem can help address those challenges.	OCCC Booth

Thursday, May 16th

Time

Activity

location

1 – 2 PM

Sustainability Roundtable Discussion with Customers

Discussion with Chief Sustainability Officer, Peter Graf, on SAP sustainable practices, including a focus on our new TwoGo solution and our SAP Integrated Report.

OCCC, GC Center

*Booth located in South Exhibit Hall A. In the Design Thinking/User Experience area on the show floor

CSR at SAPPHIRE NOW - Social Impact like Never Before

Jackie Montesinos Suarez — Wed, 01 May 2013 22:20:24 GMT

For the first time, SAP's Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm, will have a dedicated area at SAPPHIRE NOW Orlando, as well as, a volunteer service event (details below). Customers can engage with SAP in a number of ways at SAPPHIRE NOW, and we're excited to provide an opportunity to do so discussing ways to drive social impact across the globe.

Below, a an outline of our 4 different showcases and if you're interested in more information, feel free to contanct me:

· HANA for Humanity – new initiative where we are using our HANA on the Cloud to solve societal issues. This is a collaborative effort between SAP and data scientists working with underserved youth on tackling data sets from NGOs/government agencies to help them solve an important issue (i.e. how a city can reduce its crime rates using HANA). We’ll be showcasing that at SAPPHIRE, as well as, holding discussions as we look to launch in other cities and recruit an SAP ecosystem of mentors.

Roundtables and Design thinking meetings – we’re recruiting customers and partners for these! We’d like to get a group together around several topics and we’ll have a facilitated meeting and dynamic discussion. Currently what we have:

- HANA for Humanity – as outlined above.

- Technology High Schools – SAP is developing 2 tech high schools slated to open Sept. 2014, with the goal of providing a direct linkage to students for tech careers. These are students less fortunate that otherwise would not have the opportunity. We are currently working with the US Dept of Education on developing that curriculum but we’re holding a design thinking meeting around what we need to consider and incorporate, how we can make tech learning engaging, how we can truly prepare those students for a career at SAP or in our ecosystem. Included at end of mail is sample invite to send to customers on this particular meeting.

- Diversity - discuss how gender diversity drives innovation for companies, especially women in technology. We’ll discuss the challenges from a lack of gender diversity when it comes to innovation, as well as, different companies experiences creating programs that will promote gender diversity in their leadership teams.

- Sustainability – a roundtable on what sustainability practices are being incorporated and sharing of that, talking about solutions such as SAP’s TwoGo as a means to support sustainability efforts.

- The power of small – design thinking roundtable on how we can encourage business growth among SMEs, social businesses and enterprises that have the potential to grow and therefore strengthen local economies. What actions can business leaders take to support growth strategies of SMEs? All businesses start off small. 40 years ago, even SAP was a start-up with only five employees. Not only can any small company succeed through innovation and hard work, but small and medium size business creation and growth are essential for any healthy economy. How can we enable this growth.

· Social Innovation – Power of your ideas – At www.sapcsrideas.com/sapphire2013 any event attendee can provide input on solutions for tackling one of three social issues we’ve proposed (education, role of technology and power of SMEs in strengthening local economies). SAP will create initiatives around the top 3 ideas and the best part – for every idea submitted, we’ll donate $10 to our main CSR initiative in North America – on the 2 technology high schools we are building in NYC and Chicago.

· SAP Volunteer Service event on Monday, May 13^th – registration day – aimed at packing 300,000 meals to feed orphans worldwide. 12:30 – 5:30 PM at the Hilton Orlando, which is connected to the OCCC. ASUG, the NBA cares Foundation (with 2 legends) also participating and the Mayor of Orlando confirmed. Folks can sign up for as little as half hour via this link: http://fm.sap.com/CSRatSAPPHIRE and we’re encouraging teams to sign up for the same time slots to maximize networking. More information on that on the SAPPHIRE NOW site.

We look forward to seeing you there! Follow us at @SAPCSR in twitter and our Facebook page of SAP Corporate Social Responsibility