TWIX and the SAP Matrix, it’s all about 16/92 sustainability

"Reader warning this is a very quirky blog"

“Tell me what you see, Morpheus asked Neo ”! Matrix 4 is out

The SAP Matrix (I'll come back to this latter)

Q. So what do you see when you look at the packet of TWIX Caramel biscuits ?

Comfort food, Breakfast, Iconic FMCG brand,

we all apply a different optic,

My wife when asked as we walked around a supermarket in Portugal this week, said “it’s just a packet of biscuits” and rolled her eyes at me

This is what I see,

I'm cursed,

I see the SAP Matrix

A global digital target operating model optic applied to everything I observe

Quite simply when I look at anything related to the global economy or an enterprise or product what I see is a form of the Matrix

a digital enterprise with every element of the operating model and how it functions humming away in my forward lobe

(I also saw some clever FMCG brand and product up cycling, because that is not a TWIX Steve Ingram )

So when I saw the packet of TWIX Caramel biscuits I immediately visualised the entire value cycle,

The recipe (Bills of material) in SAP that makes the product, the end to end FMCG Order to Cash operating model from trade promotion and pipe line management, production planning and fulfilment using drop shipment, standard cost and controlling, ?then onto revenue recognition and AR...

and then “Boom” I had a business transformation epiphany

instead of seeing the normal operating model

I saw its carbon footprint

(SAP visualising the Carbon Footprint of a pottle of squash.)

I saw how SAP can be used to quickly quantify and base line a product / services carbon foot print, from product development through to customer use (Managing the Green Line)

I saw how to operationally report upon the carbon baseline (Reporting the Green Line)

And how to evolve and augment the operating model and supporting supply eco system to become circular

And most importantly I saw how quickly changes could be made to the operating model enabling the start of the transition to Zero Carbon and the circular economy

Then my wife asked, “are were going to buy the biscuits ? ”

16 / 92 The global economy has a sustainability problem that SAP is positioned to help fix

So why are SAP so well positioned to help the climate and sustainability agenda ? ?

“The global economy has become dependent on SAP”

75% of all global business transactions touch SAP, and figure is set to grow further as SAP glides further into the public sector

16% of all global emissions comes from SAP customers not surprising when 92%of Forbes Global 2000 companies use SAP

So if SAP can help the 92%, then we are well on the way to reducing the 16%, that’s got to be a win for all of us.

Plus there are tangible drivers and benefits to moving to the circular economy:

·???????5.6X faster growth in sustainable products and brands (McKinsey)

·???????76% of investors are demanding sustainability action (ASI)

·???????Law Makers are pushing legislation and taxation (Example EU Circular economy)

And SAP are doing just that, they are taking the lead

SAP as a company and products are often seen as the bad guys when it comes to business transformation (The Agent Smiths) , primarily because SAP don't clearly explain what sap is and what it takes to sustain and embed the operating model within the business (listen to the making sense of ERP Podcast to hear me discuss this in detail)

So back to the SAP Matrix and Sustainability and Climate Change

SAP has become the standard global digital operating model, and has been for 5 decades, all major industry sectors have adopted it, it connects everything and everyone…. So when the pandemic hit the global economy and supporting supply chain ?including all the major pharma’s just kept on rolling??

More importantly all the fundamentals to migrate to, manage and report upon zero carbon sustainability already exit in the SAP matrix, its just a case of realigning the global economy to the revised operating model.?

SAP get this, and has been working with the World Economic Forum and United Nations to map the move to the circular economy and standardise sustainability measurement and reporting.

SAP have already agreed with the United Nations on a Decade of action based upon a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals SDG’s). To support this SAP are raising awareness as to how every existing SAP system with a few tweaks can enable sustainability as well as developing new products and functionality to support the transition to Zero by 2030.

So SAPs focus is to enable

·???????New sustainable opportunities

·???????Regulatory compliance and oversight

·???????Brand value

·???????Boost Operational excellence

·???????Natural Capital Accounting

·???????Resource Productivity and reuse

·???????Sustainability Performance management

And where SAP go everyone will follow?

But we have lost 18 months

What should have been SAP’s big sustainability push for 2020 became overshadowed by the Pandemic and then SAPs own need to deal with the ongoing threat from the hyperscalers as they push into SAPs core Fortune 2000 client base.

But the Pandemic has demonstrated how organisations can transform their operating models rapidly where and when the need arises (B2B to B2C).??

So, with this new confidence and the skills required to deliver rapid operating model change we expect to see the focus swinging back to the Circular Economy and Zero Carbon, with organisations focusing their transformation strategies on rapid tactical change (proving Agile and accelerated SAP does exist).

A once in a lifetime Curve ball

The global transformation agenda is normally driven by the major tech companies and consultancies, every year a new theme or buzzword.

But the climate crisis has changed all of that, transformation over the next 4 years will be dominated by one thing and one thing only and that is sustainability, not the intelligent enterprise, or move to the cloud or whatever inane marketing theme is thought up next,

So lets get started and I’m here (One Eighty Advisory) to help:

Firstly lets inject a level of pragmatism, a low risk and low cost approach to achieving your shift to Zero.

We can help you

·???????Assess your current transformation road map and look at how moving to the circular economy and zero carbon can be accommodated and prioritised.

·???????Define a sustainability strategy and roadmap linked to 2025 not 2030.

·???????Define your current product and operating model carbon footprint and the areas requiring remediation.?Applying a Green optic to your enterprise architecture.?

·???????Identify gaps in your master data and changes needed to your current enterprise applications, validate use of SAP’s Enabler strategy full of rich solution addons.

·???????Prepare a Finance impact assessment to help CFO’s quantify the economic impact of the transition.

·???????Define a hybrid Green Line Analytics approach using SAP standard templates to accelerate transparency and visibility, a refinement of the supply chain control tower concept.

·???????Develop a Green Line transformation portfolio approach and governance model

So, SAP as an organisation has accepted its position as a global economy leader and shown very strong and clear leadership in helping its client address head on sustainability.

My view is that the rate of change is accelerating, the focus for the next 4 years will be sustainability and that by 2025 global economy will be circular and more sustainable within an interim state and by 2030 the sustainability will be the norm, very much driven by SAP and its customer and partner eco system.??