The (un)Sustainable Business of Business
Hållbart Företagande
Degree Project in Media Technology, second cycle, 30 credits Master of Science in Engineering in Media Technology School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS), KTH
Author: Julia Creutz, jcreutz@kth.se Supervisor: Hanna Hasselqvist
Examiner: Kristina Höök 2018-06-07
ABSTRACT
Businesses have historically had a negative impact on the environment by contributing to pollution, the increase of greenhouse emissions, neglection of responsible waste disposal, and deforestation among other things. Governments around the globe have been trying to align to goals and principles to decrease the negative impacts of humans, and it is now time for companies to step up and contribute to a more sustainable society. The research question for this study is “what can be the challenges when working with sustainability frameworks as an IT consultant firm?”. To answer this, research within Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), green ICT, and sustainable business have been conducted. In addition to this, the relation of two sustainability frameworks within IT consultant strategies have been assessed. Other than that, a case study have been carried out at an IT consultant firm. A result of this case study is a mapping of processes and their work with digital sustainability and sustainability frameworks. Two of the greatest challenges discussed in this study are about measuring and communicating the sustainability impact of projects.
SAMMANFATTNING
Historiskt har företag haft en negativ påverkan på miljön genom att bland annat bidra till föroreningar, ökade växthusgasutsläpp, försummelse av ansvarsfull avfallshantering och avskogning. Regeringar runt om i världen har försökt att justera sina mål och principer för att minska människans negativa påverkan på klimatet, och det är nu hög tid för företag att börja bidra till ett mer hållbart samhälle.
Forskningsfrågan för denna studie är “vilka utmaningar kan uppstå när en IT-konstulfirma arbetar med hållbarhetsramverk?. För att besvara denna fråga har forskning inom Informations- och kommunikationsteknik (IKT), grön IKT, hållbart företagande kombinerats och redovisats. Utöver detta har integrationen av två hållbarhetsramverk i en IT-konsultfirmas arbetsprocess undersökts.
Studien har genomförts hos en IT-konsultfirma, och deras processer och arbete med digital hållbarhet och hållbarhetsramverk har kartlagts genom efterforskningar och intervjuer. De två största utmaningarna som diskuteras i denna studie är att mäta och kommunicera projekts hållbarhetseffekter.
The (un)Sustainable Business of Business
Julia Creutz The Royal Institute of
Technology Stockholm, Sweden
jcreutz@kth.se
ABSTRACT
Businesses have historically had a negative impact on the environment by contributing to pollution, the increase of greenhouse emissions, neglection of responsible waste disposal, and deforestation among other things.
Governments around the globe have been trying to align to goals and principles to decrease the negative impacts of humans, and it is now time for companies to step up and contribute to a more sustainable society. The research question for this study is “what can be the challenges when working with sustainability frameworks as an IT consultant firm?”. To answer this, research within Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), green ICT, and sustainable business have been conducted. In addition to this, the relation of two sustainability frameworks within IT consultant strategies have been assessed. Other than that, a case study have been carried out at an IT consultant firm. A result of this case study is a mapping of processes and their work with digital sustainability and sustainability frameworks. Two of the greatest challenges discussed in this study are about measuring and communicating the sustainability impact of projects.
Author Keywords
Digital sustainability; digitalisation; green ICT; net positive; sustainable development goals; sustainability frameworks; ICT for sustainability.
ACM Classification Keywords
H.5.m. Social and professional topics~Sustainability (e.g., HCI).
INTRODUCTION
Historically, businesses have had, and continue to have, a negative impact on the environment. Pollution, the increase of greenhouse emissions, neglection of responsible waste disposal, deforestation and much more, are consequences of unsustainable business [13, 15, 19, 25, 28]. The demise of the environment is, and has been for years, an increasingly important issue. Countries and governments have been agreeing upon several worldwide initiatives, such as the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and it is time for businesses to play their part in the course to a more environmental sustainable society.
In 1987, the World Commission on Environment and Development published Our Common Future where they coined and defined the term sustainable development “[as]
meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” [5].
This definition is the most commonly used to this day, and will henceforth be what is referred to when the term is used in this paper. The foundation of Our Common Future was theUnited Nations Conference on the Human Environment carried out in 1972, and both contributed to the 27 principles for sustainable development in the Rio Declaration on environment and Development in 1992 [2].
These principles have since then been revised a number of times, with the most recent version being the 17 Sustainable Development Goals [26].
There are several research areas investigating sustainability and technology; Information Communication Technologies for Sustainability, Human Computer Interaction and Environmental Sustainability, Life Cycle Assessment, Sustainable Business, and Sustainability Assessment are a few examples [3, 17, 20]. These are all relevant for IT companies that try to drive sustainable business. Recent research in Sustainability Assessment, for example, aim to identify problems that affect companies that are trying to generate more sustainable solutions for technology, and to propose solutions to these problems [16, 24]. Information Communication Technologies, being a part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution where new technologies fuse the physical, digital and biological worlds across all disciplines, economies and industries [13], bring a lot of possibilities but also responsibilities for sustainable development.
Businesses need to take these, and other, factors into consideration and create strategies for developing and managing sustainable products and services.
An increasing amount of companies are realizing the importance and benefits of addressing sustainability issues, both in tangible ways (such as reduced costs) and intangible ways (such as increased brand reputation) [11].
One company that have addressed sustainability and aim to drive sustainable business and development is Cybercom.
Cybercom is an IT consulting company which expert areas are digitalisation, Internet of Things, Safety, and Cloud services. A case study of Cybercom’s work with
sustainability initiatives with focus on the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Net Positive was carried through.
Net Positive is an approach that urge companies to focus on how they can contribute to society through sustainable solutions, rather than only focusing on limiting their negative impacts [27]. Cybercom describe themselves as
“[we are] makers of tomorrow and work to make companies and organisations thrive in a connected world. With technical edge and business insight we power innovation and sustainable solutions”. Their full offering includes a process that enable them to be part of projects from the beginning and throughout, which an increasing amount of their customers utilize (Figure 1). They do however take part in projects that don’t necessarily require all the displayed steps.
Figure 1. A partner through the entire project cycle. Image from Cybercom’s website
The focus of this work is solely on the first phase:
Advisory, because of their digital sustainability offer. This phase aim to help clients with digital sustainability, digital strategy and business development, organisation for digital, and technology and partner strategy [8]. The aim with this project is to analyse Cybercom’s strategic work with their digital sustainability during offer, identify where the process can be improved, and thereafter suggest changes.
The research question for this thesis is “what can be the challenges when working with sustainability frameworks as an IT consultant firm?. This will be analysed by using the Sustainable Development Goals and a Net Positive approach.
THEORY AND RELATED RESEARCH
Information and Communications Technologies
Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) offer numerous of opportunities in society. These include, but are not limited to, digitalisation and dematerialization, increased energy efficiency and travel substitution.
Although these solutions offers contribution to sustainability and sustainable development, there are negative side effects of ICT as well. Development of ICT products and systems, the use of the technology at hand, and the poorly managed recycling and disposal of these products and systems are some examples[1, 6, 18, 19, 29].
The impacts are: first order effects (life cycle of ICT), second order effects (the effect of ICT applications), and third order effects (transformation in behaviour). These
impacts can have both positive or negative effects which have been summarized in Table 1 [3, 20].
Table 1. ICT developments and their effects
Green ICT
In Green Software: Greening What and How Much?
Sierszsecki, Mikkonen and Steffens define two different concepts within ICT and green software [22]. The first one isGreening ICT, where focus is on ICT itself, and lowering its energy consumption.Greening through ICT on the other hand, focus on decreasing energy consumption of systems that ICT monitor or control. This is an important division, because in 2020 ICT itself is estimated to constitute three percent of the world’s annual energy consumption.
Therefore,Greening ICT can only affect a small part of the energy consumption, whilst Greening through ICT is estimated to have total potential reduction of 15 percent of the world’s annual energy consumption [22].
Sustainable Business
There is a disconnection between sustainable business and sustainable development. First, there is a gap between academia and practice which needs to be addressed [17].
Secondly, a lot of businesses take on a positive stance towards sustainability with the notion that it benefits their company, but there is a lack of actual change within sustainable development on a global level [11]. One of the reasons to this is that sustainable development is discussed and considered on a global level, affecting the whole world, whilst sustainable business is on a lower organisational level within companies [4, 10]. There is a need for something that link these levels, and during the 1990’s many authors tried to solve this issue. Later on however, research on sustainable development and sustainable business was separated. Some efforts have been made since, and in 2016 The Meaning of Sustainable Business:
Introducing a Typology From Business-as-Usual to True Business Sustainability was published [4, 10]. This paper sought to clarify the meaning of sustainable business with a sustainable development approach, and a business sustainability typology was created (Figure 2) [11]. Firstly,
the typology differentiates Business-as-usual and Business Sustainability. A company engaging in what is called business-as-usual have economic concerns, focus on creating shareholder value, and have an inside-out organisational perspective. Secondly, there are three levels of Business Sustainability: 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0. The one most similar to Business-as-usual is Business Sustainability 1.0, and the one that would qualify as the most sustainable business is 3.0. Thirdly, three key shifts are identified in this typology, and these include (1) broadening the business concern, (2) expanding the value created, and (3) changing the organisational perspective. This typology will be used to map Cybercom’s work with sustainable business.
Figure 2. Image: The Meaning of Sustainable Business Sustainable Development Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals, originating from the Rio Declaration on environment and Development, provide the world with guidelines to achieve these goals for 2030 [8]. On September 25th, 2015, world leaders agreed to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development which includes the 17 goals and 169 sub targets. The Sustainable Development Goals Compass is a tool for companies, aiming to aid them to align their strategies and measure and manage their contributions to the goals by following five steps [23]. The first step, “understanding the SDGs”, allow companies to explore the Sustainable Development Goals;
what they are, their history, and the possibilities arising when working with them from a business perspective. The second step, “defining priorities”, enable companies to outline what their priorities could be using three actions: (1) Map the value chain to identify impact areas, (2) select indicators and collect data, and (3) define priorities. Since not all 17 Sustainable Development Goals might be relevant to a company, this step helps companies see where they can have the greatest impact. The third step, “setting goals”, is based on the outcomes from the previous one. It as about specifying goals that are measurable and time-bound. This is done by (1) defining a scope of goals and select key performance indicators, (2) define baseline and select goal type, (3) setting level of ambition, and (4) announce the company’s commitment to the Sustainable Development
Goals. The fourth step will help companies with how to integrate the Sustainable Development Goals in their business strategies. This is done through describing how they can (1) anchor the goals within the business, how to (2) embed sustainability across all functions, and (3) engage in partnerships. The fifth and final step of the Sustainable Development Goals compass manages how to continuously report and communicate progress, which will deepen companies’ understanding of their stakeholders’ needs.
Net Positive
Today, many companies measure the (negative) effects of their products or services and aim to decrease it to follow laws and regulations. Often, this is shown by publishing sustainability reports that for example line up with the Global Reporting Initiative [12]. However, there is a need for businesses to take more actions on providing positive impacts on the environment, as well as reducing the negative ones. That is what the Net Positive project aims to accomplish; to go from “doing less harm” to a more positive approach to do more good overall [27]. The Net Positive project was initiated in 2013 by three organisations; Forum for the Future, World Wide Fund for Nature, and Climate Group [27]. Through collaboration with several other organisations and companies, they established 12 principles that would characterise the Net Positive approach. To aid companies in establishing a Net Positive mindset in their organisation, the project has released two control documents; Communicating Net Positive[7], andMeasuring Net Positive [16]. In Measuring Net Positive, companies can read about how to measure their positive impact, through principles, required management steps and best practice on how to measure (some) material impacts. In Communicating Net Positive, companies can access complementary examples of how to take action to be Net Positive, as well as learn how the framework relates to other sustainability practices and terminology. To become Net Positive, businesses need to put back more than they take out (of the environment). It is beyond doing less harm or becoming Net Zero or Carbon Neutral; it is aiming to have a restorative approach to natural and social capital. How to achieve this depends on what kind of business one runs. To prove a business’ Net Positive approach, transparent and measurable or demonstrable achievements shall be reported, serving as evidence for a business’ Net Positive accomplishments [7, 15].
METHOD
To answer the research question, “what can be the challenges when working with sustainability frameworks as an IT consultant firm?” a process consisting of four steps have been adapted: first, researching the Advisory step of Cybercom’s consultancy services; second, analyse their processes; third, interviewing people who work within
Advisory or sales to gather a deeper understanding of current issues with the processes; four, a breakdown of Advisory’s processes and a mapping of where the Sustainable Development Goals and Net Positive are to be taken into account.
Researching and Analysing
To understand Advisory, the head of advisory services in Stockholm and one of his employees presented what kind of work Advisory does and how their processes are structured.
Here, the term processes refers to the workflow of a project;
either from getting a project presented by a client or Cybercom approaching a client themselves, to identifying that digital sustainability could be relevant, to get assigned a job and to go through with the rest of their offer. This was done during several meetings. Afterwards, they provided the information presented by them during these meetings so it could be used during the analyse. To map out how Cybercom align with business sustainability, the typology provided by Dyllick and Muff [11] was used as reference.
Interviewing
Six people who work at Cybercom were interviewed, their roles are displayed in Table 2. The purpose of the interviews was to gather a deeper understanding of Cybercom’s sustainability work and the process for their digital sustainability offer.
Table 2. Interview respondents Respondent Role description
A Head of Sustainability
B Head of Advisory
C Employee at Cybercom Advisory D Former employee at Cybercom Advisory E Independent consultant with multiple
experiences within sustainability
F Employee at Cybercom Sales Department
The interview with respondent C was conducted via Skype, and the remaining ones in person. Five of the interviews were conducted in Swedish, and the interview with respondent C in English. The in-depth semi-structured interviews were recorded, and all participants were asked for consent. Before the recording started the respondents were informed that they would be anonymous, that the author of this study would be the only one listening to the recording, and that they were allowed to stop the recording whenever they wanted to.
First of all, the interviews were transcribed. Secondly, these transcripts were analysed with an Affinity Diagram approach [21]. The Affinity Diagram was chosen because of its strategic grouping of ideas similar to each other based on what the respondents say, which made analysing the interviews objective and straightforward. The analysing was not made in a group, but was otherwise executed accordingly. First, all ideas and expressed opinions were written down on paper, and as a second step similar ideas or opinions were grouped together. These steps lead to five groups with several sub-subjects each, which were thereafter divided into positive and negative columns for the purpose of identifying both opportunities and difficulties.
The purpose of these interviews was to evaluate the previous results and analysis by collecting thoughts and opinions about the current processes from different perspectives.
Mapping processes
When understanding and analysing Advisory’s processes was completed and the interviews had been conducted, a breakdown of these processes was done.
RESULTS
The groups created as a result from the interviews lay the basis of this chapter. First, a description of the work Cybercom do in relation to sustainability is presented.
Second, three processes used within Advisory to create digital sustainability offers have been mapped and analysed.
Third, their current work with the Sustainable Development Goals and Net Positive is presented. Last, results regarding the perceived opportunities and difficulties with being an IT consultant firm attempting to work with sustainability offers are declared.
Cybercom and Sustainability
Cybercom is an IT consultant firm that was founded in 1995, and they focus on business to business sales. They have a history of devoting themselves to human resources and environmental issues, and in 2010 they launched their first sustainability report. They were one of the first consultant firms in Sweden to do so. After this, Cybercom had several internal dialogues about how to further improve their sustainability work. This led to one of the owners suggesting that they should start looking at what kind of external impact they could have within sustainability, rather than only focusing on their internal possibilities. This suggests that Cybercom has taken on a top-down management approach to sustainability, i.e. it begins at the top, and then it engages employees at lower levels. After this, Cybercom started evaluating what kind of environmental impact they could have, and what kind of sustainability effects they could deliver through their customers. Because of this, Cybercom developed four concepts; clean, close, secure, and easy. Clean refers to
digitalisation enabling the conversion of products to services and streamlining energy consumption. There are no geographical limits to where Internet can reach (theoretically), and it is possible to distribute knowledge through it, which is the essence of Close.Secure covers the importance of security online, and Easy refers to the fact that digitalisation should not be difficult nor only usable by those who are experts. The general public should be able to take advantage of the benefits with digitalisation as well.
Today, Cybercom put a lot of effort in using the Sustainable Development Goals and Net Positive in their projects. They work with an outside-in perspective, which is to say a perspective that focus on need rather than product. Namely, the proposed value propositions and business plan innovations that Cybercom offer to their clients are based on the knowledge of their client’s marketplace. The greatest asset to this perspective is the customers, and the ability to differentiate between what you (the client) make, and what people (the client’s customers) actually need. According to the metrics in Figure 2 working with an outside-in perspective indicate that they are reaching towards Business Sustainability 3.0, which is the highest level according to Dyllick and Muff [11].
Cybercom strive to create value for the common good through a Net Positive approach, and the Sustainable Development Goals can be connected to starting with sustainability challenges. Cybercom’s services mainly contributes to six sustainability effects, which are displayed in Table 3.
Table 3. Cybercom’s services and their sustainability effects
An example of a projects where Cybercom have contributed to optimize energy savings is one with Heliospectra, a Swedish start-up company that work with developing intelligent light technology for greenhouse cultivation.
When the sun is shining, the lights automatically decrease in effect, and vice versa. This saves energy. Cybercom have contributed by investigating how to measure light frequency, brightness, temperature and moist by a plant with sensors. The purpose was to be able to steer all lights
separately, to see to each plants specific need and optimizing frequency and brightness. Cybercom also created a solution for 3D photographing plants in order to compare growth at different light conditions. These solutions are meant to optimize energy savings even further, and lessen production waste.
Cybercom also categorize their different levels of contribution in projects to relative, specific, active, and proactive. Examples of what kind of activities these levels of contributions might include, are displayed in Table 4.
Table 4. Cybercom’s levels of contribution
One of Cybercom’s aims is to become more proactive in their sales work which hopefully would enable them to contribute to greater changes within sustainable development. These are external activities and goals. On an internal level Cybercom has other initiatives to develop into a more sustainable company. To reach these goals and be able to be innovative, Cybercom have developed a digital sustainability offer within Advisory [10]. The processes connected to the digital sustainability offer will be further explained in this chapter.
Advisory Processes
Advisory is the first phase where Cybercom can help their clients with digital sustainability. To do this, they have created various processes which are involved at different stages. A simplified overview of their general approach is displayed in Figure 3.
Figure 3. Overview of Advisory’s Process
The initial internal stage begin with research of the current client in order to gather an understanding of what they offer, what their products or services are, and how they profile themselves regarding sustainability. They also attempt to find possible synergies, and do a trend analysis which involves looking at what other companies in the same industry or with similar products/services do. Other
than this, they create a possible value proposition where they do a Sustainable Development Goals inventory, and analyse the possibly relevant indicators for their client. An example of this is a project where Cybercom contributed to the development of converting Finland’s public sector’s services into digital. The value proposition was to gather public and private services to make it easier for the citizens to manage their matters. It also included a secure identification management software, which automatically identified those with guardianships and rights to manage someone else’s information. Among other things, this project is estimated to contribute to the environment by managing documents online, saving costs and material use for printouts, shipping, and document storage. This project was assessed to align with Sustainable Development Goal number 11, “Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. During this step they also determine whether or not their client is ready for a Net Positive approach, and how that could be implemented if they are.
After this, they move on to the second phase, external, which includes meeting with the client and getting their interest. In addition, they collect additional information about their client’s products/services and their work within sustainability. They focus on information that they might not have been able to find out by themselves.
During the second internal phase they try to further analyse the client’s needs and possibilities, also with the Sustainable Development Goals and Net Positive in mind. This time around they have more information about the client’s products and/or services than during the previous internal step. They might also have gained greater insight into what the client might want or need.
This then leads to an offer, which includes Advisory’s process of workshops in collaboration with their client, as well as data gathering from their client’s customers. The implementation of the offering usually contain three separate workshops. The first workshop covers inspiration and innovation, aligned with the client’s business. The second workshop is about business model innovation, and the last workshop as about tying it all together by refining, reworking, and defining ideas and solutions. The idea is that the Sustainable Development Goals and Net Positive should be integrated during all workshops.
The focus of the upcoming results are based on how the Sustainable Development Goals and Net Positive are taken into account during the internal processes. Two processes that at this moment are practiced at Advisory will be presented, as well as one theoretical process that has not yet been adapted fully.
Process 1
One of the processes used for Advisory’s digital sustainability offer is the double diamond. How it is used is
displayed in Figure 4. The double diamonds approach is common in design, and the employee at Cybercom who use it (respondent C) argued that it is because of their background within industrial design. However, respondent C expressed their belief that the double diamonds is useful in non-design projects as well.
Figure 4. Process 1 (Double Diamond)
Respondent C said that iteration between diverging and opening up, and converging to make things more specific is a good way of working with projects like those Advisory have. Figure 4 shows that the Sustainable Development Goals are assessed during the phasediscover. The questions asked during that step is “which Sustainable Development Goals are relevant?”, “how is the work we do today related to any goals?”, “and which goals are for us (the client) possible to look at in the future?”. At this point an impact assessment is also made. To do that, the question “where do we (the client) want to have an impact as a company?”
attempts to be answered. The first step is rather broad, and it is during step two, define, that more specific ideas and solutions may form. When this narrowing down has been accomplished, the outcome should be one or a couple of ideas/solutions. These can then be assessed from a Net Positive approach in the third step, develop. An important question at that point is “is the ideas/solutions actually contributing to something good, or are they only focused on not doing any harm?”. In the last step, deliver and end solution, respondent C expressed that Cybercom have work to do regarding measuring a project’s impacts. Respondent C argued that if they were to use the last stage do set indicators for goals and measurement, it would be easier to make fact based assessments or their impacts.
Process 2
Another process with the same goal as Process 1 is displayed in Figure 5. This is also a process for the internal steps in Figure 3. The first step in the process includes finding synergies between Cybercom and its client. It is a sort of evaluation of what cybercom can offer their client through collaboration. Step two,research, includes research about the client and their business, their products/services, what they do within sustainability, and their current
partnerships. The aim is to know as much about their client as they can to suggest relevant development. After this, a trend analysis is conducted. This is a benchmark of what other companies or organisations in the client’s industry are doing, what technical developments and trends might be relevant, and what is being and can be done in the said industry within sustainability. After these three steps, the information gathered makes it possible for Cybercom to create a value proposition for their client. The Sustainable Development Goals and Net Positive is to be considered during phase two, three, and four.
Figure 5. Process 2 Process 3 - SPRING
Digital Sustainability - Global Sustainability as a Driver for Innovation and Growth, also referred to as SPRING, is a white paper dedicated to Cybercom’s digital sustainability offer, which was finished during the winter of 2017/2018 [10]. This white paper contain a description of a process Advisory are expected to use when providing a digital sustainability offer to a client. The whole process have been piloted in one project so far. An overview of the process is displayed in Figure 6.
Figure 6. An Overview of Process 3 (from SPRING). Design by Andreas Ohlsjö
Three of the respondents (B, D, and E), have been involved with the creation of the SPRING process. These three respondents, as well as respondent C, were all involved in the piloting of this project at some stage. Respondent C expressed that they deemed the process interesting when reading about it, but only being part of one stage of the project where it was piloted was not enough to understand it fully. Because of this, respondent C said it is difficult to determine what is missing from the process. They did however argue that it looks really promising, but that it needs to become more concrete and experienced during more projects to fully understand it.
Three respondents expressed that they liked the entirety of SPRING and idea behind it, and that its presence itself urges the sustainability work at Cybercom forward. Two respondents said that the process is too complicated, and need to be simplified or further explained. Another aspect that two respondents highlighted was that distributing the SPRING process and its purpose outside of Advisory has not succeeded. Moreover, two respondents expressed that the customer value is not clear enough, and need to be further developed to a more tangible value. Other than this, there was one respondent who argued that the process is not too difficult, but that it needs to be implemented into Advisory’s processes.
Breakdown Document
The purpose of investigating how the processes are structured has been to compare them in order to suggest improvements to process 3 - SPRING. For these suggestions to be relevant, research about the Sustainable Development Goals Compass and Net Positive have been combined with the results of the interviews. Process 3 - SPRING is meant to be adapted throughout all Advisory departments at Cybercom, to ensure consistency in the digital sustainability offer. Since results showed that this process has not yet been fully adapted or understood, a breakdown document was created to clarify the process. In addition to this, suggestions of how to improve the work with the Sustainable Development Goals and Net Positive was created by the author. An example of from the breakdown document is displayed in Figure 7.
Figure 7. An Example from the Breakdown Document (potential value proposition)
In Figure 7, potential value proposition from stage one in the SPRING process is broken down to four assessment points. All assessment points are further explained to the right, and when Net Positive and the Sustainable
Development Goals are to be assessed has been mapped as well. As an example, Overview of (negative) impacts can be assessed by tying the impacts to the Sustainable Development Goals. Do the existing product or service have a negative impact on any of the goals, and in that case:
which goal or goals? Another way is to assess the product’s/service’s production or delivery chain to see what negative impact it has on the environment in other ways.
High energy or material use is one way to do that.
An example of an organisation that contributes to social well-being (access and obtainment of adequate water) is Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority. They are a municipal body that produce waste management and water services. For example, they provide Finnish people with drinking water and purify sewage. These services are developed through projects within Internet of Things.
Cybercom ended up creating a vision and strategy regarding Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority’s work with Internet of Things, to improve the service development.
Sustainable Development Goals
Today, when Advisory assess which Sustainable Development Goals are relevant to a project they start by exploring the overview of the 17 goals. When they identify one or several relevant goals for a project, the second step is to look further into the goals by assessing their sub targets.
The sub targets are presented both during the potential value proposition and later in their sustainability report.
Two respondents expressed that the presence of or relation to the goals can sometimes feel vague, and that there is room for improvement and development in this area.
Suggested improvements for their work with the Sustainable Development Goals during the Advisory process were included in the breakdown document. An example of these improvements are displayed in Figure 8.
Net Positive
As of now, Net Positive is integrated in Cybercom’s digital sustainability in such a way that they talk about environmental opportunities rather than obligations. They suggest an approach where digitalisation might help their client to contribute to the environment and to society, rather than only minimizing their negative impact. One respondent stated that it is rare to do this within consultant firms, and that Cybercom aim to embrace the possibility to actively contribute to a positive development within digitalisation.
What the same respondent also expressed, was that it is still a rather new approach and therefore not widely accepted in different industries. One respondent also claimed that it is difficult to measure the impact or success, which makes it more difficult to prove that Cybercom’s actions actually make a difference. In the breakdown document, some suggested improvements for their work with Net Positive is
about measuring impact (Figure 9). Net Positive and the Sustainable Development Goals are compatible and if successfully integrated they can enforce each other.
Figure 8. Indicators for the Sustainable Development Goals.
From the Breakdown Document
Figure 9. Indicators for measuring Net Positive Impact. From the Breakdown Document
Consultant Firm
Being a consultant firm makes it possible for Cybercom to affect companies cross-industry. This does also bring both difficulties and opportunities that Cybercom might be able to take advantage of. Three respondents stated that they as an IT consultant firm are used to fast changes, and one respondent said that they have the possibility to connect disruptive technical opportunities to business opportunities.
The same respondent also expressed that some difficulties may be that consultants are often considered to only wanting to sell, which makes it important to be confident in their offer and be able to present the customer value. This
respondent also stated that there is a “tech”-culture that solely focus on efficiency within existing products rather than the wider context, which can be an issue when trying to accomplish a Net Positive approach, for example.
Another respondent mentioned that there are engineers at Cybercom that do not see the purpose of digital sustainability and state that they are an IT firm that should focus on tech. This might indicate that there are some
“tech”-culture members at Cybercom. This respondent also pursued the issue with lack of data. Often, because they are a consultant firm, Cybercom don’t have access to all the data that relates to a product or service that they contribute to. It could be because they sometimes are not involved in an entire project, only parts of it, or that they don’t have access to data about how a product or service is used.
DISCUSSION
The research question for this study is “what can be the challenges when working with sustainability frameworks as an IT consultant firm?”. To be able to answer this question, Cybercom’s processes within Advisory and their digital sustainability offer have been explored and analysed, with a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals and Net Positive.
Green ICT
One of the opportunities for an IT consultant firm is that working cross-industry enable various projects which can be either Greening ICT, or Greening through ICT [22].
Cybercom, not bound to any own product or service line, can contribute to projects where either concept is possible.
However, there is a risk that IT firms end up in the
“tech”-culture that one of the respondents mentioned, and focusing solely on efficiency in already existing products (greening ICT) does not have the same capacity to affect the environment as greening through ICT. Cybercom should therefore prioritize projects that enable greening through ICT since it has a bigger chance of affecting the environment in a positive way.
Table 3 display six main sustainability effects that Cybercom contribute to, but it is not clear which effects are prioritized or to which effects most effort is put in to. The energy saving effect lies within the scope of greening ICT. Dematerialization and as a service is more aligned with greening through ICT, which according to research has a greater chance of affecting the environment than greening ICT [22]. None of the respondents spoke about either concepts, and it has not been displayed as a parameter or indicator during any of the processes for their digital sustainability offer. Adding this parameter to their processes might make it possible for Cybercom to consciously focus more on greening through ICT projects.
Sustainable Development Goals
As of now, the Advisory process of how to determine which Sustainable Development Goals are relevant and/or fulfilled by a project is based on identifying specific goals and their targets. To increase the credibility of their assessment process, using the Sustainable Development Goals Compass could be beneficial. Not all five steps are relevant for Cybercom to develop though. Step one, that includes understanding the business opportunities and challenges, is already accomplished by Cybercom. Step two (defining priorities) could be applied to any project that Cybercom are involved in. This step involves mapping the value chain to identify impact areas, select indicators and collect data, and thereafter define to which goals a company will have the greatest impact (Figure 8). This is something Cybercom could implement to their process of creating solutions for projects, and was therefore included as suggested improvements. The third step involves setting goals, that are measurable and time-bound. This is also a step that could aid Cybercom in developing their work with the Sustainable Development Goals further. As of today, measuring is not one of Cybercom’s strengths, and being a consultant firm can complicate matters, but it is something they need to look further into. The Sustainable Development Goals Compass provide an opportunity for Cybercom to evolve within this area, and by adding the indicators seen in Figure 8 it should be easier to communicating the impacts. The fourth step, integrating the goals within the organisation, is something that Cybercom already attempt to do themselves. The fifth and final step is about reporting and communicate progress. This is also done by Cybercom to some extent by linking projects to specific goals in their sustainability report. Since the measuring factor is somewhat lacking today, there is room for improvement in that department. It might not be possible to measure all projects in numbers, but by setting indicators and goals early on in a project they will have the possibility to communicate what kind of change or impact that their projects have. That could be a way of making their contributions more credible [23]. By applying the above discussed steps, the process of creating and communicating technical solutions within the digital sustainability offer would be improved.
Net Positive
The Net Positive approach is still rather new and not widely adopted. This means that Cybercom might encounter several obstacles, and some possible opportunities, when implementing it. First, not a lot of companies are aware of this approach, which can be considered both an advantage and a disadvantage. It can create the opportunity of impressing and inspiring those who have not heard about it and are enticed by the concept, at the same time as it to some might seem complex and unproven. Secondly, measuring the impacts of a Net Positive approach is not necessarily easy. Good practice for measuring is still
developing, but there are guidelines in Measuring Net Positive that could be helpful to companies (Figure 9).
Cybercom themselves have not communicated to their employees about how to set indicators for measuring Net Positive impact, and measuring impacts is something that was argued lacking from their processes during interviews.
The measurement does not necessarily have to be in numbers, and can not always be presented in such a way either. A few basic questions for increased transparency for companies when reporting Net Positive are the following:
What has changed? What was the baseline? Has the problem shifted elsewhere? (rebound and displacement) How long will the benefit continue into the future before it is replaced? (drop-off/future benefits) [16]. Using these indicators when creating and evaluating a technical solution that Cybercom have provided to a client would improve the credibility of both the product/service and of Cybercom.
Another aspect to consider is wherein which area a company, or project in Cybercom’s case, should focus.
There are five of these areas presented in Measuring Net Positive; Carbon (including energy), water, social, material use (including forestry and waste), and ecological (including agriculture and biodiversity) [16]. The relevance of these areas will depend on what kind of projects that Cybercom engage in, and should be implemented and considered as impact measurement points during Advisory’s processes. This can increase credibility, with Cybercom’s clients and the general public.
Challenges and Opportunities
One advantage that Cybercom has, because they are a consultant firm, is that they have the opportunity to affect clients cross-industry. They can look at their experiences with various clients to improve their work with others in similar and different industries. Another advantage is that they are used to fast changes. Being able to turn disruptive technical opportunities to business opportunities might improve their chances of dealing with sustainability with a Net Positive approach.
One challenge to their digitalisation and sustainability work is the lack of data access. Even if Cybercom claim to contribute to sustainability effects such as energy savings and products or services with a positive effect on the environment, how will they prove this if they do not measure it somehow? Even if it’s not possible to measure everything in numbers, there are still possibilities to indicate positive changes if actions such as those discussed in the two earlier sections of this chapter. Something that could be interesting for Cybercom to consider is to engage in business to business data sharing with other companies.
Today, it is most common that business to business data is shared and re-used within the same sector, and the most common data to share is that which is generated by internal
IT business systems and Internet of Things [9]. According to theStudy of data sharing between companies in Europe [9] the concept of business to business data sharing is not yet commonly understood. The study claim that companies that engage in this kind of data sharing are not giving away complete datasets or lose “data ownership” rights, but they allow third-parties to get involved with the process. The third-party might be involved as intermediaries or as enablers. Both technical and legal skills are of significant importance if engaging in business to business data sharing [9], but if Cybercom were to establish that kind of competence this could be a way of accessing more data.
Breakdown Document
The purpose of their digital sustainability offer is to be able to create environmentally sustainable business and product solutions. In order to do this, Cybercom are in need of a process that is understood and executed properly by those involved. This is one of the reasons to why Cybercom requested the clarification. Another reason is that to make the offer profitable. Cybercom turn down projects that don’t align with their sustainability work, and to be able to do continue doing that they need to be able to create revenue from this offer. If they are able to engage in business to business data sharing, possibilities of co-creation between companies could arise and might contribute to economic sustainability.
It would have been beneficial for this study to evaluate if the suggestions can deliver more credible results. These suggestions need to be evaluated by being tried out in projects, preferably by several teams at Advisory located in different offices for a more credible result. Another aspect that might have contributed to the results of this study could have been to map process 3 accordingly to the double diamond approach, to present several alternatives to the one that has been delivered now.
Method Critique
Regarding the methods, there are several alternatives to the ones chosen in this project. First of all, one thing that could have been improved is the interview respondents; it could have been interesting to interview some of Cybercom’s clients to broaden the perspective of the digital sustainability offer. It could also have been interesting to interview more people who are less experienced within sustainability to identify their needs and compare them to the current results. Secondly, it would have been beneficial to somehow test and evaluated the suggestions of change that are discussed in this chapter. That would have enabled an iteration process of the integration of the breakdown document, which could have added more credibility to the project. Another way to complement the interviews and the breakdown document could have been to do several versions of the latter, with various layout options.
Future Research
One thing that often lacks in sustainability work and initiatives in practice is how to make actions and results tangible enough. This is something that needs to be further investigated and explored. To research this there is a need for longer studies that focus on specific projects from the absolute start to finish, and even further than that. A possible obstacle with this is that actual environmental impacts may not be apparent until years after a product or service has been implemented. One way of approaching this could be to investigate both short and long term impacts.
Another aspect that should be explored further is how to agree on measurements cross-industry, or at least within same industry. Without a generally accepted and adopted language and measurement indicators it is difficult to compare different results. Hopefully, further work with business to business data sharing might contribute to general measurement indicators being adapted.
Moreover, further developing Net Positive measurements would be interesting, as well as exploring what effect a positive view with opportunities rather than obligations could have on companies and organisations. This too would need longer studies, but that is what it takes when it comes to sustainability in practice.
CONCLUSIONS
For Cybercom, the main contributions of this project are the clarification of the SPRING process and the suggestions on how to develop their work with the Sustainable Development Goals and Net Positive further. Indicators to develop the measuring and communicating of the two sustainability frameworks have been suggested. These suggestions need to be tested and evaluated to ensure further improvement and determine their potential effect.
The purpose of the suggested improvements to their process for digital sustainability is to help them create more environmentally sustainable ICT solutions. Since the suggestions have not been tested or evaluated, Cybercom is recommended to do this themselves, by either re-doing an old project or going through with new one. It is also recommended that Cybercom engage in internal workshops to educate employees in the process. If Cybercom would be able to engage in business to business data sharing, they could explore the possibility of creating new revenue streams which might contribute to their own and other companies’ economic sustainability.
The research contributions of this project are essentially insights to business strategies for sustainability in practice.
Through a case study of a company, an approach to working with two sustainability frameworks in the same process has been assessed and described. The outcomes of this study are bound to IT consultant firms with processes similar to Advisory’s. However the work with the
Sustainable Development Goals and Net Positive could possibly be applied to other companies or organizations.
Two of the greatest challenges discussed in this study have been about measuring and communicating the sustainability impact of projects.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I want to thank Cybercom for enabling this study to take place. A special thank you to those who participated in meetings and interviews, your input has been valuable and educative. I also want to express my appreciation for Mauricio, my supervisor at Cybercom for great discussions and important input. A great thank you to my supervisor Hanna Hasselqvist and fellow students at the Royal Institute of Technology, for keeping my spirits up and contributing with tips and tricks. A last thank you to Kristina Höök, my examinator who have shared some great feedback about this subject.
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