SAP

Bridging the Workforce Readiness and Skills Gap in PH #SAP #Unicef

Published

5 months ago

December 28, 2022

SAP, UNICEF and GenU extend, expand partnership to help youths gain skills for employment

SAP SE (NYSE: SAP) has recently committed to its continuing partnership with UNICEF in support of Generation Unlimited (GenU) for an additional three years to help prepare young individuals for the workforce.

In recent years, there has been a decrease in the proportion of young people in employment. Despite the increase in the population of people ages 14 and 24, growing by over 30 percent to 1.2 billion in just two decades, their participation in the labor market declined by 12 percent. According to a recent report by the International Labour Organization (ILO), this number is expected to decline with time.

Apart from this reality, a recent report by GenU, PwC, and UNICEF noted that young people worldwide find it difficult to join the labor force because they cannot identify or acquire the skills needed for today’s job market. This contributes to a global skills gap and exacerbates youth unemployment. Less than a quarter of youth in lower-income countries are also estimated to be on track to attain the necessary skills to thrive in school, work, and life.

Bridging the Workforce Readiness and Skills Gap in PH #SAP #Unicef

In a recent statement, Kevin Frey, Chief Executive Officer of GenU said, “today’s young people are three times more likely than adults to be unemployed, which makes for a very uncertain future for all of us. To keep up with the ever-changing demands of the labor market, young people need a full set of skills to compete locally and globally. I am delighted that SAP and GenU are continuing our long-standing partnership. Together we will support even more young people worldwide to unlock opportunities.”

Helping upskill the next generation of leaders

Leveraging GenU’s signature program Youth Agency Marketplace (YOMA), the partners will pilot a new program that supports ‘learning to earning’ pathways in the digital green economy for marginalized youths, helping them acquire new skills to flourish.

Among many countries across the globe, the Philippines is the only country selected for the Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ), along with Nigeria and South Africa. This new program, to be piloted in early 2023, aims to provide more than 500,000 young people with foundational and digital skills acquisition opportunities by the end of the first year to transform their life trajectories.

The partnership will also support SAP’s “educate to employ” initiative, which aims to educate youth on soft skills and foundational knowledge. This initiative includes honing SAP skills using the student zone on the SAP Learning site, where students can learn about the latest SAP solutions for free via this site, which would help them gain the knowledge they can usethat can help to kickstart their careers.

SAP and UNICEF first joined forces in support of GenU in 2019 and have since reached three million young people in India, Turkey, and Vietnam with transformative education models.

“Education is one of the key priorities in the Philippines, especially regarding Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). With the plans laid by the current administration, especially as it strengthens its government digital transformation initiatives, we believe that upskilling talents, particularly their digital skills, is likewise integral. In collaboration with UNICEF and GenU, this new program adds to SAP’s projects and initiatives, geared toward helping upskill Filipino talents, particularly among the youths,” said Rudy Abrahams, Managing Director, SAP Philippines.

Expanding digital skills initiative

Aside from its partnership with UNICEF, SAP pledged to help upskill 2 million people worldwide by 2025 to strengthen its commitment to creating opportunities through learning and development. In support of this, SAP recently launched its expanded digital skills initiative to provide easier access to essential learning resources to underrepresented and underserved groups in technology, as well as its collaboration with Coursera, a global online learning platform with more than 110 million learners worldwide.

Together, on the Coursera platform, SAP offers an online, seven-course SAP Technology Consultant Professional Certificate, where participants can learn more about SAP, the role of a technology consultant, and the value SAP professionals bring to customers. This offering provides focused, role-based entry-level learning resources for everyone and is available exclusively on Coursera.

SAP’s other initiatives in the Philippines include the SAP University Alliances program. This initiative enables faculty and teachers worldwide to educate next-generation talents with SAP skills. University Alliances members can access SAP software and learning content, learn best practices for integrating program resources into teaching, and be inspired to partner with the SAP ecosystem of customers and partners.

About 23 member universities in the Philippines are under the SAP University Alliances program. This initiative continuously aims to empower Filipino educators to equip better the next generation of talents with the latest SAP technologies and relevant skills.

Meanwhile, SAP has also been collaborating with ASEAN Foundation to equip youths with data analytics skills to create solutions for the ASEAN region’s pressing social issues through the ASEAN Data Science Explorers (ADSE) competition.

The Philippines is one of the active participating countries in this program. It complements the country’s current programs geared towards upskilling young Filipinos and empowering ASEAN youths with essential digital skills, collaboration skills, and the ability to communicate ideas and think critically.

Visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @SAPNews.

SAP

#SAP #DelMontePH Enabling Sustainable Supply Chains Key to Reduce Carbon Emissions

Published

3 months ago

March 21, 2023

Jervie David Montejar

Iggy Sison, chief sustainability officer of Del Monte Philippines, Gunasekar Gurusamy, sustainability solution advisor for SAP Asia Pacific and Japan, and Simone Pigason, head of digital supply chain of SAP Southeast Asia.

Sustainability has become a necessity for organizations in today’s world as more consumers seek sustainable brands, investors consider environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives for investment decisions, and governments increase their regulations.

A recent report by Kyndryl revealed that 77 percent of Southeast Asian businesses are concentrating on ESG initiatives. One of the growing efforts made by organizations involves mostly the decarbonization of their supply chains. According to the UNGC-Accenture CEO study, 60 percent of carbon emissions worldwide come from organizations’ supply chains.

In a virtual event conducted by the Supply Chain Management Association of the Philippines (SCMAP) in partnership with SAP SE (NYSE: SAP), titled “Enabling Sustainable Supply Chains”, SAP leaders, joined by Del Monte Philippines, shared how to reduce emissions in the supply chain and leverage data and technology to achieve sustainability goals.  

Decreasing Emissions on the Three Scopes

Companies’ carbon emissions are divided into three scopes. This includes Scope 1, which is emissions from businesses’ own operations; Scope 2, which involves emissions from purchased utilities from third parties like electricity; and Scope 3, which covers all the other emissions in the entire value chain. This ranges from employee commute to consumer behavior when using the company’s products, among others.

During the event, Iggy Sison, Chief Sustainability Officer of Del Monte Philippines, imparted the brand’s initiatives to realize a net zero carbon emissions goal in the three scopes. “The company is now shifting third-party delivery transport to double-decker trucks to reduce emissions. Aside from that, our goal is to decrease emissions at our production facility by 3 percent per year, install solar power in our plant and plantation, expand measurement to include Scope 3 emissions, and more.”

Leveraging Data and Technology for a Clear Path Forward

However, for businesses to have a clear sustainability journey, Simone Pigason, Head of the Digital, Resilient, and Sustainable Supply Chain of SAP Southeast Asia, remarked that organizations need to address three key challenges. “Organizations must first have the ability to record their ESG data across the entire value chain to measure and ensure progress. Then, they need a robust platform that can cater to reporting needs across diverse regulatory bodies and frameworks. And finally, they must use different solutions to embed the insights gathered from the datasets into the business processes.”

Pigason then added, “Data enables businesses to forecast demand accurately to avoid unnecessary waste, especially with supply chain disruptions. Aside from increasing carbon emissions, overproduction can cause additional warehouse inventory, spoilage, and more.”

Developing Sustainable Supply Chains Now and In the Future

To help businesses kickstart their sustainability journey, Sison shared that organizations must first define their stakeholders, such as consumers, employees, and investors, among others. “After identifying these elements, companies need to determine what is a key concern for these stakeholders and prioritize the things to address. That is an important process to ensure that the sustainability initiatives are relevant, responsive, and proactive,” he added.

Meanwhile, Pigason encouraged companies to continue the conversation about sustainability in supply chains. “Talking more about sustainability can expand discussions from Scope 1 and 2 to 3. Businesses will also know where their baseline and where to start in the three scopes,” she added.

Rudy Abrahams, Managing Director of SAP Philippines, agreed on how organizations can begin developing sustainable supply chains. He emphasized the significance of sustainability now and in the future to businesses. “Sustainability can improve organizations’ profitability because businesses are reducing emissions, energy costs, and more to help the planet. Aside from that, it also helps in increasing brand value for shareholders, customers, and even employees while adhering to regulatory compliance and improving ancillary revenue streams.”

To assist businesses in strengthening their sustainability initiatives, SAP has been offering solutions like the Sustainability Navigator Tool. This solution helps businesses identify their sustainability challenges in three dimensions. This includes climate action, circular economy, and even social responsibility. It also provides solutions that can help organizations address the challenges using specific toolsets.

Visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @SAPNews.

SAP

#SAP #DelMontePH Enabling Sustainable Supply Chains Key to Reduce Carbon Emissions

Published

3 months ago

March 17, 2023

Jervie David Montejar

Decreasing Emissions on the Three Scopes

Leveraging Data and Technology for a Clear Path Forward

Pigason then added, “Data enables businesses to forecast demand accurately to avoid unnecessary waste, especially with supply chain disruptions. Aside from increasing carbon emissions, overproduction can cause additional warehouse inventory, spoilage, and more.”

Developing Sustainable Supply Chains Now and In the Future

Visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @SAPNews.

SAP

#2023 #Trends: PH Businesses to Focus More on #Sustainability

Published

4 months ago

February 23, 2023

Jervie David Montejar

SAP shares industry trends that will shape 2023 and beyond

As companies now recognize the importance of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives to ensure long-term success, sustainability initiatives among organizations will see significant strides this 2023.

In a recent blog by Thomas Saueressig, a Member of the Executive Board of SAP SE (NYSE: SAP), noted that in recent years, organizations had considered sustainability as an essential agenda as they focus on ESG initiatives, such as reducing their carbon footprint, investing in renewable energy sources, and promoting ethical practices.

For Rudy Abrahams, Managing Director of SAP Philippines, this trend is also the same in the Philippines. The government, for instance, has been promoting sustainability by introducing policies encouraging organizations and businesses to adopt ESG initiatives.

In 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) mandated publicly listed companies to submit an annual sustainability report, recognizing the relevance of ESG disclosures to support global and local sustainability goals and encourage transparency and accountability from companies.

Working to Achieve Circular Economy

As part of their ESG initiatives, large enterprises in the Philippines must contribute to achieving a circular economy. For years, the global economy has been linear and single-use, contributing to the accumulation of waste materials, which end up in landfills or the environment.

“A circular economy fosters new business prospects while preserving the environment. The advantages of implementing circular business models will significantly outweigh the existing investments that organizations must invest in,” Abrahams noted.

This year, organizations in the country are expected to become more proactive in establishing more circular operations, especially with the passage of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Act of 2022 (Republic Act no 11898). This law requires large enterprises to recover their plastic packaging waste, or they will pay a fine. This law requires large enterprises to recover their plastic packaging waste, or they will pay a fine.

“Recovery is a subset of the more significant idea of EPR. This law emphasizes the obligation of organizations to ensure that the resources and waste that is generated can be recycled or decomposed sustainably instead of ending up in landfills,” Abrahams added.

#2023 #Trends: PH Businesses to Focus More on #Sustainability

Ensuring Resilient Supply Chains

Meanwhile, there is also an existing demand for businesses to ensure resilient supply chains. Nowadays, most greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions originate from businesses’ supply chain activities. A recent study by the non-profit organization CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Program) revealed that these activities make up at least 92 percent of the whole GHG emitted by a business.

“In recent years, businesses have seen the importance of having resilient supply chains. As disruptions still happen across various industries, digitalizing supply chains help organizations ensure that they provide consumers consistently with the goods and services they need and reduce their carbon emissions,” Abrahams added.

Embracing Business Transformation

Meanwhile, as companies further strengthen their sustainability and ESG initiatives this year, Abrahams noted that embracing technology remains critical to implement these changes. Companies like AC Energy (ACEN) and Globe Group have been strengthening their business transformation initiatives to achieve their goals.

For instance, ACEN, the listed energy platform of the Ayala Group, has been leading the charge in the renewables revolution and towards adopting technology. But the company knew that its green journey should start from within and by ensuring that necessary solutions are available to improve their processes.

Recently, ACEN implemented SAP S/4HANA on Azure to create a unified digital business platform covering finance, procurement, inventory, and asset maintenance across multiple entities. SAP S/4HANA has been helping the company have visibility across its entities. This is crucial to enable collaboration among ACEN’s teams as they formulate and execute strategies to increase solar and wind plant capacities while reducing inefficiencies and waste.

ACEN also aimed to achieve efficient day-to-day operations with streamlined processes on a digital platform by improving corporate governance, reducing cybersecurity risks, and minimizing paper wastage. In addition, learning a new skill, such as SAP S/4HANA, helped contribute to human empowerment in the workplace.

For Globe, on the other hand, the effective use of organizational data to make more informed decisions is critical in improving sustainability outcomes. As the country’s top telco and digital solutions platform, Globe has various entities with different processes and reporting formats.

To address this challenge, Globe migrated to SAP S/4HANA to improve fragmented processes, manual workloads, inefficiencies, lack of insights, and delayed decision-making. It also integrated SAP Fiori to improve the user experience and access to insights. Automation and fewer reconciliations also enable quicker processing of financial transactions, quicker book closing, and error-free reporting.

“These are the industry trends that we believe will share the world of business this 2023 and beyond. On our part, SAP remains committed to helping organizations transform into fully digital, resilient, and sustainable enterprises, enabled with data visibility into their business functions and processes to make the most critical strategic and operating decisions,” Abrahams concluded.

Visit the SAP News Center. Follow SAP on Twitter at @SAPNews.