Wolfgang Koestler, Managing Partner of msg Plaut in Russia, tells about what sustainable development is, why it is now important for companies to pay attention to this topic and what solution our company offers in an interview for “Expert” magazine.
In Russia, business pays particular attention to services that minimize risks associated with sustainable development. Wolfgang Koestler, the managing partner of msg Plaut Russia, describes expertise of German and Austrian companies in this area.
—The Austrian and German IT company is part of the msg group , an independent global group with more than 8,500 employees around the world. Given that msg Plaut has been operating in Russia since 2010, how do you consider its position in the Russian market? How do new conditions brought on by the pandemic affect your company?
— Almost two years since COVID began to circulate, entailing varying restrictions and changing the way we work. But despite the pandemic, requests from our customers have never stopped. As our activity is gradually restoring to normal, we see growing demand and increasing number of projects in the market. We encounter difficulties in finding suitable staff. In collaboration with universities, we’ve been launching educational programs for postgraduates and exploring new directions — for example, refinement of labeling regulations for new products, and sustainable development.
What do you mean by sustainable development for business?
In today’s world, a company’s ability to operate successfully is increasingly dependent on its ability to manage and communicate its sustainability impacts, strategy, and progress. Corporate governance related to top management, audits, internal controls, are needed.
— Why is it important for business to focus on sustainable development issues today?
— If not doing so, companies would face significant risks. Among them, declining sales. Most markets are changing with strong emphasis on sustainable development and climate change combating. Successful implementation of sustainable development strategies is increasingly becoming a competitive advantage. Also, there are compliance risks due to dramatic growth in laws to protect environment and ensure health & safety (EHS): carbon taxes, carbon credits. Do not forget that sustainable finance has already become a major factor for investment decisions and access to capital. ESG performance strongly affects the cost of loans and inclusion of company's bonds and shares in investment initiatives, portfolios, indices. Finally, it is worth mentioning reputational risks: customers keep a close eye on company’s activities and their views are spreading fast over the Internet. Underperformance in the area of sustainable development may practically destroy reputation of the company. In addition, good reputation score in sustainable development helps effectively attract and retain talents.
— How will the expertise of German companies help mitigate the risks? What does msg Plaut offer its clients in this regard?
--- There are not many companies with their own large team of sustainability experts and integration specialists, we have developed a portfolio of sustainability solutions based on the SAP PaPM analytical tool (Profitability & Performance Management), a solution that supports complex calculations and modeling. Without a predefined data model, it is highly flexible and provides quick profitability and cost analysis with minimal IT involvement. The solution easily integrates data from disparate source systems, as a result, business users are able to analyze large amounts of data and apply complex calculation models, getting a full-fledged scenario modeling of their activities. SAP PaPM, for example, includes modules such as Business and Financial Modeling, Profitability and Cost Management, Flexible Modeling of Plans and Forecasts, Calculation of the Cost of Raising Resources for Banks, Product and Price Forecasting, and it also has a section called Carbon Footprint Management - a life cycle assessment to determine the environmental impact of products and services.
How does the Carbon Footprint Management module work in your solution?
—It consists of three key components. (1) Our solutions help obtain reliable information on corporate sustainability by analyzing all EHS data (carbon, air, waste), travel data (carbon, air), employee data (personnel management systems) and economic data (enterprise resource planning). (2) Our solutions facilitate sustainability management of the value chain, including, for example, manufacturing, consumer goods, energy, exploration, public sector, services, technology. (3) Our product aims to ensure sustainability of investments and finance, which opens new opportunities for many sectors and provides a good foundation for financial services, bond issuers and investors. To sum up, our solution enables clients to easily measure carbon footprint of their companies, suppliers and customers down to the level of products and services, as well as manage and minimize it.
LINK TO ONLINE PUBLICATION in the "Expert" edition, №43 2021 https://expert.ru/expert/2021/43/izmerit-i-minimizirovat-uglerodniy-sled/