Think infotainment systems: navigation, audio, voice assistants, Bluetooth; personalized comfort, such as automatic cooling and seat adjustment with memory; and, perhaps most importantly, unprecedented driver assistance, accident prevention systems, and autonomic driving systems.

But each new line of code that goes into these software-enabled cars brings with it new vulnerabilities, exposing vehicles and the organizations behind them to malicious cyberattacks. But, while cyberattacks can have serious consequences across all industries, hacking in the automotive realm poses a much more sinister and potentially life-threatening risk.

It becomes a matter of safety, not just security. Take, for example, an attack on driver assistance systems, which control braking, speed regulation, blind spot detection, or even geo-positioning functions. A malfunction here could mean devastating and fatal consequences, not only to those operating the vehicles, but also to those in the surrounding vicinity.

Alarmingly, the automotive sector is underdeveloped in cybersecurity. A recent report from the Capgemini Research Institute highlights how most automotive OEMs face growing compliance and cybersecurity challenges as the industry moves to highly connected and software-driven vehicles and systems:

• 71% believe that the GDPR and other regulations have created unique challenges with regards to privacy and security of customer and vehicle data.
• Only 10% OEMs, on average, believe that they are well prepared to implement various cybersecurity measures. Specifically, only about 8% of OEMs consider themselves well-prepared for detecting and addressing security threats across vehicle fleet in the field and only 6% are well prepared to secure vehicles by design to mitigate cyber risks.
• 60% find it challenging to ensure that suppliers’ products meet regulatory requirements around cybersecurity risks.

As OEMs jostle to satisfy customers and establish themselves as frontrunners in the constantly adapting industry, cybersecurity needs to be repositioned to center stage. OEMs must therefore create a strong technology foundation of data privacy, security, and cybersecurity requirements. However, over a third (37%) do not collect any data related to vehicle cybersecurity and out of those who do collect data, 25% do not analyze it to uncover patterns and insights.
Fortunately, there is no need to reinvent the wheel, as there are mature technologies, tools, and critically, lessons, to be gained from other industries and markets.

So what are some of the best practices that can lead automotive OEMs to safe and secure connected success?

Get the organization on board

The new automotive era goes well beyond the vehicle and into the manufacturing and business model of an automotive organization. Ensuring that security underpins all aspects of the product lifecycle and supply chain will be essential. And how do you enable this? With a concrete, well-defined, end-to-end strategy, understood by all stakeholders in the delivery chain and the whole team.

To this end, OEMs will also need to look at ensuring they have the right team members in all areas of the organizations. OEMs are currently staring at a skills gap of 40–60% in key software-defined areas such as software architects, cloud management experts and cybersecurity experts, which means building and retaining will be critical to creating a cyber-secure organization.

Test, secure, repeat

The average modern high-end car software has a staggering 100 million lines of code – a mind-blowing number when you learn that a Boeing 787 only has 13.8 million. So ensuring that security is built-in at every step is no mean feat. Conducting regular risk assessments and surveys on most critical components of a car system will help establish strong security rules and frameworks. Developers can then rely on these strong security practices while their code is produced and tested, avoiding inherent vulnerabilities.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket

Defense in depth is a core principle of cybersecurity, already applied in several fields such as aeronautics or industrial systems. Protecting important assets using a multilayered security approach will help OEMs reduce the impact of a successful intrusion. Technological diversity will ensure that pain points across the whole product lifecycle – from in-vehicle applications to network architecture and supply chain actors – are kept siloed. An obvious target? Interfaces connected with the external world, including Bluetooth or over-the-air (OTA) applications. Decoupling these from other pain points will negate a security monoculture and avoid attack propagation.

Dedicated to the cause: establishing a global cybersecurity standard

As cybersecurity remains a relatively new topic for the automotive sector, a list of best practices to guide OEMs is underdeveloped and in general, missing. The global automotive industry as a whole will need to collaborate to develop well-established standards to guarantee that processes and implementations are compliant with shifting regulations and to reinforce the overall security of products. Cross-pollinating existing defense measures and technologies will help lead OEMs in the right direction.

The number of connected cars globally is growing by more than 70 million per year. As the majority (80%) of OEMs express plans to invest significantly in connected services in the next five years, cybersecurity is set to evolve into an even more critical and complex issue. OEMs who want to prosper, protect their customers, their teams, and the future of their business need to recognize the potential of becoming not only an automotive company – but a cyber-secure one too.

Want to learn more about the urgent steps OEMs need to take in order to get ahead of cyber threats and achieve this goal? contact our team today.

Follow Geert van der Linden on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Geert van der Linden

Expert in Cybersecurity Consulting, Service Offerings, Strategy

Hidden deep on the seafloor, you might not expect to find a multi-cable universe, streaming vast amounts of data.

But unlike the sea life calmly gliding by sensor nodes, on the surface sits an army of scientists busily listening and learning, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

From the songs of humpback whales and migrating shoals of fish, to changing currents and oceanographic features, researchers at the Lofoten-Vesterålen (LoVe) Ocean Observatory are carefully monitoring this data for clues on the changing global climate.

With a continuous stream of unique inputs, the LoVe team has collected over 100TB of sensor data in the last decade. However, as the volume of this data continued to grow, it became harder for researchers to manually inspect and evaluate it.

New automated methods were therefore urgently needed to help the research community perform these tasks and unlock the full potential of data created by the observatory.

Enter the Capgemini data rock stars

Channeling innovation to get the future we want

This year’s Capgemini Global Data Science Challenge – the GDSC#4 Love the Ocean, marks yet another edition of our companywide hackathon – drawing on our purpose to ensure a sustainable future for the planet through our skills, technology, and the drive of more than 300,000 talented employees around the world.

Last year, participants harnessed the power to identify sperm whales, supporting Lisa Steiner in the Azores to monitor migration patterns and protect the whales’ natural habitats.

I’m thrilled that this year has attracted even more talented employees – nearly 1,200 in total –creating 673 teams that entered the competition with the aim of developing a concept AI solution to help the LoVe team review and analyze their data more efficiently.

We provided employees with the tools to learn about the technology for sensor analytics on a major cloud data platform, AWS (Amazon Web Services), and put this into practice with data provided by the LoVe team. Throughout the process, participants gained insights into how to process data collection under extreme circumstances, how to analyze a vast array of time-series data, and how the patterns of bio-marine migration interact with various features of marine life.

The winning solutions – from two separate teams, one from India and the other from the UK – centered on automatically extracting important features in the data sets. Thanks to their work, the LoVe team was able to gain new insights in several areas which they are now exploring further, such as whale vocalization, tidal features, and the strong influence of weather on the distribution of individual organisms.

Data sharing for sustainable ocean research

For the LoVe team, the next step is to deploy and test the methods proposed by the winning teams on the Ocean Observatory servers to gather further evidence.

But the work doesn’t stop there. The results of this challenge and method of analyzing ocean data will make data more accessible for users and researchers around the world, through LoVe’s ties to the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development – a global initiative that will help us get the science we need for the ocean we want.

Finding innovative ways to collect and share data to support sustainable ocean management is a key objective of this initiative. The work of our employees and the LoVe team shows the world how it can be done.

We have to be very serious about the UN’s goals – it is our collective responsibility to protect our oceans. Here, ocean data and ocean data sharing are critical if we are to understand the full picture of our environment. Therefore, my pledge as a leader in AI & Data, is to act now!

Through powerful collaborations such as this, combined with our skills in AI & Data, I strongly believe we can make a meaningful, measurable impact in fighting climate change. This is a big challenge, but one we can rise to. And the results of this year’s challenge only inspire me to do more.

As we dive deeper into new research methods and expand our understanding of the ocean, I truly believe that we can work together to get the future we want – for our people, our society, and our planet.

#AI4sustainability #AI4planet #LoveTheOcean #COP26

Our previous three posts highlighted the new opportunities the cloud model can deliver to enterprises, common mistakes on the road to cloud transformation, and the keys to success on the journey to cloud. This final post summarizes our core beliefs, with the hope that these considerations will help shape your thinking about the role of cloud transformation and its potential impact.

1. Successful cloud transformation results in industry leadership through unprecedented agility and superior customer experiences. While almost every enterprise has already adopted cloud for a few use cases, there is still a first-mover advantage to adopting a cloud operating model as the centerpiece of a cloud transformation strategy. And adopting a cloud operating model is the key to attaining the new levels of agility you’re after.
2. Cloud is a board-level business priority, and the role of CIO is pivotal as a driver of change. The board and shareholders now recognize the strategic advantages of cloud transformation, and this presents an opportunity for the CIO and the IT organization to firmly establish themselves as key strategic partners to the business.
3. A cloud journey is a steep learning curve and far more than an IT change. It is all too easy to underestimate the complexity of cloud transformation and overlook key considerations. Business leaders need to set expectations properly and work with a partner that can tame the complexities and deliver results on time and on budget.
4. Assessing organizational readiness is critical before embarking upon the transformation journey. Cloud transformation can have a huge impact on existing operations and staff, so make sure you understand what your organization’s cloud maturity level is and accurately identify skill gaps before proceeding.
5. Attracting and retaining top talent will be the critical success factor for both client and provider organizations. Cloud skills are difficult to find, but modernizing your applications, operations, and IT processes will help your organization attract top talent.
6. Self-funded commercial models can enable organizations that lack funds OR are struggling during COVID-19 to invest in cloud. The transition to cloud use cases is likely to have immediate cost savings, which can be used to self-fund additional or larger-scope initiatives such as adoption of a cloud operating model.
7. Cloud transformation needs to be based on a well-defined business case co-owned by the CIO and business leaders. All senior business leaders should be involved in and supportive of the cloud transformation initiative. By owning the business case and collaborating with other C-suite executives, the CIO can strengthen his or her reputation as a business leader, not just a technology implementor.
8. Laying down the initial cloud strategy with a clear target state is essential. The centerpiece of the cloud transformation journey is the target cloud operating model, because the COM defines the transformation agenda and the mix of clouds that will be used. Therefore the initial cloud strategy must focus on the COM.
9. Establishing strong governance is critical and should include processes, applications, data, infrastructure, and organizational management. The implementation of cloud creates complexity arising out of multi-vendor, multi-services environment, challenges to security and compliance, external factors such as regulatory requirements etc. In order to address these challenges, a well-defined governance model is required.
10. Information security and data protection are of paramount importance and investments made by hyperscalers should be leveraged to the maximum. Public cloud models employ shared-responsibility security, so it is important to build security into the application architecture to protect from vulnerabilities and use the cloud to streamline compliance processes – but it is also important to fully leverage the security investments of hyperscalers. Make sure you understand and take full advantage of the data protection mechanisms that are available.

Additional resources:

>>Handbook: Executing Cloud Transformation

>>Brochure: Cloud Transformation: Connecting the “Why” with the “How”

>>Cloud Transformation Video

Rens Huizenga

Expert in Cloud Native, Cloud Services

I support customers to move their application landscape to the cloud. Based on the cloud strategy, the business case and assessment performed, a cloud transformation roadmap is drafted during the detailed assessment phase consisting of:
Apps Migration to Cloud : to create and execute an applications migration project that takes all perspectives into account —business, technical, financial, staffing, end-user, and service provider—so you can maximize the business value and minimize the costs, complexities, and disruptions.
Application Modernization Services: to design the right strategy for rehosting, redeploying, revising, refactoring, rebuilding, and/or replacing applications via the cloud to optimize the cost and efficiency of your entire application portfolio.
Cloud Native build: to rebuild applications from scratch on the cloud platform

Do you remember playing with LEGO®? Maybe you had it yourself when you were young, or maybe you bought it as a gift for children – but whatever the case, it’s likely you’ve played with it, and that you had fun. Those bricks enabled you to create your own unique constructions, but these days there are also dedicated sets from which to assemble very particular combinations.

What makes LEGO such an enduringly successful toy? There must be plenty of reasons, but here are some that occur to me. First, it’s the freedom: from standard pieces, players can mix and match in whichever way they choose. Next, it’s the repeatability and exchangeability: as I say, those pieces are standard, and a block bought decades ago will still fit one bought yesterday. And next, there’s the process: for those dedicated sets, there are detailed instructions (which is hardly surprising: for example, building the LEGO Star Wars Millennium Falcon™ involves 7,541 elements).

Building a LEGO®-like model

Why am I talking about LEGO? After all, as the headline says, I’m here to discuss supply chain management, and its digital transformation implications.

This is a prospect that many organizations find daunting. It’s extremely difficult for businesses to make choices that organically integrate and align methodologies, IT, vendors, and operations. In addition, organizations frequently find there is insufficient flexibility to match their exact needs.

OK: now you’ve probably spotted the relevance of my introduction. As with LEGO, supply chain transformation should be easy, and should enable companies to mix and match available options in a way that would just, well, click (sorry).

These options create an integrated platform for all industrialized operations, where businesses can adopt an end-to-end approach and still achieve measurable business outcomes, without the paralysis typical of a distant goal that requires overambitious levels of energy.

The Capgemini Integrated Operations Platform

For supply chain transformation, there are basic building blocks, all of which are built upon our own equivalent to the LEGO base plate. In real life, it means that it’s crucial to provide a base of standards, such as methodology and approach, expertise, process and technology capabilities. This standard environment, this constant, fosters creation of agile and flexible, yet tailor-made solutions. In Capgemini we call it the Capgemini Integrated Operations Platform (CIOP).

CIOP’s building blocks can be used across functions in various configurations, exactly as with LEGO. Using the terminology we’ve adopted here at Capgemini, they are as follows:

• The frictionless supply chain – removing the boundaries between traditional supply chain functions to create seamlessly integrated operations, with reduced touchpoints for improved efficiency and customer satisfaction
• D-GEM-driven digital assets – Capgemini’s own Digital Global Enterprise Model (D-GEM) platform is built on years of experience and sector best practice. It provides standards, blueprints, and trusted methodologies for process reengineering and digitalization that supply chains need – which, when knowledgeably applied, deliver the best possible business outcomes
• Digital twins – virtual business transformation models provide a secure and safe environment to try out operational scenarios, to make supply chains more resilient and flexible, and to mitigate risk
• Co-innovation Lab – Capgemini professionals can be brought to bear wherever their talent, supply chain experience, and knowledge will be of most use to a given process, function, or technology, enabling open discussion and experimentation
• Proprietary assets and partnerecosystem – Capgemini’s strategic partnerships complement our own “small tech” proprietary tooling across all supply chain processes, including customer and employee experience digital accelerators. Our partner ecosystem provides the necessary support from specialist expertise or technology.

These assets together form an integrated, end-to-end process platform, supported through enabling technologies and talent, which help us to create unique, tailor-made solutions. Just as with LEGO models, solutions built by different users with the same set of available blocks will be uniquely different.

Principles of the frictionless model

With these building blocks, organizations can construct a supply chain operation that works seamlessly, intelligently, and flexibly and that can adapt in line with business ambitions and market needs. Rather like one of those dedicated LEGO sets, it can be built following detailed instructions – but it can also be rolled out incrementally, so it starts adding value at an early stage.

We’ve done exactly this for one of our aerospace industry clients – leveraging a CIOP-led approach to transform their customer order fulfilment operations. While for another CPRD client, we reduced friction across their entire data, planning, order management, and order-to-cash functions – taking the plunge on their supply chain transformation!

Looking at CIOP, you can probably see why it occurred to me to open with the LEGO analogy. With the right building blocks in place, fitted together seamlessly, and working in partnership with people who have both experience and a structured approach, organizations can create integrated supply chain operations that are smart and frictionless – and that deliver the goods.

Figuratively, and literally.

To learn more about how Capgemini’s Digital Supply Chain Practice  can help your organization implement smart and flexible supply chain processes, contact: joerg.junghanns@capgemini.com

Jörg Junghanns leverages innovation and a strategic and service mindset to help clients transform their supply chain operations into a growth enabler.

Implementing critically needed sustainable practices also gives supply chain leaders an opportunity to minimize risks, reduce costs and increase corporate value.

It is time to act. Supply chain leaders cannot ignore the increasing demands from regulatory authorities, customers, and the financial markets for sustainable and transparent value chains.

3 main levers to improve sustainability performance:

• Transform the supply chain network for CO2 efficiency
• Integrate sustainability at the heart of your last-mile strategy
• Optimize end-to-end planning to limit inventory obsolescence and waste

Let’s look at these in more detail:

1. Transform the supply chain network design for CO2 efficiency

The best supply chain network should be designed around the three sustainability pillars of environmental, social, and economic factors. We recommend a dual approach: First, reduce transportation distance and risks, and select the most appropriate travel mode; Second, maximize the usage rate of transportation and warehousing assets, while minimizing their environmental footprint — for example green and shared warehouses.

2. Integrate sustainability at the heart of your last-mile strategy

On the downstream side, the implementation of a sustainable last-mile strategy will help tackle new distribution models and decarbonize operations. For example, this might include multi-modal delivery solutions in urban environments and partnering with sustainable last-mile delivery players. An efficient collect & reverse flow will also enable end-of-life treatment and refurbishment for products, which contributes to the circular economy opportunity.

3. Optimize end-to-end planning to limit inventory obsolescence and waste

Supply chain visibility is essential for reducing waste. Connecting consumer demand with suppliers and subcontractors, as well as providing end-to-end visibility of the value chain, will enable you to optimize resource consumption, waste, and stock levels. This is particularly important in the food industry, where nearly one-third of all the food produced in the world is never eaten. Advanced analytics combined with data sharing through digital platforms, including customers, suppliers, and subcontractors, helps consumer products company limit the impact of their waste along the chain.

Sustainable supply chain partner

At Capgemini Invent, we bring a range of assets and experience in optimizing supply chain networks that can help our clients achieve a 15 percent decrease on the overall CO2 footprint of the entire value chain. We build optimized supply chains combining sustainability, performance, and new business opportunities. Starting with our Sustainable Supply Chain Assessment solution, we identify the sustainable hot spots that help our clients turn sustainability into a competitive advantage along the end-to-end supply chain.

Find out more

Get in touch to find out more about Capgemini Invent’s recommended approach to supply chain sustainability. We’ll help you accelerate your path to sustainable business success with our sustainable operations & supply chain solutions.

Author

Clement Falquet

Digital Transformation expert, working on identifying, experimenting and implementing innovative technologies for Operations optimization on large Supply Chain networks

73 percent of consumers are willing to pay more for a product that offers complete transparency. Some 49 percent say they do not have any information to verify the sustainability claims of products. The key to increasing consumer trust is thus to embrace traceability and transparency. This will, in turn, create opportunities to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness throughout the product lifecycle.

Transparency is the new cool

Most consumers now expect brands and companies to be responsible and transparent, so much so that they won’t hesitate to change brands that fail to match their values. More specifically, consumers increasingly want to be informed of the global ecological impact of the product, showing a preference for products that are not harmful to the planet or themselves. They favor local/short circuit, responsible and ethical production channels. They also seek assurance both of authenticity when buying second hand and of quality when purchasing reconditioned goods. How can companies provide them with reliable evidence of their commitments?

What if the product could talk?

Traceability enriches the content and value of a product throughout its lifecycle, from the origin of the raw materials to its sale and beyond. It provides knowledge of the product and its identity: origins and characteristics, physical flows, stages of its lifecycle. From a customer experience perspective, traceability makes products unique and nurtures customer trust by providing tangible proof of the company’s sustainability claims. It also makes the product the entry point to a service-oriented digital customer experience.

Yet the benefits are much wider: enriching product data serves operational excellence from creation to sale and supports a more agile and efficient supply chain – including suppliers upstream – with lower levels of waste and resource consumption. Moreover, capturing information from all stages of the product life provides valuable insights to conceive and produce products in a sustainable way so that they last longer and have a smaller environmental impact.

Use cases are deeply connected to industry-specific needs

At Capgemini Invent, we work with our clients to identify the most relevant traceability use cases to meet customer expectations, while assuring economic profitability. Note that new regulations also trigger traceability systems implementations, such as a need to track bisphenol A (BPA) in certain goods for which its use is banned or restricted, or food companies tracking batches to be able to recall suspect/contaminated ones.

There are multiple applications for consumer goods companies. The following is just a representative sample of real-life instances where traceability is enabling customers to:

• look behind-the-scenes at the Etam Group factories producing the pieces presented in stores;
• access the entire “Carrefour Quality” data chain by 2022 (supported by blockchain);
• discover Garnier’s sustainability score regarding the overall environmental impact of its products (manufacturing, packaging, transportation, use, etc.) and make more environmentally friendly choices;
• verify product authenticity with certification (useful for second-hand items) or by getting insights on how to check for counterfeits: finding a specific hologram or code that should appear on the product.

B2B companies can also apply such strategies. For example, companies supplying materials in industries with strong environmental externalities, like mining and metallurgy, need traceability for ensuring compliance with corporate social responsibility (CSR) measures and sharing information on origins with customers.

Another use case is setting up a product health record to follow all events during a product’s lifecycle, for example the replacement of spare parts in the case of a car. With a better understanding of the product use, companies can improve its conception and design for a longer life and reduced environmental impact.

4 key challenges to address

They are four main challenges to overcome when implementing a traceability program:

1. Tracing back through the initial raw materials channel and collecting information on origin, composition, manufacturing process and flow at each step of the value chain
2. Ensuring the collection of data, its authenticity and consistency, while guarantying suppliers’ independence and data protection when setting up a connectivity platform
3. In a large ecosystem, collecting sustainability proofs and guarantees and making them transparent to customers with an end-to-end data platform
4. Reconciling available data in a clean way even if it comes from poorly managed or non-harmonized databases

Transforming pain points into opportunities

Transparency rests on two pillars: a clear definition of the company ambition, and a reliable traceability platform that shares product characteristics and supplies origins information. The company should study internal and external expectations, then build use cases that transform pain points into opportunities.

On the tech side, most companies already have a lot of data available, even though it must be reconciled and shared, used and valorized. The first step consists of leveraging the existing data to set the basic building blocks of traceability. It can evolve later according to needs, technologies, and maturity in a resilient and modular system. Depending on the ambition, it could go to a finer granularity level, digging further upstream, etc.

At Capgemini Invent, we help to define traceability strategies that fulfil both customer and operational requirements. Together with our clients, we design, build, and deploy a transversal data platform to aggregate, verify and certify data, and enable information sharing across the supply chain ecosystem. Finally, we support implementation of the traceability solutions, connected with IS ecosystems.

Find out more

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Find out more about Capgemini Invent’s recommended approach to end-to-end transparency and traceability, and how our Sustainable Operations & Supply Chain offer can accelerate your journey to sustainable business success. Click here.

Author

Delphy Amarat

In charge of the Intelligent & Sustainable Operations entity  of Capgemini Invent. Our mission: to put operations at the service of a desirable future by harnessing the power of technology and data, in all industries.

Co-Author

Clement Falquet

Director, Global lead Sustainable Operations & Supply Chain, Capgemini Invent France

As more and more manufacturers embark on the journey to net zero, procurement has become one of the biggest factors in meeting ambitious carbon reduction targets. There’s a good reason for this: In many sectors, emissions from suppliers have the highest impact on a company’s carbon footprint. In fact, emissions from purchased goods and services (what’s known as scope 3.01 activities) account for up to 80 percent of the overall carbon footprint.

With the corporate world acknowledging that it must unequivocally join the race towards zero emissions, the pressure on procurement leaders is mounting. In many cases, however, they haven’t been part of the discussion around scope 3.01 reduction targets, yet clearly, they have a vital role to play in minimizing their company’s carbon footprint. The emissions for which their teams’ activities are responsible must be reduced — fast.

From a focus on price to a focus on CO2

It is thus no wonder that we are seeing a paradigm shift in procurement, from price attributes to CO2 attributes through initiatives such as:

• Sustainable procurement of services and raw materials
• Substituting fossil fuel-based raw material with natural organic materials
• Shifting to low carbon alternatives for raw materials

However, this shift is easier said than done. With different business streams sourcing products from multiple suppliers across the world, getting an overall picture of an organization’s procurement-based carbon footprint is a complex task. Traceability and transparency due to the numerous product information silos is creating a barrier to sustainable procurement. And while there is a limited number of tools coming on to the market to help procurement leaders track and measure emissions in line with corporate sustainability KPIs, there’s now the added challenge of identifying which of the startups or technology firms they should work with. Building a digital ecosystem supporting the procurement function in meeting the challenge of placing CO2 at the same level as € or $ in the sourcing decision making process is the next key focus for the CPO in the coming months.

Driven by science-based targets

The climate crisis facing us all is escalating and demands immediate action. This urgency is predicated on science. The ambitious 1.5C reduction target set out in The Paris Agreement is backed by scientists who suggest that we now only have eight years in which the world must cut its greenhouse gas emissions by half or face irreversible damage to our planet.

The manufacturing sector recognizes that it has a role to play in the global response to this emergency, with 62 percent of manufacturers in a recent survey citing reducing their emission footprint as an environmental priority, second only to reducing waste. The same survey found that 91 percent of organizations aimed to achieve 100 percent renewable electricity and 87 percent aimed to be carbon neutral by 2040.

Without a sustainable approach to procurement, however, it will be impossible to reach these milestones. Procurement teams must get an end-to-end picture of what and from where they source materials, along with sustainability commitments from their suppliers. We’re already seeing some great examples of this. For example, as the CRI report reveals, Unilever’s Responsible Sourcing Policy includes a set of mandatory requirements that all its suppliers must meet in order to do business with the company. And Nike has a target of sourcing 100 percent of its material from vendors that meet sustainability criteria.

4 steps to sustainable procurement

The above examples, however, are among the few shining stars in a manufacturing industry where just 11 percent of sustainability initiatives launched are actively being scaled across the organization.

Procurement leaders can help to transform this picture by taking four steps:

• Step 1: Create high-level transparency mapping emission spends with carbon equivalent coming from external data providers. For example, at Capgemini Invent we use our Supplier Assessment Tool and input-output models that enable organizations to get an initial grip on procurement emissions based on their spend data on a granular level. First objectives being to create a baseline and identify carbon emission hotspots.
• Step 2: Focus on hotspots to switch from a ‘spend’ to a ‘physical carbon assessment’ approach relying either on data provided by suppliers or resulting from lifecycle assessment initiatives. A full switch to the physical approach will not happen at once, rather it will be progressively reached.
• Step 3: Use the above transparency to collaborate with your suppliers on reduction measures using all kinds of levers (demand management, volume bundling…) and define the reduction ambition. This should enable you to translate your reduction target into annual objectives.
• Step 4: Implement an automated carbon KPI dashboard to continuously monitor the success of the measures taken and act if they are not on track with carbon reduction targets. For example, monitoring will identify if they are in line with the overall decarbonization roadmap or whether certain reduction measures are not as effective as originally planned/calculated.

Of course, as with any new approach to business, it’s important to take your people with you. The procurement team needs to be given the skills to better understand any sustainability KPIs embedded in the tender process. This might entail collaborating with engineering and product design teams to understand processes and materials requirements. Can products be redesigned to remove fossil fuel feedstock sources, such as plastics? How can suppliers be brought onboard in this process so that they incorporate environmentally oriented or sustainable materials?

Find out more

Sustainability begins with procurement. At Capgemini Invent, we help our clients gain end-to-end transparency of their procurement operations to inform sustainable decisions that have a direct impact on their journey to net zero.

Accelerate your path to sustainable procurement by:

• Connect with me at LinkedIn
• Learning more about our Sustainable Operations and Supply Chain offering here.

Author

Florian Sommer

I’m a Senior Procurement transformation professional with a passion for sustainability related questions in procurement. Becoming Carbon net Zero as a corporate Starts in procurement!

Co-Author

Olivier Bideault

Head of Procurement Transformation – Capgemini Invent France

Adaptive. It’s an adjective that’s increasingly applied to marketing, as in the ‘adaptive marketing organization’. The Cambridge Dictionary definition of adaptive is “having the ability to change to suit changing conditions”. Thus, the adaptive marketing organization is one that can flex with new demands (a brand launch or new product) and new modes of engagement (mobile, omni-channel, etc,) or perhaps changing regulatory requirements (e.g. new consent-based marketing approaches).

CMOs in general recognize this need to be adaptive and are actively transforming ways of working to bring it about. For example, I have previously written about the need to break down functional silos within the business so that the likes of campaign planning, content, branding, service, sales, and IT all work together with one purpose before vanishing again once they’ve achieved it. In fact, this cross functional collaboration is a key characteristic of the adaptive marketing organization, where individuals can flexibly take on new tasks in other cross-functional teams once they’ve helped achieve the purpose.

Changing people’s approaches and breaking down silos, however, is just the start. The only way to realize the full effects of an adaptive marketing organization is with a suitable IT platform that allows frictionless collaboration. It should cater to task/resource allocation and decision-making, while empowering cross-functional teams with access to relevant data and information that can then be documented within the platform, like a marketing system of record.

Avoiding the wrong digital trap

A common mistake that must be avoided in enabling the adaptive marketing organization is to simply take existing processes and digitize them for your new platform. That’s the wrong way round. You first need to look closely at your marketing organization and processes and optimize them where possible along the entire customer journey. For example, define how digital marketing activities tie into classical campaigning and vice versa, or really re-imagine how different channels should interact and leverage each other. And don’t forget the ‘simple’ things, of course, like re-thinking the interaction between (product) innovation, sales, service, and marketing. Then you can build your platform around processes that really work for your organization.

Looking in more detail at how the platform can enable an adaptive organization, let’s take resource management as an example. The platform should provide a connected view of skillsets/capabilities and their availability to make it possible (and easy) to allocate the right experts, people and partners to projects as they arise, ensuring there is no overbooking of resources. The CMO and team leaders should be able to use the central platform to strategically plan the capabilities needed for the future, whether that’s their own capabilities or their partners, such as an external agency. With the right platform and optimized processes, collaboration becomes seamless and intuitive, with no frustrating disconnects between analog and digital interfaces or lengthy access rights and approval discussions.

Familiar tech accelerates user adoption

No matter how well you sell the concept of cross-functional working to your teams, if it involves swapping the technology they’re used to with something new, the task becomes harder for the CMO and team leaders. Rather than replacing existing systems, how about adding a layer that seamlessly connects them with your new platform? Teams won’t have to spend time searching for and familiarizing themselves with new tools to become productive because they can simply carry on using their existing ones. This still needs change management support, upskilling and a mindset shift but ties much more naturally into current way-of-working.

That’s why the acquisition of Workfront by Adobe earlier this year is an exciting moment in the adaptive marketing story and is something we always knew was needed. With Workfront, marketing and creative teams can continue to work with the tools they’re familiar with because the tailored organization model platform connects them all and provides access to data and information documented in the platform as the marketing system of record. It adds a coherent workflow layer that allows collaboration, tracking and decision-making, while making resource management possible with one source of truth.

Technology like Workfront from Adobe offers exciting potential for accelerating the transformation of marketing into an adaptive marketing organization. Cross-functional teams have a tool that helps them handle the speed at which change comes at them, whether driven by market developments or strategic intent. By using a digital platform that connects all the dots across a landscape of optimized processes, the adaptive marketing organization is a true enabler of business success.

Get in touch

Want to find out more about Capgemini’s approach to building an adaptive marketing organization, please get in touch.

Markus Cramer, Senior Director Innovation & Strategy.

Email

In a survey by the Capgemini Research Institute (CRI), nearly eight in ten manufacturers saw improved efficiency and productivity benefits from sustainability, and more than half reduced packaging costs and increased sales. As if the climate crisis wasn’t a big enough imperative for change, there is clearly also a strong business case to be made for transforming factory operations and processes.

Building smart factories

Digital technologies are increasingly part of this transformation into what Capgemini Invent calls a Green Lean Digital Factory. The smart factories of tomorrow will be ones that produce in an intelligently networked and sustainable way by showing emission transparency and leveraging data to facilitate eco-friendly production. They will encourage ethical sourcing and embed sustainable principles and thinking across the end-to-end supply chain.

We’re not alone in our belief in the critical role of technology and data for accelerating the adoption of a Green Lean Digital Factory model. The CRI survey found that more than half of the manufacturers had prioritized the deployment of technologies to meet their sustainability agenda and drive economic growth.

In the Green Lean Digital Factory, manufacturers can exploit the potential of digital for:

• Green sourcing and efficient consumption

• Avoid harmful emissions by using renewable energies such as solar, wind and water power
• Identify energy inefficient operations by anomaly detection on machine usage and process data
• Minimize over-production and wastage
• Digitally optimized processes

• Optimization and digitization of processes such as planning, production & logistic
• Effective and efficient resource usage
• Innovation for sustainability

• Leverage new technologies, such as carbon capture or storage
• Use of bio-based and recyclable materials for machines and operations, such as eco-friendly packaging for buffering
• Closed-loop systems

• Recirculation of value streams in the production system, such as remanufacturing and energy recovery

Measuring a sustainable ROI

While we typically measure ROI in terms of productivity, cost, speed, sales, etc., in the Green Lean Digital Factory, sustainability is another important metric. For example, the German manufacturing giant Bosch has reduced CO2 emissions at some of its plants by more than 10% over two years. How? By deploying an AI system for its manufacturing facilities, in which intelligent algorithms are used to identify deviations in energy consumption.

Yet, while the climate crisis is urgent and the business case is sound, the manufacturing industry still has a long way to go before holistic sustainable manufacturing becomes the norm. However, the climate crisis demands action now, not tomorrow. Digital technologies offer a way to accelerate sustainable ambitions. Scaling digital technologies offers the potential to reduce waste, improve power/industrial efficiency, cut water usage, make cost savings and, of course, reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Isn’t it time to accelerate your Green Lean Digital Factory transformation?

Find out more

Sustainability is an opportunity for growth and profitability. At Capgemini Invent, we work with our clients to deploy green, lean, and digital concepts. We identify recycling potential and assess sustainable technology opportunities. We use data analytics, modelling and simulation to reduce energy consumption. And we optimize processes for efficient, sustainable operations.

Get in touch to find out more:

• Connect with me at LinkedIn
• Learn more about our Sustainable Operations and Supply Chain offering here.

Author

Vera Schneemann

Director, Global lead Sustainable Operations & Supply Chain, Capgemini Invent Germany

Co-Author

Deniz Rall

Green Lean Digital Factory, Intelligent & Sustainable Operations, Germany

In the first article in this short series, we noted that IT sustainability is not a priority for many organizations, and we considered why that might be.

This time, we’ll look at the benefits of taking action.

Brand – and business

Climate change is a significant feature in the public consciousness these days, so one of the principal benefits of increased IT sustainability will, of course, be to the perceived status of the organization. The survey conducted by the Capgemini Research Institute (CRI)[1] found that, of organizations with high levels of maturity in sustainable IT, 61% noted improvements in their brand image, and 56% reported improved customer/client satisfaction.

Benefits weren’t, however, restricted to public perception. Almost two-thirds (61%) of high-maturity organizations reported improvements in their ESG score (environmental, social & governance), and 44% of them – twice as many as their lower-maturity peers – said their green practices were delivering tax savings. In fact, our report showed that organizations that have scaled sustainable IT use cases have achieved, on average, a 12% reduction in costs.

Quick wins

How have these benefits been achieved? The CRI examined use cases across six categories, to establish which actions were producing the best results. The report covers them in greater detail, and you can read it here – but this is a quick summary:

• IT hardware/user devices – the auto switch-off hardware/features use case delivered the highest cost savings (14% on average) from power reduction, while reducing carbon in this category
• Cloud computing/virtualization – switching to a green cloud architecture and framework delivered a 19% cost saving among organizations that were able to scale the solution organization-wide
• Applications and data – developing sustainable architectures to rationalize applications, and to identify and decouple those that were energy-intensive, offered 11% cost savings. The lesson here was that organizations should audit their applications so they can identify the most energy-intensive applications and take steps to address the worst offenders
• Cooling techniques – data centers are an organization’s second largest consumer of energy (mobiles and laptops are first), with 35% of data center energy taken up by powering cooling equipment. Using machine learning to optimize cooling systems can deliver 8% cost savings
• Utilization – using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to optimize data center utilization delivered cost savings of 9% among those who have deployed it
• Energy efficiency and usage – the cost of running and cooling servers far exceeds the initial price of hardware. Our report said it was therefore critical that energy-rated servers such as “Energy Star” are mandated in procurement.

Leading the way

If technology is responsible for much of an organization’s carbon footprint – and clearly, it is – it isn’t surprising to find that technology companies themselves are keen to lead the way on mitigation efforts.

Examples include Google, which became carbon-neutral in 2007, and has offset its entire carbon footprint since its inception by investing in “high-quality carbon offsets.” The company also aims to run its data centers on carbon-free energy by 2030.

Microsoft is planning to become carbon-negative by 2030; Apple is aiming to be carbon-neutral by the same year; and Amazon aims to be carbon-neutral by 2040.

As we’ve seen, though, sustainability isn’t just about greener hardware and energy. Some organizations are also reviewing their business applications to see if any of them can be retired or replaced, so as to reduce redundancy and hence energy consumption. They are also using programming languages that are designed to consume minimal energy.

Further named examples of initiatives such as these can be found in the CRI report.

Efficiency is key

As I mentioned in the first article, sustainable IT is one of the five pillars of what we at Capgemini call the Frictionless Enterprise, which is a business concept that enables information to flow smoothly and intelligently between people and processes. It’s not hard to see why it’s part of the mix: frictionless operations and sustainability are each built on the principle of efficiency.

Read the full CRI paper entitled “Sustainable IT is the backbone of a greener future” to learn why it’s time for a Green revolution for your organization’s IT.

Learn more about how the “sustainable business” pillar of Capgemini’s Frictionless Enterprise concept can help your organization factor in responsibilities to the environment and society.

[1] Source: Capgemini Research Institute, Green IT survey, December 2020 – January 2021, N = 1000 organizations.