Responsible business through technology?

Typically, SAP Ariba is associated with one of the most popular purchasing platforms.

However, few people are aware that it can also serve social purposes. It turns out that its use can effectively influence more conscious and ethical business decisions.

Business with purpose

Many of today’s companies no longer focus solely on profits. Corporate social responsibility is not a new phenomenon, but are companies always sure that none of the elements of their processes are conducive to unethical activities?

It turns out that thanks to the latest technologies, it is possible to automate the verification whether the organization certainly has a positive impact not only on its environment but even to check the suppliers located on the other side of the globe.

Pillars of corporate social responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility through Machine Learning?

Thanks to the development of artificial intelligence technology, companies can control the ethics of the processes that concern them. The use of Big Data allows companies to warn about potential risks regarding suppliers – for example, how they treat employees or determine the source of their products. SAP Ariba collects information from a vast number of sources and integrates it with company data in Ariba Network – the most extensive business network, associating suppliers and buyers.

Ariba Supplier Risk Management – module for risk assessment

Determining the social impact of a supplier is now possible with the Ariba Supplier Risk Management module. It can determine, for example, whether a company is destroying the environment or using forced child labor.

The use of Machine Learning allows the transition from a massive amount of distributed data to the provision of so-called cognitive insight. This allows the buyer to find out if there is by chance a dubious practice of a company among its suppliers.

Ethical business with technology – how is it possible?

SAP Ariba uses Machine Learning to create sustainable and ethical supply chains on a global scale. This is possible thanks to the size of the platform, which is used by users in more than 190 countries. In the Supplier Risk Management module, sophisticated algorithms are used even to determine whether suppliers have a positive impact on the environment and society – for example, define if they support women’s rights.

This purchasing platform uses a defined database of over 500,000 sources. These include:

• government information,
• natural disaster warnings,
• public and private sources.

The Ariba Supplier Risk Management module, in addition to identifying ethical risks, also provides continuous monitoring of reputation, finances and operational risks. For example, a notification system informs that a natural disaster may occur in the area of a given supplier shortly and that the buyer should purchase more products before the accident occurs.

Examples of more ethical business decisions

SAP Ariba Supplier Risk Management allows you to expose only unethical practices such as forced child labor, but also phenomena such as adverse environmental impacts and tolerating sexual harassment at work.

Moreover, SAP Ariba has established a partnership with Step Up for Students organization. This cooperation has resulted in the creation of a portal to help families in an unfortunate economic situation or with special needs. A marketplace solution allows them to obtain a scholarship through it or to purchase the necessary goods. All this in an easy-to-use application using Guided Buying.

Conscious business – consequences

But what are the implications of an ethical approach to business? Risk management ensures awareness of who are the company’s service and product providers. More and more often, potential employees also pay attention to the reputation of enterprises, because they want to work for socially responsible organizations.

Although the latest technologies do not solve these problems directly, they can help businesses make more sustainable and ethical decisions that have a positive impact on global processes.