SAS launches first ever Sustainability Management Solution

SAS Sustainability Management to make going ‘green’ easier

Kuala Lumpur (July 15, 2008) – Leading business intelligence provider SAS Malaysia, today launched its Sustainability Management Scorecard, the first in the Sustainability Management Solution suite designed to help organizations accurately measure, manage and improve the impact of their operations on the environment.

The SAS Sustainability Management Scorecard launch is in conjunction with the 2008 SAS Forum Malaysia themed “Intelligently Green” with the participation of World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia and the Environmental Envoy for Malaysia, Maya Karin.

The SAS Sustainability Management Solution is an industry breakthrough as it is the first ever decision-support software that enables organizations to proactively identify innovative strategies that address complex environmental, social and economic situations while achieving stakeholder objectives.

Thomas Spiller, SAS Senior Director of International Programs says that while most executives support ‘green’ business strategies, few actually know how to prioritize and incorporate the strategies into their business operations.

“Many organizations are struggling to understand the complex business-social situation that requires them to balance between good environmental practices whilst concurrently pursuing profitable economic situations. At the same time, they lack tools that can enable them to properly measure the actual benefit and impact of their business strategies on the environment, in a manner that is accountable and reportable.”

“With SAS Sustainability Management Scorecard, organizations can now manage holistic strategies for sustainability that take into consideration the interrelationship between social and environmental programs. It enables effective execution of these strategies as well of reinvestment of savings from here into other areas of the business”, explained Spiller.

According to a McKinsey survey[1], environmental issues such as climate change top the agenda in executive suites worldwide. But measuring and managing environmental impact is difficult as it involves massive, intricate work that spans across an organization’s entire operations. Causal relationships connecting issues such as greenhouse gas emissions, use of scarce resources, ethical sourcing and regulatory compliance make it extremely complex to invest in green technology and expand sales of products and services with measurably better environmental performance.

SAS Sustainability Management Scorecard helps establish an integrated, consistent source of quality information where you can bind initiatives to a common sustainability framework, while being able to predict valid sustainability strategies, identify causal relationships and forecast improvement scenarios. The solution is based on the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform and uses the Global Reporting Initiative framework to report on Triple Bottom Line indicators.

Jimmy Cheah, Managing Director of SAS Malaysia says “In the emerging landscape of sustainability, it is not enough just to talk green. Organizations need to identify the green-related metrics that apply to the business as well as find the right data to describe and measure those metrics.”

“SAS Business Intelligence and Analytics solutions have long been used to take costs out of business, so it's not much different to take carbon out. With SAS, organizations can optimize business strategies for minimizing risks and costs, developing new lines of business, and improving resource use, environmental or otherwise” he ends.
[1] The McKinsey Quarterly, September 2007