7. important. These selections were made based on a host of factors, from addressing stakeholder intereststhrough to utilising the results the company found in the undertaking of a materiality assessment, something discussed further below. For now, these 7 highlyprioritised goals are, #4 – quality education, #5 – gender equality, #8 – decent work and economic growth, #10 – reduced inequalities, #11 – sustainable cities and communities, #13 – climate action, and #17 – partnership for the goals. Upon setting out on its ESG journey back in 2021, Laura and the team sought to know more about the wider aspirations for the programme, and this soon led to the construction of a materiality assessment, something that was completed in four stages. These stages were as follows: identifying key stakeholders, benchmarking the organisation against technical materiality requirements of peers, interviewing, discussing, and assessing these topics to understand their impact, and finally, putting said results into a materiality matrix, which maps the impact of each topic and its relevance to the overall business. Through this mode of assessment, topics could then easily be ordered, ranging from significant to most significant on the x axis, and important to more important on the y axis. After careful plotting, the team found that the that the most important elements for them were the privacy and data protection of clients, and diversity and equal opportunities for all. Leveraging these results, an effective, tailored ESG strategy was created centred around five commitments. These are, being climate responsible, helping to cut downstream emissions, promoting an inclusive and diverse culture, supporting positive digital transformation, and furthering corporate governance. Having focused specifically on the past, it is now time to shift gears to the present and future of SoftwareOne, beginning with its ongoing commitment to reducing its carbon footprint, hitting its climate responsibility goal. Since the company provides software, cloud, data and AI solutions, it does not manufacture physical products.. Thus, its scope 1 and 2 emissions relate largely to its office spaces and energy consumption, heating, and cooling, as well as office waste and company vehicles. In addressing these concerns, the team are transitioning to use renewable energy across their offices, as well as switching to electric company vehicles and doubling down on internal recycling initiatives. When it comes to the company cutting its downstream emissions, this process revolves predominantly around aiding clients on their own ESG journeys, assisting them by reducing their carbon footprints. This is achieved through a Cloud Sustainability programme, which has been implemented for the purposes of providing clients with emissions data that is specific and accurate, as well as invaluable advice that can aid in a company’s understanding of the complex nature of cloud emissions, and how to advance their measurement, compliance and optimize through Cloud Financial Operations or FInOps.. This represents SoftwareOne’s wider commitments within the space, as not only is it interested in its own policies, but also those of its clients and partners. The third element of this strategy is promoting a culture that is inclusive and diverse, something that has always been challenging in the traditionally male-dominated technology industry. A couple of years ago, women made up just 27% of employees across the industry, and only 14% of these were from minority backgrounds. Taking the steps to remedy this, SoftwareOne’s spanning of a multitude of continents and geographies creates an atmosphere that is positive and welcoming for all, with everybody being afforded equal opportunities for learning and development and afforded a harmoniouswork-life balance. Moreover, the company has created SoftwareOne Impact, an initiative that helps nonprofits leverage technology for good, furthering the scale and success of their mission areas, and providing opportunities to local communities and those that need them most. Across this noble cause, the primary incentive is to empower through technology, creating programmes that can directly benefit the communities in which the company operates, and its people live. Spanning multiple industries from the environmental to healthcare, education, and humanitarian, successful partnerships with companies such as Microsoft and Amazon Web Services have really helped the team to further their reach and increase the impact of this noble incentive. Finally, the fifth element comprising this five-point ESG strategy is centred on SoftwareOne furthering its corporate governance, something that it does not only through a fantastic compliance programme, but also by remaining acutely aware of the new issues brought about when the business expands. The team have revelled in the opportunity to manage the risks of any unethical behaviour and promote compliance more generally, with employees and third parties being kept well informed on matters pertaining to conflicts of interest, anti-corruption, and third-party risk. Heading this up has been the company’s compliance team, who have collaborated effectively with the cybersecurity, data privacy, and legal teams. To finish, SoftwareOne has a series of ambitions for 2030 that it is seeking to reach, with these spanning three areas, climate commitment, social responsibility, and corporate governance. Its climate commitment ambitions are to secure net zero for scope 1 and 2 to reduce its footprint, simultaneously aiding its clients to do the same. Regarding social responsibility, these are to become a globally recognised employer of choice for diversity and provide digital services to 3000 nonprofits or communities. For corporate governance, ambitions include making code of conduct training mandatory, promoting a ‘speak-up’ culture, obtaining 1000 supplier ESG assessments, and improving data protection. With such a complex and rigorous understanding and implementation of ESG across its services, the business is well on its way to achieving its targets, and it is easy to see why SoftwareOne Holding AG is a global leader in the field, representing an unwavering commitment to our planet and communities in a way that few other organisations around the world do. We are proud to champion Laura Mozden with this award, for her excellent in-house solutions in the field that have made all of this possible and wish and her and the rest of the team the best of luck for the future. Contact: Laura Mozden Company: SoftwareOne Holding AG Web Address: https://report.softwareone.com/esg22/ Dec23154
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