Author:
Harshul Asnani
President Americas - Technology, Media and Entertainment Business

Our planet has been tethered to crises for some time now. These upheavals have pushed governing bodies, policy makers, enterprises, and technology leaders to reassert their focus on actions that will enable a sustainable future for this planet. At this juncture, despite the adverse socio-political events and its impact on a slowly fragmenting global economy, enterprises are taking steps to accelerate the sustainability movement by furthering their investments in technology.

In many ways, digital technologies including artificial intelligence (AI), 5G, internet of things (IoT), blockchain provide opportunities to tackle not just business challenges but also pressing social problems such as biodiversity, food crisis, labor shortages, climate changes and global health risks. As connected experiences take center stage in this age of rapid innovation and transformation; it will provide a new perspective for most companies on how they can approach sustainability in tandem with profitability.

Embedding Sustainability in Transformation

We are at the cusp of massive technology-centered transformations where new age technologies are offering a breakthrough opportunity to drive change, at scale. Beyond profit maximization, these technologies can help embed sustainability into core corporate strategies –

  • From IoT sensors capturing data that enables transparency and better collaboration across business environments
  • To 5G powering connectivity like never before by transmission of these sensor signals at scale in real time
  • With blockchain guaranteeing the integrity of the transactions across these moving parts
  • And the metaverse creating a unified digital world capturing and delivering myriad experiences in real time
  • As well as the availability of sophisticated AI models that can predict, prescribe, and act on sustainability events at scale to autonomous systems

These technological advances have the potential to improve quality of life while accelerating the sustainability momentum and help set the roadmap for enterprises to adopt new technologies as they emerge. We can develop operations, processes and supply chains that are intrinsically more sustainable, thereby resilient. If we look at the larger impact on communities, leading companies that develop and innovate around distribution channels can break economic constraints, forge new processes, and ensures their digital transformation efforts are not just driving positive impact in their business but also the communities they live in. And for this, a deeper understanding of the ecosystem of customers, employees, stakeholders, and society at large and what their needs and perspective is on achieving sustainability becomes essential for businesses today. We must move ahead together if we are to create a new world order that can survive and thrive the test of time.

Towards a More Equitable World

As environmental, social, and governance (ESG) becomes a corporate priority, recent technological advancements have made a significant contribution towards the fight against climate change and paving the way for environmentally friendly business practices. For instance, electric vehicles are slowly gaining popularity especially now as major automakers step up to the challenge. Advancements in IoT technology and wireless connectivity are empowering a transition towards more energy efficient practices and the VC funding towards cleantech is growing multifold.

Tech Mahindra, as a technology leader is doing its part. With a strong belief of business with a purpose, we have sustainability deeply rooted within our internal processes and technological innovations. We are an end-to-end sustainability partner for our customers enabling their journey towards net zero emissions and solutions that transform operations and systems across industries to propel them into a more sustainable future. For example, through green logistics, we are increasing awareness around the need for focus on visibility, traceability, cost, and emission optimizations. To align with compliance objectives, we are focused on sustainable raw material data extraction and analytics. We are also working towards improving the globally disrupted supply chain with our AI based solutions along with our green dashboard that ensures transparency and establish accurate sustainability reporting.

Sustainability and ESG offers a unique growth opportunity for companies to take bold actions today and be better equipped to partake in the next wave of economic growth at the intersection of profit, purpose, and planet. We have a long road ahead of us and it is time we passionately embrace and drive sustainability agenda. The time to act is NOW.

We are a presenting sponsor at
WSJ CEO Council Summit 2022

Know More