Why is SAP Sustainability Reporting not getting industry penetration?
With all the world's industries moving to incorporating sustainability concepts into their organizations, it makes total sense to develop an off the shelf software package to assist in monitoring energy/water and other resource usage.  As MBA grads and students tout: if you can measure it you can manage it!
Organizations can therefore save on operational costs for resource usage and any waste along the product life cycle through implementation of turnaround strategies and process re-engineering.

BUT, to my astonishment there has been very limited uptake of these management information systems.  I will focus on one specifically as there are numerous resource monitoring tools.

For companies that already have SAP implemented as an enterprise resource planning software tool it should be a no brainer to purchase this add on to the traditional EH&S module  (Environmental, Health & Safety).  However the first of the problems is not the tool but the DATA.  Meters need to be installed almost everywhere to gather this data (in the case of mines, dam levels are estimated) and the risk of damage and theft is high.  People need to be employed to monitor the meters and ensure data is correct.  All this data needs to be consolidated and stored on a server.  Would the FD be able to make a business case to take on all this cost to save an unknown amount of money for the organization?  In the current economic times and in South Africa I think the priorities are elsewhere.....

Sustainability reporting and incorporating these concepts into the overall financial reporting of companies is still a long way off in South Africa.  How can we turn this around so that management and boards of directors can see the benefit?