Hello CEO: Vahid Zohali, IBM
In our Hello CEO series, we are currently focusing on sustainability, which Vahid Zohali says is one of the biggest - if not the biggest - challenges of our lifetime.
- IBM's business has constantly evolved to meet technological challenges that have held back progress in businesses, governments and society. With IBM's focus on AI and hybrid cloud, innovations like quantum computing, and the expertise of IBM employees, we are uniquely positioned to help organizations align their sustainability goals with their business objectives and comply with regulatory requirements. It's about much more than just reducing emissions," says Vahid Zohali and continues:
- We help others turn sustainability ambitions into action. Companies need to set specific sustainability goals in areas such as intelligent asset management, intelligent IT infrastructure, resilient supply chains, climate insights, analysis and reporting of ESG data, the impact of their business on society and more.
- We firmly believe that companies that are serious about sustainability and leverage technology to achieve their goals will not only become greener, but they will also become more efficient and profitable. This requires us to work on all dimensions of sustainability: economic, social and environmental. This is something that is very important to IBM as we want to help Sweden become a world leader in sustainability.
Where has your focus been in the area of sustainability?
- Incorporating all dimensions of sustainability into the work we do. Through a planned, structured and inclusive approach, we have laid the foundation for how we will work with sustainability going forward. One example of how we have worked with this is to be responsive to what our employees feel they need. Through this, we developed a customized training for IBM Sweden employees with a focus on environmental sustainability.
- With the expertise we possess and the passion we have for the communities we are both part of and work for, we want to contribute to all 17 Sustainable Development Goals set by the UN in 2015 - with a focus on the areas of education and skills, as well as environmental sustainability in line with Sweden's national agenda.
What are your plans for future sustainability work?
- At IBM, we focus our efforts from three directions. Using our technology, skills and services to help our clients become more sustainable and responsible. We do this by transforming entire industries (for example, through business model transformation, energy transition, ethically transparent supply chains, etc.) as well as by helping our clients become more resilient and responsible (for example, through AI-powered intelligent workflows, rapid adoption of digitization, asset reuse, climate risk analysis, open data platforms, etc.).
- By contributing to a sustainable society through our CSR initiatives, such as #290CyberSecurity, Open P-Tech, volunteering and Hack Your World, and by increasing our own efforts to be a sustainable organization in Sweden, we can reduce our environmental footprint in our local operations and follow IBM's global pledge of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030
- It is also important to continue to engage the outside world by sharing successful customer examples, inspiring IBM's own successes, being transparent with challenges and encouraging collaboration to help both business and Sweden move forward.
What do you think are the biggest sustainability challenges facing the industry?
- One of the biggest challenges is awareness. Sweden is one of the most digitized countries in the world, but there is generally low awareness of the risks of IT. A particularly vulnerable group in society is young people, who spend most of their waking hours online. Together with Young Researchers and partners, IBM has an ongoing project, #290CyberSecurity, where the goal is to reach out to Sweden's 290 municipalities and their young people to increase awareness of the risks of being online and share knowledge about how to be safer when you are there.
- Social sustainability is also an important part of sustainability. Diversity and inclusion is an important topic for the business community, where IBM contributes by running the We Can Do IT project together with War Child. The project addresses girls and young women with the aim of training them in IT and increasing their chances of getting a job. This not only contributes to a more inclusive society but also to diversity in business and the IT industry. This has been run as a pilot that has shown very positive results and is now in planning to expand.
- We also need to recognize that technology is not without impact. Computers, data centers and networks consume around 10% of the world's electricity. So as the energy sector becomes more digitized, it will also be essential for the technology sector to continue developing digital technologies and services that are more energy and material efficient.
Do you have any thoughts on how the industry as a whole can become even more sustainable?
- If we really want to drive global sustainable growth, we need to focus on how the technology industry can put its resources to work on behalf of public organizations and entities, especially when it comes to climate change. We are working at IBM to change the way technology development is viewed towards a process of co-creation from the ground up. Simply providing technology without a true understanding of the cultural, regional or socio-economic factors that may pose barriers to adoption will not work. If we, as technology solution providers, work closely with the people who will be using the technology, partners can figure out how to adapt and apply it in a way that works for this specific community and use case. It requires more than technology - it requires collaboration and time.