As I’m sure you are aware, a lot has been going on in the world, from continuing to manage the economic knock-on effects of the pandemic, to supply chain crunches which have further been exacerbated by the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.
Indeed, many had hoped that 2022 would resemble something of a return to the normality and certainty that all businesses crave.
Instead, we have lurched from one crisis into another, as the world attempts to get a grip on economic and political volatility, a climate emergency, and many types of societal inequalities.
Such is the way global events are unfolding, some may even be questioning the ability of current economic models and financial systems, of which our industry and our business is primed to deliver on social and environmental prosperity. However, rather than panic and hide away, now is more important than ever for us to deliver.
I am impassioned by the mission for DOMO to create long-term value by meeting the needs of all of our stakeholders, and within that I include customers, employees, local communities, investors, wider society and the planet. By working collaboratively and bringing as many of our stakeholders together as possible, we can develop and instigate the policies, processes and initiatives to ensure we are indeed delivering that value and positive impact.
To cement our commitment to our stakeholders in 2022, we will be releasing our first ever Sustainability Report and also attempting to acquire our first company-wide Ecovadis rating.
This, in my view, is an important first step to regularly reporting our progress around DOMO’s core standards, which are centered around our three main commitments and target areas – people, planet and products – as well as our principles of governance.
The global pandemic has certainly played a role in accelerating a strategic shift by businesses towards stakeholder capitalism, which has also been driven by a heightened focus from society and the investment community on how organizations are addressing ESG issues.
In fact, recent studies concluded that companies with strong environmental, social, and governance norms recorded higher performance and credit ratings across five factors, including top-line growth, reduced costs, fewer legal and regulatory interventions, higher productivity, and optimized investment and asset utilization.
So, how do we at DOMO make this transition?
Although this will be a challenge for DOMO as it is for the whole industry, we have outlined three steps which we must take – steps which will enable us to inspire the next wave of solutions that will help us to build a better world.
The first involves understanding who our stakeholders actually are. For DOMO, this comprises our employees, customers, communities, suppliers, partners and investors, and external bodies such as NGOS, as well as industry associations who we engage with to nurture long-term, mutually beneficial relationships.
Once that network has been drawn up and recognized, the second step is all about understanding their different needs and building trust. This requires a tailored approach based on transparent and open communication to appreciate their experiences and expectations. Our sustainability strategy, DOMO Beyond, which is constantly evolving, ensures we can respond to the current needs and issues that matter most to our stakeholders, addressing the social and environmental priorities of governments, customers, supply chains, investors, and our people.
Third, we must build an operating business model that can sustain long-term value creation for all stakeholders.
In many cases, DOMO is already starting to do this and has shown some promising signs. For example, we celebrated the one-year anniversary of our Care to be Safe program which positions employee safety as a core priority. Meanwhile, we empower our employees to share their views with us through regular satisfaction surveys, and are also putting in place the necessary policies and activities to ensure we meet our gender diversity targets – centered around an objective for women to constitute 30% of senior managers in the organization.
In terms of delivering for the planet as a stakeholder, we are actively understanding and putting the necessary processes and governance in place to manage our most material climate-related risks and opportunities. Additionally, we will report our Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions annually and work towards a target to be carbon neutral by 2050, meaning we’ve committed to take more carbon out of the atmosphere than we emit. We have defined clear actions to stepwise reach this target with intermediate goals in 2030 and 2040..
Our solutions are also enabling sustainable change. DOMO’s polyamides are facilitating change in mobility, urbanization, health and wellbeing and more, and our award-winning innovations and strategic partnerships are driving enhancements in key sustainable metrics such as biodegradability and recycling. Indeed, our recent PCIAW award and commitment to Circularise underscore this.
I sign off this blog with a word of thanks. I am forever thankful and fortunate to lead a team who are constantly looking for solutions to support these transformations.
While I cannot predict the future, there are certainly some bright shoots emerging. We just have to keep asking ourselves… what if, together, we could make a better world?
