Environmental, Social, and Governance Initiatives with Dynamics 365 Finance

Posted on: January 23, 2023 | By: Guy Logan | Microsoft Dynamics AX/365, Microsoft Dynamics Manufacturing

The upcoming decade will be vastly different from the previous one as digital technology will be essential for navigating the challenges faced by business leaders today. With constant change and increasing economic, environmental, and social complexities, it is crucial for leaders to find ways to use technology to improve both business performance and overall well-being of society and the environment. The following blog will explain a couple ways that Dynamics 365 Finance can help with environmental, social, and governance initiatives.

Reduce operating costs with ESG initiatives

It is increasingly evident that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives are becoming a primary concern for many businesses. As climate change becomes more pronounced, and consumers prioritize responsible purchasing, environmental sustainability has become a key business priority. This emphasis is well-justified, as research indicates that companies that effectively implement ESG programs can lower operating costs by up to 60% and that companies with higher ESG scores tend to have lower costs of capital.

What is less clear is how businesses execute ESG initiatives in ways that do not require more effort or added expense—effectively, how to do more with less. The solution lies in utilizing technology to enhance the organization’s capabilities, allowing for differentiation and increased resilience. The expectation that we must do more with less is especially relevant when actioning on ESG goals. The approach business leaders must consider is anything that reduces energy costs or increases resource efficiency will be highly beneficial to CEOs, customers, employees, investors, and the environment.

Dynamics 365 natively introduces streamlined business processes throughout the organization through automated workflow, electronic approvals and signatures, and seamless integration with other Microsoft business applications like Office 365 thus increasing employee efficiencies.  Allowing them to do more with less.

Go paperless with Dynamics 365 Finance

There are many ways to make ESG impact, and perhaps most attractive to business leaders are opportunities that align business processes to ESG outcomes. One very accessible possibility exists in the automation of paper-intensive business processes. For example, Accounts Payable (AP) has historically been plagued by the manual effort and cost required to manage tens of thousands of paper invoices. AP invoicing is heavy with storage, printing, disposal, and document security costs that can easily be mitigated through digitization.

Though the digitization of office paper has been achievable for over a decade, organizations still struggle to phase out paper-laden business processes. Some estimates show that US offices use 12.1 trillion sheets of paper annually and that demand for paper is expected to double before 2030. To address this trend, companies should turn to robust and easy-to-use technology to help quickly reduce paper usage.  AP Automation is a just one way to quickly trim an organization’s dependency on manual processes and physical documents.

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