Study: Will bots succeed where humans have failed in brand sustainable pushes?

Nine in 10 people (91%) across APAC and Japan (JAPAC) believe it is not enough for businesses to say they are prioritising environmental, societal, and governance (ESG) - they need to see it in action and proof. According to the study "No Planet B" by Oracle and Pamela Rucker, CIO advisor and instructor for Harvard Professional Development, even though half of the respondents (50%) believe businesses can make more meaningful changes on sustainability and social factors than individuals or governments alone, 75% are fed up with the lack of progress by businesses to-date. 

Close to three in four (74%) respondents would be willing to cancel their relationship with a brand that does not take sustainability and social initiatives seriously, with 72% saying that they would even leave their current company to work for a brand that places a greater focus on these efforts. On the other hand, 89% said that they would be more willing to pay a premium for their products and services if organisations can clearly demonstrate the progress they are making on environmental and social issues, along with 87% and 86% who said they would work for and invest in such companies respectively.

Close to nine in 10 respondents (89%) also believe businesses would make more progress towards sustainability and social goals with the help of AI, while 66% believe that "bots will succeed where humans have failed".

Human bias and operational challenges are holding businesses back

Almost 93% of business leaders believe sustainability and ESG programmes are critical to the success of their organisations. Around nine in 10 business leaders believe sustainability and societal metrics should be used to inform traditional business metrics, and 92% want to increase their investment in sustainability.

Yet business leaders face major obstacles when implementing sustainability and ESG initiatives. Obtaining ESG metrics from partners and third parties (39%), a lack of data (37%) and time-consuming manual reporting processes (35%) were some of the common barriers cited by business leaders. Nonetheless, business leaders want to step up on their sustainability and social efforts as they help increase productivity (42%), strengthen the brand (40%) and attract new customers (37%). 

The study also revealed that business leaders will trust bots over humans alone to drive sustainability and social efforts, with 91% saying organisations that use technology to help drive sustainable business practices will be the ones that succeed in the long run. Almost all of them (97%) also admitted that human bias and emotion often distract from the end goal. 

About nine in 10 (94%) business leaders would trust a bot over a human when it comes to making sustainability and social decisions.

Some of the most common reasons cited include bots being better at collecting different types of data without error (48%), making rational, unbiased decisions (46%) and predicting future outcomes based on metrics and past performance (45%). 

On the flip side, business leaders also said that humans are still essential to the success of sustainability and social initiatives as people are better at implementing changes based on feedback from stakeholders (51%); educating others on the information needed to make decisions (48%), and making context-informed strategic decisions (45%).

Juergen Lindner, senior vice president and CMO, global marketing SaaS, Oracle said that it has never been more critical for businesses to invest in sustainability and ESG initiatives as people are looking for decisive action and are demanding more transparency and tangible results. “Business leaders understand the importance, yet often have the erroneous assumption that they need to prioritise either profits or sustainability. The truth is this is not a zero-sum game. The technology that can eliminate all the obstacles to ESG efforts is now available, and organisations that get this right can not only support their communities and the environment, but also realize significant revenue gains, cost savings, and other benefits that impact the bottom line," he added.

The events of the past two years have put a spotlight on sustainability and social efforts, with 81% of respondents saying that the events over the past two years have caused them to change their actions and 95% saying that sustainability and social factors have become more important than ever. Among them, establishing healthier ways of living (53%), saving the planet for future generations (49%) and helping to create more equality around the world (49%) were among the commonly cited reasons for wanting to make progress on sustainability and social factors. 

However, 94% of respondents believe society has not made enough progress. Common attributes cited by respondents include increased emphasis on short-term profits over long-term benefits (43%), people being too busy with other priorities (40%) and people being too lazy or selfish to help save the planet (37%)

The findings for this study were based on a survey conducted between 25 February to 14 March 2022 with 11,005 global respondents, among which 4,000 were from JAPAC. The survey explored attitudes and behaviors of consumers and business leaders towards sustainability and social efforts along with the role and expectations of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots in ESG efforts.

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