What Did We Learn from Deloitte's Third Annual Industry 4.0 Survey?

A few weeks ago, during the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos, Deloitte released its Third Annual Industry 4.0 Report.

2,000 C-suite executives (CxOs) from 19 countries responded to the survey to deliver some key findings on the future of corporate sustainability.

Firstly, corporate sustainability is taking the business sector by storm, with over 90% of respondents reporting to have a sustainability plan in place or to have definite plans to launch a sustainability plan for their organisation. Additionally, 40% of respondents claimed they focused on social responsibility because they believed it would generate revenue or it was one of the top priorities for external stakeholders of their organisation.

In 2019, the Second Annual Industry 4.0 Report demonstrated that 73% of respondents had developed products that made a positive impact on social and / or environmental sustainability. Of these products, only 55% were generating revenue. This year, in the Second Annual Industry 4.0 Report, 80% of respondents had developed such a product and of these products, 88% were generating revenue.

A major issue identified in the report was the threat of climate change. According to the survey results, 89% of CxOs expect climate change will have a negative impact on their operations. In the First Annual Industry 4.0 Report in 2018, only 10% of CxOs believed that business played a role in the mitigation of climate change. In this most recent report, 48% of respondents believe the mitigation of climate change is a top responsibility of their organisation.

This is fantastic news for the world of corporate sustainability. Leadership within the organisations which responded to this survey will likely encourage other CxOs to follow suit.

However, where there is a lack of focus is in emerging technologies. According to the report, only 17% of CxOs are prioritising investment in new technologies. This was the lowest-ranked among 11 other investment priorities. With such great technologies now available to us and new technologies being invented each day, it is important to make these investments. Technology also plays an important role in creating more sustainable organisations.

The full report is available here.

For more information about what this report means for your organisation, please contact a member of our team.

This article was originally published on the Strategic Sustainability Consultants website.