With an iPaaS system, organisations have significantly more data control and can integrate cloud and on-premises applications to create hybrid data flows.

This helps deliver a much clearer view of the data in every app while improving data synchronisation, operational workflows, data visibility, and ensuring compliance. Using the enhanced capabilities in TIBCO Cloud Integration, customers can speed up the automation of business processes and the integration of digital assets while simplifying app development and leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), automation, and events-driven insights.

“This latest release acknowledges the importance of system integration that supports better data integration and organisation,” says Rajen Nagar, TechSoft International. “Essentially, the new features announced by TIBCO feature innovations that support connectivity between applications, devices, and data, all of which can be delivered via a SaaS-based platform. It’s the link customers need between their systems and their data.”

Notable feature enhancements to TIBCO Cloud Integration include the ability for developers to embed intelligence from design to deployment through accelerated integration capabilities.

Using AI/ML-based smart mapping speeds up data integration and provides recommendations based on deep learning guided by a developer’s mapping choices.

Users can delegate decision authority to a shared service within TIBCO Cloud, paving the way for unified decision management and improving governance while eliminating inconsistent decision-making.

It’s also making capturing business value from events easier with a new API Modeler that supports the easy design of AsyncAPIs for Apache Kafka.

Event-driven APIs are now an embedded registry in TIBCO Cloud, which makes it easier to share and discover events that can be published and subscribed to with new point-and-click functionality.

“All of these features are designed to help customers connect and integrate everything from any source, which is really the future of all systems. TechSoft customers and partners will now be able to reduce the time to market for projects and automation capabilities while getting even closer to their data,” ends Rajen.

According to PwC, ESG is about making a difference and creating sustained outcomes that drive value and fuel growth. But how can technology enable this, especially for local companies looking to embrace a new way of doing things now that lockdown regulations have become a thing of the past?

Of course, this is a global issue that is attracting significant investor interest. By November last year, $649 billion poured into ESG-focused funds worldwide, up from the $542 billion and $285 billion in 2020 and 2019, respectively.

But beyond providing a solid investment strategy, there are practical realities to consider for South African decision-makers around how best to leverage technology investments and become more socially aware.

Core to this is understanding how ESG data is collected and analysed. Companies are under pressure from consumers, regulators, and investors to optimise the use of this data. Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet strategic intervention that does so effectively.

McKinsey writes that the metrics guiding ESG are highly dependent on the industry in which the organisation operates. For instance, different things are important to a consumer goods producer and a software services provider. But regardless of this, everything comes down to maximising shareholder value while taking on a more sustainable and responsible approach to meeting societal demands.

Tech-driven

With the pandemic as catalyst, people have changed their views of sustainability. An IBM survey has found that 9 in 10 consumers cited COVID-19 as affecting their views on the environment more than widespread wildfires and other disasters de to weather events.

Closer to home, the recent flooding in KwaZulu Natal further drove this point home as record rainfalls resulted in a massive human disaster.

The IBM survey has shown how respondents worldwide are increasingly concerned about the global climate crisis with businesses across industries looking to take action to meet their customers’ and investors’ expectations while managing their own environmental goals.

Part of this entails the likes of building transparent supply chains or improving energy management to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate against the continued challenges caused by load shedding.

Thanks to rapidly evolving technology that makes artificial intelligence and machine learning more accessible, local businesses now have access to a wealth of cloud-based solutions that help assess their current ESG performance and identify specific areas where ESG targets can be achieved.

An example of this can be seen in the building sector. Technology can help predict the impact of construction at the earliest phases of design.

Furthermore, a data-driven approach to construction management can see companies use scheduling tools to reduce time, energy, and material waste throughout the process.

Cloud-enablement

This has resulted in local companies being able to incorporate ESG as a fundamental component of their business technology development. The rapid move towards digital transformation becomes an integrated delivery mechanism for ESG.

At a basic level, cloud-based architectures can improve sustainability by reducing the energy demands of traditional on-premises data centres. With many businesses embracing a distributed working environment, there is also a significant reduction in commuting and fewer people at the office resulting in less electricity and other resources being used.

Data virtualisation has become one of the most significant ways local businesses can reduce the energy costs of data transfer among multiple data sources. It also gives way to better data management technologies that create the enabling environment essential to support all facets of ESG through enhanced data analysis.