As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission) as part of my Analyst Cam series.
This time it is Ari Alexander, GM Net Zero Cloud at Salesforce
Fresh off announcements at Dreamforce this past week, he spent time with me describing their scope.
He describes the 6 pillars of the offering in the graph below:
He drills into the Net Zero Marketplace, which facilitates carbon trading and interaction with what Salesforce calls “ecopreneurs”. It is open to any company, not just Salesforce customers
He also describes work with 3 customers – MasterCard, MillerKnoll (the furniture company) and Crowley (the shipping company)
I have spent a lifetime watching new market segments emerge, mature, get disrupted, morph and consolidate. The energy sector is going through a massive disruption and renewal. If I were building a 'magic quadrant" I would factor wind, solar, tidal, nuclear fusion, oil and gas, hydroelectric, biomass, geothermal and other alternative energy sources. My view is we need all of the above so we don’t have to become dependent on tyrant politicians or businesses. I wrote recently energy independence is as important as a focus on emissions.
And as I have in many tech sectors, I would be listening to pitches and doing a lot of research around each. And sure enough there would be bad-mouthing, with players calling the other evil and worse. My job is to ignore that noise.
I have been talking to a number of oil industry executives and listened to a couple of interviews Darren Woods, Chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil has done recently including one below. It is one of the largest publicly traded international oil and gas companies.
Here are some of his remarks (slightly edited) about his company, his competition and his thoughts on public policy. He is feisty at points, but generally, comes across as a geek and an economist, something I like when I listen to vendor pitches.
We've been doing this for 100 years. When we first started out, we were basically making kerosene for lighting. When the electric light came on, we were moving into gasoline. We've moved into chemicals. And so, this industry and our company have been evolving since its inception.
We are a company that knows how to manage and manipulate hydrocarbon molecules. What we're trying to manage with the energy transition, it's essentially a hydrocarbon, CO2 carbon management challenge. And that's right up our alley.
The more folks we engage trying to solve this (transition to low-carbon) problem, I think the better off the world is going to be. I've seen a big difference just in the last several years with the number of different companies, big thinkers, focused in this space.... I mean, two years ago, it was wind and solar, period. Today, it's wind and solar, and you got carbon capture and hydrogen and biofuels and ammonia. (Btw, he did not touch on the potential of many other sources I made above. As a CEO, he sees the competitive landscape differently than I do as an analyst)
Ultimately, I think, by 2040, every vehicle in the world could be electric. And so, you would not have gasoline sales. Oil demand would (still) be what it was back in 2013/2014 time frame. We were pretty successful business in 2013/2014 . So, our view (is EVs are) not going to make or break this business or this industry.
What's driving growth in demand for oil is chemical products, which play a really important role in people's lives today. The other big driver is industrial fuels, transportation fuels, and so heavy duty.
Europeans are making a strong case for green hydrogen which is made through electrolysis. Blue hydrogen is developed primarily through methane, and then capturing the CO2 that comes out. The US has abundant methane, we've got abundant places to store CO2. And so, the answer for hydrogen in the US I think, is going to be blue hydrogen. In Europe, they don't have the same abundance of methane, they don't have the same co2 capture capacity. So, electrolysis and green hydrogen makes more sense for them. And so rather than coming out with a dictate that says it's got to be green hydrogen versus blue hydrogen is let the market figure it out. What we will find as you go around the world, that the natural endowments, the advantages that you see, the technology progress, you see is going to manifest itself differently.
I think political leaders ought to be focusing on how we get to a solution and working collaboratively. Not only with NGOs, but with businesses that have the experiences and the skills and the understanding to figure out solutions that help meet all of society's needs, not just one aspect.
Don't incentivize one technology because you think that's a better answer than the other. Put incentives out there for all technologies and let the productive capacity of the market work, let the technologies of companies go to work to solve those problems. We are an advocate for a uniform price on carbon across the economy is because it incentivizes every individual player, irrespective of the industry or in respect of the technology that you support. You put your effort into finding a solution to capture that value, and reduce CO2. It's too complicated, it's too difficult to predict exactly what the solution is going to look like. Instead, we should put the incentives out there and let the market do what the market does.
We've been doing this for 100 years. In the technology space, people recognize that we're serious, we have capabilities, and we're at the table, trying to bring solutions to that. We have a reputation for doing big projects, at scale, convening industries, bringing together different parts of governments, other commercial enterprises to come up with big picture solutions.
We could spend forever debating what was said 30 years ago or we can focus on what are we doing today to try to make progress in this very complex space. I'm very proud of what we're doing today. And I think we will make a big difference; we will be an important part of the solution.
I have been preaching a focus on balanced energy – invest in wind and solar, but also in upgrades to nuclear, hydroelectric, geothermal and other energy sources. And don’t demonize fossil fuels till the others scale up significantly. My note last year, The road to energy hell…is being paved with good intentions, predicted a bumpy transition away from fossils. The recent crisis in Ukraine and the resulting spike in energy prices are just the beginning and are forcing an urgent rethink of energy strategies.
As one of my New Year resolutions, I promised a lot of focus on energy, carbon reduction and the circular economy on my innovation blog, New Florence.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series.
This time it is Wilhelm Myrer, Founder and CEO of Empower.eco, an Oslo, Norway based startup. Empower is the last in the Sustainability cohort introduced to me by SAP.iO Foundries, which represent SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers (see their presentation here ).
The US EPA defines a circular economy as one which “reduces material use, redesigns materials to be less resource intensive, and recaptures “waste” as a resource to manufacture new materials and products.”
In many ways, Norway, and Scandinavia broadly, epitomize the growing focus on the circular economy. Norway has an incredibly effective plastic exchange system - 97% of all plastic bottles are recycled, while most countries around the world barely get to 10%. Norwegian company, Tomra, has since inception in 1972, become an icon for the circular economy with its reverse vending machines which collect bottles and cans from consumers. Mark Brewer of IFS had described them here https://bit.ly/2KvjkXg
Wilhelm describes the basic principle which works for Tomra and Norway – reward consumers for each bottle returned with cash or credits and businesses with tax and other incentives. Enpower is helping companies digitize the flow from consumer through the recycling ecosystem using blockchain technology, providing detailed traceability, accountability, metrics and "product passports" along the way. The traceability is showing up in interesting ways to delight customers - he tells the example of how seats from a soccer stadium in Spain are being recycled and the end products will allow consumers to proudly brag about that origin.
While the major focus is on plastics, the concept can be applied to paper, glass, metals and so many other materials.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series.
This time it is Matthew Wright, Founder and CEO of Specright which provides specification data management to Fortune 1000 companies with complex needs.
They were introduced to me by SAP.iO Foundries, which represent SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers (see their presentation here ).
Specright was one of the startups in their Sustainability cohort last year but as you will hear precision in specifications can have an impact in every process which touches raw materials, ingredients, formulas, packaging and finished goods.
Matthew’s passion comes from a couple of decades in the packaging industry. As he describes in his book The Evolution of Products and Packaging, we have seen an explosion in SKUs and complexity in supply chains. As he says, existing ERP, PLM and other software were designed before complexity grew exponentially, and the lack of focus on specifications is the root cause of many supply chain issues we are seeing. BTW, Gartner identified them as a Cool Vendor in their Supply Chain category in 2020.
He presents on three customers and how they have benefited from better specs – one reduced scrap production, the second reduced spend on corrugate packaging and the third in sourcing a critical ingredient across multiple product SKUs. He also describes how they have helped industries set standards and work with other bodies which are tasked with defining them.
Very nicely done, and I am looking forward to reading his book.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series. https://bit.ly/34eWDMD
This time it is Carlos Oliveira, CTO of Algramo, which is helping CPG companies rethink packaging and refilling of cleaning, personal care, pet food and other products which are today mostly sold in plastic containers. Based in Santiago, Chile, Algramo translates to “by the gram”.
Algramo’s delivery mechanism is a vending machine dispenser where consumers refill in their reusable smart containers. Carlos says these containers can last up to 250 uses. RFID IDs in the containers and mobile apps help track consumption, container life and reuse patterns and also have a gamification angle. Carlos goes into some of the dispensing and sanitation technology.
The value propositions - Retailers save on shelf space. Producers like Unilever, Nestle, Colgate and Clorox are some of their customers who ship in bulk and save on packaging. Consumers pay for bite-size purchases at their point of need e,g, detergents are sold in public laundromats. The world benefits from reduced plastic pollution. Carlos presents on data on their plastic, water and C02 savings
Carlos gave me a personal invite to go test his dispensers in Chile! But closer to many of us they are at the following locations if you want to support this creative contribution to sustainable world.
San Francisco
Target, 115 4th St, San Francisco, CA 94103
NYC
259 Malcolm X Blvd, Brooklyn, NY 11233
141 Flushing Ave Building 77, Brooklyn, NY 11205
115 4th St, San Francisco, CA 94103, United States
Brooklyn Navy Yard (Building 77) - 141 Flushing Ave, Brooklyn NY 11205
Essex Market - 88 Essex St, New York, NY 10002
London
Lidl, Stalling's Ln, Kingswinford DY6 7BG
They are also represented in Indonesia and soon will have presence in Mexico. Carlos explains how they decide on global expansion.
They were introduced to me by SAP.iO Foundries, which represent SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers (see their presentation here ). Algramo was one of the startups in their Sustainability cohort last year.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series.
This time it is Ashley Etling, co-founder and CEO of Limeloop, which is blending material and computer science to redefine packaging, shipping and reverse logistics for retailers
They were introduced to me by SAP.iO Foundries, which represent SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers (see their presentation here ). Limeloop was one of the startups in their Sustainability cohort last year.
In Limeloop world, products are shipped by retailers in their reusable packaging (in 3 sizes - weatherproof and temperature controlled) instead of cardboard boxes. The fabric is made from recycled billboard vinyl. Consumers use a prepaid shipping label to return the packages to a 3PL which sanitizes and redistributes them. They are designed to be reused over 200 times. In contrast, cardboard boxes can be reused only a handful of times. They supplement the packaging with sensors and a platform to track and trace shipments so the retailers get plenty of data beyond tracking information – package open rates, temperature data etc.
That could potentially eliminate millions of tons of waste in discarded boxes, emissions during recycling and countless hours in dealing with customer calls and returns, not to mention lower packaging costs for retailers – Ashley says 40% in those savings.
Ashley does a nice job is under 15 minutes covering her customer base, the landscape of other players in the emerging circular economy/reverse logistics space and the pedigree of her management team, investors and advisers.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission ) as part of my Analyst Cam series.
This time it is Giacomo Franchini, founder and CEO of SupplHi which provides a sourcing and vendor management platform for complex industrial manufacturers and service providers
They were introduced to me by SAP.iO Foundries, which represent SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers (see their presentation to me here ). SupplHi was one of the startups in their Sustainability cohort last year.
Giacomo estimates SupplHi’s addressable market at $33 trillion or 30% of global GDP. This includes verticals like shipbuilding, energy equipment makers and various product manufacturing. He is a former Bain strategy consultant and unafraid to tackle complicated challenges which typify that world. As an example, they have built their own standard categorizations by verticals to better classify the nearly 70,000 suppliers across 100+ countries on their platform. As he says, you can drill down into not one, but 70 different types of pumps.
He spends time talking about the sustainability challenge – this segment is estimated to account for 21% of total CO2 emissions. You can measure suppliers on their pollution, energy efficiency and waste management attributes, and other ESG metrics like those on health and safety and governance.
Their supplier base and category filters also position them as useful sourcing tools. He provides an overview on a couple of large customers who use them more broadly like Fincantieri, a shipbuilder with over 12,000 suppliers and Maire Tecnimont, an engineering and construction company with over 30,000 suppliers.
I liked several things about SupplHi. They are tackling direct suppliers in highly specialized verticals. Too many other networks primarily focus on indirect, back office spend. In a separate conversation, Giacomo told me about his global experience while at Bain. We also talked about Italy’s creativity and industrial design aesthetics. The vertical and geographic quotient of this team is impressive, to say the least.
As we have moved to virtual briefings, I have increasingly been excerpting short video segments (with permission) as part of my Analyst Cam series.
This time it is Kange Kaneene, VP, SAP.iO Foundries North and Latin America
SAP.iO is SAP's strategic business unit to incubate startup innovation and drive new business models for SAP. SAP.iO Foundries are SAP’s startup programs, including accelerators, that enable startups that can deliver value to SAP customers. Today, there are SAP.iO Foundries in 10 strategic innovation hubs, including San Francisco, New York, Berlin, Munich, Paris, Tel Aviv, Singapore , Bangalore, Shanghai and Tokyo. Each Foundry runs one to two cohorts/programs a year, incubating 15-20 startups at each location.
Kange does a really nice job summarizing in under 15 minutes their impressive track record (started in 2017, they have incubated/accelerated over 370 startups), the value proposition for SAP customers, the startups and SAP itself. She also profiles some of the recent cohorts. She would also welcome interest from startup entrepreneurs from our audience who meet their filters.
Kange has facilitated presentations for me from several of the startup in the cohorts last year which focused on sustainability. They are presenting to me over the next couple of weeks and I will profile them in this series.
Recent Comments