Accelerating the energy transition with SAP

Theo Yameogo: Stephanie, thanks for joining me today. I'm looking forward to our conversation about how technology can enable transformation in mining.

Stephanie Porter: Thanks so much for having me, Theo. I'm excited to talk about my favourite sector with you here today.

Theo Yameogo: Let's get right into it, Stephanie. Most mining companies are facing a host of challenges today, whether it's ESG or decarbonization, geopolitical, digital modernization. How do you think mining companies will have to evolve to meet the current industry challenges?

Stephanie Porter: Well, I think it's an incredibly difficult time for the sector. The expectations of stakeholders have never been higher. We talk a lot about the juxtaposition between the very high demand, the global demand for mining and the push from stakeholders and the broader society to have a much higher focus on ESG. There's a significant amount of scrutiny, a need for the sector to actually do things better, and also a need for rebranding. To me, we need to address it across the full lifecycle of a mine, across all of the support functions and through the entire value chain. In the early stages, we want to focus on things like how can we enhance the community, how can a new mine bring shared value to both stakeholders and the society, and then we want to talk about how to run it better. Now, you mentioned decarbonization, of course, water usage, renewable energy, electric vehicles, and lastly, are there innovative ways to leverage decommissioned end-of-life mines? We're talking about things like abandoned mine shafts being used as isolated cavities to house weights and cables for energy storage and release systems. It's important to look at that whole value chain as well, what vendors are doing from an ESG perspective, and are we working with ethically sourced vendors? And I think we're also looking to the future around resiliency and agility and where the sector is going in the longer term, you know, autonomous mining, underwater mining, So we really need to be prepared both for the challenges of today and tomorrow. And I also think it's an exciting time to be in the industry. You know, the mining sector is no different than other sectors that are facing a severe talent shortage, and if we can move to better ESG, and if we can move to more technologically exciting solutions, I actually think we'll find ourselves in a position where we're attracting a lot of new talent.

Theo Yameogo: I couldn't agree more, Stephanie. Most definitely. These are significant changes that the sector needs to address, both in the critical business goals, but also results. How do you see technology enabling those changes?

Stephanie Porter: Well, of course, I'm biased as a technology consultant, but I think technology holds the key to actually making those changes work. First of all, we talk about goals and changes. We have clients that are looking at decarbonization and getting to net zero by a certain date, talking about moving to things like digital twins, autonomous mines, and a big buzzword, circular business models. These things cannot be accomplished overnight, they need a roadmap, they need a realistic plan, and they need technology to enable it. One of the main things we talk about are data and analytics. We need transparency within our mines across the whole value chain, and we need that data to both be reported and to help us make better decisions. So they should be linked to response behavior models and control systems. We also have new processes that we're going to be looking at. Things like, as we move to a circular business model, waste management and what that's going to look like. Those processes get enabled by technology, and it's a big force in helping process change take place. It's also the foundation for growth. If you want to get to things that are more innovative and more exciting, you need the basic technology and the reliable data in place to get to those exciting solutions.

Theo Yameogo: So that's very good insight. Why do companies focus on mining excellence? Why do they need SAP?

Stephanie Porter: From my perspective, there's really two ways in which SAP is important to mining companies. The first is the software itself, so the software is embedded with leading practices for the sector. SAP has worked over the years with representatives from the mining industry to make sure that they're really embedded in the software itself, especially as SAP S/4 has come out. It's also critically important from the data reliability perspective, moving companies to a more harmonized and integrated platform, and there is in fact an SAP sustainability offering as well that's got embedded into advanced analytics, intelligent automation, ways to simulate environmental impact, ways to look at the environmental cost for a project. And over and above the ESG component, SAP can bring a lot of value to mining companies more broadly. So we talk with our clients a lot about preventative and predictive maintenance and how that helps with asset reliability and reducing the amount of downtime they experience. We talk about how SAP can really help reduce spend in the procurement area and generally bring a lot of efficiencies to the finance space and help us with accounts payable and period-end closes, so it really is a robust software. And then the second thing is, of course, the program itself. The program itself doesn't just have to be an SAP technology project, and in fact, we would advise you that it doesn't look like that. We want to look at these things as broader SAP-enabled business transformations. And so a lot of our clients want to include things like data improvements, looking again at their capabilities, roles, responsibilities, operating models, their processes, and actually their culture as well. So culture is a big topic in the mining industry. How do we make sure that we have a growth mindset? How do we embrace emerging technologies and innovation? And then we want to talk a lot about how SAP solutions can support all of those things. And so when we look at an SAP program, we’re never just talking with SAP folks, we're making sure that we leverage our EY Mining Center of Excellence and really get the top leaders in the industry to give us insights into where the industry is going and how we can make sure that we're futureproofing these solutions. And we also talk to our culture experts and our data experts and our emerging technology experts to bring it all together into a robust program that's really going to drive value for the business.

Theo Yameogo: That's very interesting, Stephanie. You know, there's a generation of us that actually had a bad experience of SAP, and it's no secret that many past SAP programs were deemed overly complex, costly and negatively disruptive to operations and businesses. What do you think has changed to make them better today?

Stephanie Porter: There's been a lot of advancements in these kinds of programs over the years. Those of us who do this for a living have been taking all of the lessons learned and making sure that we set these programs up for success moving forward. One of the keys to doing that is really right-sizing the program. So we have these lofty goals and this exciting roadmap that we need to enable. But we have to take a look at the organizational capabilities of our clients as well. How fast can they move? What other business priorities do they have? How can we make a roadmap and a plan that's realistic and can actually be executed? That's critically important. We've also learned to take a more holistic view of these programs. Again, to not just look at SAP, but to really look at the broader context in which it's being implemented to ensure that it's really going to drive the right value to the business. It's a business program, and it's a people program, it's not actually a technology program. the technology just enables it. And the last thing I would say is, we have a lot of clients that are making the really smart decision to do significant preparatory work now, to really understand what they do want to change, what they don't want to change, how fast they can go, how it's going to help them get to their goals eventually, and then make a really good plan moving forward, a roadmap that brings predictability and accuracy, so people understand what resources are going to be required, when, from their organization, what benefits and changes will come to the organization at different points in time, and what costs will be incurred throughout the program. And once you have that level of predictability, people can really thrive in their roles and help the program achieve its outcome.

Theo Yameogo: That's wonderful, Stephanie, and I'm sure our clients will appreciate all the insights you brought up today. Thank you very much.

Stephanie Porter: Thanks so much for having me, Theo. I'm always happy to talk about mining with you.