Our ESG progress

Our ambitions

2023 was an important year for the ESG team at SoftwareOne. With the increase in new regulations, increased interest from our clients and partners and the ongoing changes to our environmental and social landscape, we recognise the part played by SoftwareOne in this bigger picture.

Outlined in this report is a clear update on our current approach, targets, and initiatives. In addition, our aim is to provide further transparency on the way we evaluate these targets, risks, and mitigations.

Our 2030 ambitions

Risks and opportunities

Our process

In 2023, our ESG risk assessment process became more robust to further integrate both external stakeholder perspectives and our own internal insights. By leveraging our own expert knowledge of the intricacies of our business operations, we identified and analysed risks that are material to SoftwareOne, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of the potential business, financial, reputational, and physical impacts. As we are not currently legally required to conduct the full analysis on this topic, we followed the recommended guidelines as a guiding principle set forth by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), a framework that emphasises transparency and consistency in reporting climate-related risks and opportunities.

Combining these multiple sources of information enabled us to create a comprehensive list of risks and opportunities. These aligned directly to relevant internal stakeholders (such as our Enterprise Risk Management team, Legal, Internal Audit and Senior Leaders) to proactively address and mitigate challenges accordingly and capitalise on opportunities. These enhanced our resilience and sustainability in the dynamic landscape of environmental, social, and governance considerations.

Management oversight and engagement

All our upcoming and current risks are reviewed by our dedicated Environmental, Social and Governance committees, including those sponsored by our Executive Board members, our ESG Board of Directors Sub-committee and more specialised business leaders, such as Finance and People & Culture. This has allowed us to create a two-way approach to upcoming risks and opportunities within the business and fully embed ESG into every area of the business.

2023 ESG risk assessment

Based on our double materiality analysis outlined above, we analysed our risks in terms of the likelihood and identified both the impact we have on our stakeholders and the financial impact these areas have on our business. For more information on our mitigation efforts, action plans, metrics and targets please use the links under "more information".

Environmental

Climate change presents a host of risks to software and cloud solutions providers and society alike. Material long-term environmental risks to SoftwareOne, to our employees and our facilities have been identified via our ESG risk assessment. These risks are periodically reviewed and shared by the ESG team along with ongoing actions, mitigations, and areas of potential concern for SoftwareOne’s business operations.

ISSUE AND DESCRIPTION	RISK PROBABILITY	STRATEGIES AND MITIGATION
MEASURE, CONTROL & REDUCE OUR GHG EMISSIONS: This issue refers to managing climate-related risks and opportunities from actual or potential physical and transition impacts. It also includes the direct and indirect emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and emission reduction targets to limit our contribution to global warming.	Medium Some high stakeholder impacts if we are unable to measure and reduce our footprint in the long term with medium financial impact on our business such as legal fines and increased operational expenses. The likelihood of this is low due to our current processes and current carbon reduction strategy.	Our commitment to measuring, avoiding and reducing our emissions is outlined in our Global Environmental Policy. In 2024 we are launching our Carbon Reduction Think Tanks, designed to support our senior country managers with their specific carbon reduction targets through training, localised strategies and policy enforcement. More information can be found in carbon reduction strategy.
SUPPORTING PARTNERS IN ACHIEVING THEIR PUBLIC ENVIRONMENTAL COMMITMENTS: This issue refers to Launching Cloud Sustainability and helping our clients measure and reduce their own carbon footprint.	Low Some medium stakeholder impacts if we fail to assist in their own commitments, with low financial impact on our business with the potential of lost revenue opportunities. The likelihood of this is low due to the current number of stakeholders requiring this and our proactive approach to support via Cloud Sustainability and embedded engagement with our Bid and Sales teams to remain responsive to upcoming customer requirements.	Our Cloud Sustainability offering is one of the key contributors in supporting how our customers measure and reduce their own carbon footprint. In 2023, SoftwareOne took the opportunity to host workshops with clients to demonstrate how Cloud Sustainability can improve efficiency and support their carbon reduction goals. More information can be found in Cloud Sustainability.
TRANSITION TO RENEWABLES & ALTERNATIVE ENERGIES AND SUSTAINABLE OFFICES & RENEWABLE ENERGY: This issue refers to the transition from a predominantly fossil-based energy production system and consumption to renewable and alternative energy sources, including policies, goals, accounting instruments and technologies that facilitate that transition and support strategies for greener offices.	Medium Some high stakeholder and financial impacts if we are unable to keep up with new regulations on renewable energy use and environmental impact. The likelihood of this is low due to the nature of our business (i.e. not manufacturing) and our strategy in place focusing on Green Offices.	Our global carbon reduction strategy maps our roadmap to net zero for Scope 1 and 2. Our ambition to reduce our energy consumption, switch to renewable energy sources and create sustainable offices is outlined in our global carbon reduction strategy, specifically as part of our Green Office Initiative. Our 2022 carbon data gap analysis provided data regarding company cars, renewable energy usage and waste disposal. More information can be found in green offices.
ENHANCED EMISSIONS-REPORTING OBLIGATIONS: This issue refers to the ability to keep up to date with all regulations about reporting our emissions	Medium Some low stakeholder impacts if we fail to report our emissions data for them, however some medium financial impacts due to legal and operational costs. The likelihood of this impacting us is medium due to the ever-changing landscape of ESG reporting legislation but as this report demonstrates we can report on our Scope 1, 2 & 3 emissions.	Our global carbon footprint is reported annually in the ESG section of our Annual Report. Keeping up with all local, regional, and global changes in emission reporting legislation, for example CO 964b, CSRD, will always be a challenge. The ESG team engages with local legal and finance leads to discuss upcoming regulation and its impact on SoftwareOne. Further to this, our Environmental committee includes local and regional representatives from multiple areas of the business, including legal, compliance, sales, and marketing to discuss and take appropriate action when new climate requests and emission reporting legislation comes into effect. We continuously seek advice from experts in the sustainability reporting and legislation field as well as engage with our (Global Reporting Initiative) GRI advisors. SoftwareOne has reported to GRI since 2022 and plans to submit our targets to the Science Based Target initiative (SBTi) in 2024. These independent bodies help us to monitor our ratings and measure our performance. More information can be found in carbon emissions.
ISSUE AND DESCRIPTION	RISK PROBABILITY	STRATEGIES AND MITIGATION
CHANGING CUSTOMER BEHAVIOUR: This issue refers to the potential changes in customer behaviours that are impacted by climate change	Medium Some medium stakeholder and financial impacts if we fail to recognise and respond to our clients' changing environmental needs and they are forced to migrate to our competitors. The likelihood of this impacting us is medium due to the ever-changing landscape of client needs, but we remain proactive in our approach to supporting their needs via Cloud Sustainability and embedded engagement with our Bid and Sales teams to remain responsive to upcoming customer requirements.	Recognising the demand from our customers to measure and reduce their carbon footprint, cloud sustainability was developed and launched in 2023. The ESG team work closely with our sales, RFP and bid teams to ensure we meet clients’ climate action expectations and address environmental contract clauses. To support in this, SoftwareOne reports through specialist bodies Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) and EcoVadis. More information can be found in Cloud Sustainability.
INCREASED STAKEHOLDER CONCERN OR NEGATIVE STAKEHOLDER FEEDBACK: This issue refers to the potential increased concerns that stakeholders have over SoftwareOne’s ability to respond to climate change	Medium Some medium stakeholder and financial impacts if we fail to respond to climate change due to reputational and environmental damage resulting in decreased demand and potential workforce management challenges. The likelihood of this impacting us is low due to continued commitment to positively impacting climate change and our ambitious but realistic targets.	According to our materiality assessment for 2023, stakeholder concern was not a high priority. This indicated that stakeholders are confident in our approach to ESG matters. To mitigate any additional concerns our global environmental policy communicates to all employees what is expected of them and our internal communication campaign shares regular updates on ESG success, projects and events. In addition, in 2024, all employees will have access to our Carbon Reduction Handbook, providing them with tangible actions to contribute towards SoftwareOne’s climate ambitions. The ESG team hosts regular drop-in calls as a transparent approach to our ESG programme. In these sessions we discuss our Environmental programme and upcoming initiatives with employees. Our ambition is to increase employee engagement in these communication campaigns year on year. More information can be found in our climate commitment.
CHANGES IN PRECIPITATION PATTERNS AND EXTREME VARIABILITY IN WEATHER PATTERNS: This issue refers to the acute physical risks that extreme weather may have on our business	Low Some low stakeholder and financial impacts if we are unable to respond to the effects that extreme weather has on our business. These are low due to the nature of our business (i.e. not manufacturing, working from home practices and rented offices). The likelihood of this impacting us is low due to our continued monitoring and global environmental policy.	With our operations in over 60 countries, we recognise that changes in weather patterns will affect certain regions more than others. We operate in sveral developing countries and ensure that local health and safety measure are in place to protect and support our employees in the case of such events. Our global Environmental Policy and reduction plan play the biggest role in our efforts to reduce our carbon emissions and contribute less to global warming. The Environmental Committee, which meets quarterly, discusses our environmental programme progress and objectives. It is important to note, that given the nature of our business, changes in extreme weather patterns are a low risk for SoftwareOne. Most of our employees can work from home and all apart from two of our offices are rented which means there is very little impact on our business continuity. In the case of extreme weather conditions, managing employees’ place of work is a simpler process. More information can be found in our climate commitment.
RISING MEAN TEMPERATURES: This issue refers to the chronic physical risks that rising temperatures in global warming may have on our business	Low Some low stakeholder and financial impacts if we are unable to respond to the effects that rising temperatures have on our business. These are low due to the nature of our business (i.e. not manufacturing, working from home practices and rented offices). The likelihood of this impacting us is low due to our continued monitoring and global environmental policy.	In 2022, we set our climate ambition to be net zero for Scope 1 and 2 as well as measure and reduce Scope 3 emissions related to business travel. Our double materiality assessment determined that rising mean temperatures pose a low risk to SoftwareOne based on the nature of our business, our continuous monitoring and enforcement of our Global Environmental Policy. More information can be found in our climate commitment.

Social

We understand that our commitment to our corporate social responsibility and dedication to creating an inclusive culture enhances not only our employee experience, by creating a sense of purpose and pride for the work we do, but also aims to catalyse thriving communities, ensuring our social commitment positively impacts the regions in which we operate.

Through our double materiality assessment, we identified the risks we face in failing to achieve our commitment to supporting NPOs through the SoftwareOne Impact programme and our local and global communities which are part of our SoftwareOne Gives Back programme.

ISSUE AND DESCRIPTION	RISK PROBABILITY	STRATEGIES AND MITIGATION
DIVERSITY & EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL: This issue refers to developing our global Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB) strategy.	High Some high stakeholder and financial impacts if we fail to prioritise the importance of a diverse workforce. These are high due to revenue impact with lack of varied perspectives and skills, as well as lack of inclusive workplace. The likelihood of this impacting us is medium due to our need to increase participation rates for our diversity surveys and training, however our current efforts are demonstrating an upward trend in diversity.	Failing to nurture a diverse workforce poses significant risks to our business and the wider community. In an industry where diversity remains a challenge, with the current industry average hovering around just 30 % of women within organisations, the stakes are high. Research indicates that companies with more diverse teams outperform their less diverse counterparts, both financially and creatively. Moreover, a lack of diversity can lead to homogeneous thinking, stifl innovation and hinder our ability to adapt to an ever-evolving market.At SoftwareOne, we recognise the imperative of embracing diversity and inclusion not only as a moral obligation but also as a strategic advantage. Our ambition extends beyond industry benchmarks, as we aim to lead the charge in fostering a truly inclusive workplace. By prioritising diversity, equity, and inclusion in our DEIB strategy, we mitigate the risks associated with homogeneity while unlocking the full potential of our workforce and driving sustainable growth.In 2022 we launched our DEIB strategy that helped shape many policies and processes internally at SoftwareOne. This strategy has allowed us to not only mitigate the risks in this area, but also to take this as an opportunity to learn from our employees and their needs. This year we conducted our first DEIB survey, enabling us to listen to our employees, develop an action plan and take appropriate action based on their requirements and with collaboration with multiple departments. More information can be found in DEIB strategy.
WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT: This issue refers to the process of ensuring our workforce is functioning at its most productive levels and copes with organisational changes. It captures employee recruitment, retention and development practices.	Low Some low stakeholder and financial impacts if we fail to remain responsive to changes in recruitment processes. These are low due to the current positive perception of our productive workforce. The likelihood of this impacting us is low due to the success already in place from our innovative Talent Acquisition and People & Culture teams.	Every year our ESG team works directly with the Talent Acquisition (TA) team to build a diverse workforce by integrating ESG and diversity principles into our hiring practices, creating awareness and training hiring managers on the importance of a diverse workforce, as well as analysing the TA data to understand trends and gaps to develop actions that promote diversity. This collaborative approach ensures that the workforce reflects diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences, fostering innovation and long-term success within SoftwareOne. We recognise our responsibility to ensure that any risks associated with a lack of workforce management are managed, mitigated and transformed into an opportunity to further our employee engagement. Our Talent Acquisition team has focused on developing processes around inclusive interview panels and has set the goal to train every person who interviews in SoftwareOne to assess candidates more effectively, reduce bias and avoid hiring mistakes. During 2023, 400 hiring leaders around the globe have been trained. The Talent Acquisition team, in collaboration with local offices and the ESG team, will continue to improve in this area with the clear goal to increase diversity, develop the skills of our employees and promote a sense of belonging. More information can be found in DEIB strategy.
ISSUE AND DESCRIPTION	RISK PROBABILITY	STRATEGIES AND MITIGATION
ACCESSIBILITY TO TECHNOLOGY FOR NPOS: This issue refers to continuing to expand our SoftwareOne Impact programme to ensure that we consistently give back to the communities that we are part of by focusing our commitment to NPOs.	Medium Some high stakeholder impacts if we fail to live up to our commitments to support NPOs. Some medium financial impacts if we lose this potential revenue stream. The likelihood of this impacting us is low due to the hard work and dedication of our SoftwareOne Impact team working directly with new and current NPO clients.	Our SoftwareOne Impact team focused on strengthening current partnerships and developing new ones to be able to deliver on our commitment to supporting NPOs on their technology journey. This was made possible by capitalising on the strong network the team has built over the years. Internally, SoftwareOne Impact grew its non-profit sales team by over 10 people and added customer success resources to help ensure clients are receiving fast and knowledgeable support. Two new services were launched in 2023 for small and mid-market non-profit customers, to help them take advantage of technology in a consumable way and prepare for the data and AI revolution. SoftwareOne Impact expanded their partnerships with Microsoft, Amazon and TechSoup Global network, and created new ones with Tech to the Rescue and Avange.Tech. We measure success through partnership retention and creation, which help us reach our goal of making technology accessible to NPOs and bringing new business to the company through SoftwareOne Impact services to the non-profit sector. More information can be found in SoftwareOne Impact.
GIVEBACK & STRENGTHENING LOCAL COMMUNITIES: This issue refers to supporting local & global communities through volunteer and donations efforts.	Low Some low stakeholder impacts if we do not engage with the local communities, given the lack of direct impact on them. Some medium financial impacts if relationship with local communities become strained or we lose talent due to lack of commitment. The likelihood of this impacting us is low due to our local and global efforts, including regular campaigns, global policy and one paid day a year to volunteer.	Strengthening our relationship with local communities and growing our giving back programme allows us to mitigate any risks related to employee engagement, employee turnover or operational continuity, as low as that risk might be. This year we launched our new SoftwareOne Gives Back platform. It is the first year that we can centralise both the opportunities and the data of our employees' incredible activities for donating and volunteering. Our target for our launch campaign was for 40 % of our employees to start using the platform, and our goal for the coming years is to build events to encourage employees to use it and ensure adoption from local offices to support their CSR strategies. Additionally, we updated our global volunteering policy to include our new Gives Back programme. More information can be found in SoftwareOne Gives Back.

Governance

Beyond the risks involved in non-compliance, as an organisation, we will always strive towards the best ethical standards and business integrity. We recognise that with such high standards, there will always be risks both for our stakeholders and financially. As with every risk, there will be an opportunity for SoftwareOne to lead by example with our processes to address these areas proactively. As identified in our ESG double materiality assessment, we recognise the following material risks to our business relating to corporate governance. Additionally, we established a comprehensive third-party risk management process, focusing on high-risk partners that encompasses onboarding, assessments, risk mitigation, and monitoring processes. As part of our commitment, all employees underwent anti-corruption and bribery training, included within our annual mandatory Code of Conduct training.

ISSUE AND DESCRIPTION	RISK PROBABILITY	STRATEGIES AND MITIGATION
CUSTOMER PRIVACY & DATA PROTECTION: This issue refers to the aspect of information technology that deals with the protection of private corporate information, critical information systems and networks from security breaches. Focusing on how to protect both our clients and our own data	High Some high stakeholder and financial impacts if we fail to address these issues in our business model or face continuous data threats. The likelihood of this impacting us will always remain a medium given the changing landscape of data privacy legislation and trends (e.g. AI). However our team is continuing to remain proactive in addressing these with processes and policies.	Since the processing of personal (business) data is partly required in the provision of our services, there may be a customer data protection risk. Ensuring robust safeguards, compliance with regulations, and transparent communication about our approach are important components of our risk management program. Our dedicated data protection and cyber security teams are continuously focusing on new ways to prevent and respond to threats or new trends in this area. For example, this year we launched our internal AI policy to help educate our employees in the sensitivity of data when it comes to using AI. We are continuing to ensure that our policies and processes, both for our employees and clients is up to date, tracking the data (for example data breaches) and focusing on KPIs such as tracking our incident response time and data subject requests. More information can be found in data protection and privacy.
BUSINESS MODEL RESILIENCE: This issue refers to identifying and incorporating risks and opportunities connected to social, environmental, and economic challenges into our business model planning. It focuses on how SoftwareOne responds and adapts to these changes to carry on our activity, grow and create value for shareholders and society in the long-term including the topic of human rights, as outlined in Art 964a CO.	Medium Some medium stakeholder and financial impacts if we fail to develop resilience to sudden disruptions to operations (e.g. political conflict or pandemics). These are medium given our perceived previous record. The likelihood of this impacting us will always be medium given the unpredictable nature of these events. However, our risk and business operation teams are consistently reviewing and improving our internal processes.	It is vital that our organisation continues to be proactive and responsive to external changes in our world. Over the past few years marked with political unrest, environmental challenges and the continued fallout from COVID-19, SoftwareOne has remained diligent in how we approach these often-sensitive topics. For example, we have adapted and enabled our employees to work remotely whilst continuing to provide physical spaces for in-person collaboration. We believe that this hybrid approach supports our people with the flexibility the world has come to expect without losing an important social aspect of the workplace and support to be gained through in-person interactions. We therefore have a robust approach to our IT, security and access which support different workplace needs, and continue to develop our communication strategies to ensure a clear chain of command to respond to any future challenges in a volatile world. More information can be found in our corporate governance.
SUPPLIER REQUIREMENTS FOR ESG: This issue refers to the partnership we have with our supply chain for greater impact.	Medium Some low stakeholder impacts if we fail to keep up with these requirements. This is due to the current requirements remaining low in the short term. Some medium financial impacts due to the potential operational disruptions and lost revenue if we fail, when requested to ensure that we adhere to these requirements. The likelihood of this impacting us will continue to be high whilst the ongoing supply chain legislation on ESG topics continues to change.	Given the ongoing shifts in regulations and pressure on customers to review their supply chain, we recognise the importance of our role in their supply chain to respond to ESG assessments. The risk that we may fail to keep up with such demands allows us the opportunity to proactively focus on our commitment to our suppliers. This commitment has and always will be a key area within our business. We acknowlege the importance of these relationships, not only to support with our own ESG ambitions, but also to assist with theirs too. This year our third-party due diligence process took another leap forward, including new ESG related questions and follow up processes. Not only are we evaluating our own suppliers but we have created more processes to ensure more transparency with our clients and suppliers on the diversity and carbon footprint of those in our supply chain. We will be using our new due diligence tool, Integrity Next, to measure and track the success of these questionnaires. More information can be found in third-party due diligence.
ISSUE AND DESCRIPTION	RISK PROBABILITY	STRATEGIES AND MITIGATION
TRANSPARENCY: This issue refers to the comprehensive management of corporate communication through the systematic recording, reporting, transmission of information and analysis of corporate developments, performance and management.	Low Some low stakeholder and financial impacts if we fail to remain transparent in our ESG practices.Our stakeholders have already placed their trust in us.The likelihood of this impacting us will always be medium due to the changing landscape in reporting requirements and our current commitment to annual reporting.	Creating a transparent approach to our ESG programme is key to our approach. Not only are we continuing to communicate externally on our progress but we also ensure that our employees remain educated through innovative ways and we keep our entire organisation informed and engaged. For example, in 2023 we launched regular employee global drop-in sessions to discuss our ESG programme and upcoming initiatives. Our ambition is to improve participation in these communication campaigns year on year. More information can be found in our corporate governance.
ESG GOVERNANCE & ETHICAL BEHAVIOUR: This issue refers to continuing to improve our corporate governance and ethical culture including the topic of anti-corruption & bribery, as outlined in Art 964a CO..	Medium Some low stakeholder impacts if our business is unable to continue to enforce ethical behaviour. Some medium financial impacts will always be in place due to risks of regulatory and legal implications. The likelihood of this impacting us will always be medium due to the consistent pressure to align our ESG practices to the changing regulatory environment.	As always, our commitment to integrity and ethical behaviour is a core value at SoftwareOne. As outlined in our Code of Conduct, we set high standards and expectations of our employees to always act ethically. A lapse in governance and adherence to these ethical standards poses a significant risk, potentially escalating the susceptibility to bribery and corruption within our organization. To ensure that these standards are met, our compliance team rolls out annual training and communication campaigns on a variety of topics including basic business decisions, anti-corruption and anti-harassment. By ensuring all employees are educated on these critical topics, we aim to fortify our governance framework and minimize the risk of unethical behavior. The consistent year-over-year improvement in training completion rates reflects our ongoing dedication to upholding the highest standards of integrity and ethical conduct across SoftwareOne. More information can be found in our corporate governance.
ENHANCED LOCAL, REGIONAL, AND GLOBAL LEGAL ESG OBLIGATIONS: This issue refers to the ability to keep up to date with new or enhanced regulations about ESG including the topic of human rights, as outlined in Art 964a CO.	Medium Some low stakeholder and financial impacts if we fail to keep up with local, regional, and global legal obligations. This is due to the potential legal and operational costs; however these are currently low but due to increase over time as SoftwareOne qualifies for more legislation over time. The likelihood of this impacting us will always be high due to the speed in the changing landscape of international and local legislation.	With our operations in over 60 countries, keeping abreast of all local, regional and global changes in legislation will always be a challenge. However, this year, in light of such changing rapidly regulations, the ESG team are engaging with local legal and finance leads consistently to discuss upcoming regulation and their impact on SoftwareOne, both regarding our own practices and those of our supply chain. Further to this, our ESG committees include local and regional representatives from multiple areas of the business, including legal, compliance, sales and marketing to help discuss human rights and take appropriate action when new legislation comes into effect. More information can be found in our corporate governance.