According to the World Economic Forum’s 2021 Global Gender Gap Report, the pandemic pushed back gender equality significantly: from 99.5 to 135.6 years, both in the workplace and at home. On the other hand, the Mexican Institute for Competitiveness (IMCO) estimates that by 2030, the country’s Gross Domestic Product could be 15% higher than in 2020 if 8.2 million women are added to the economy. But talking about an inclusive culture is not just about hiring more people of different nationalities, genders, sexual orientations, or races. They need to feel truly welcome, safe and free in the workplace. Therefore, developing and executing inclusive strategies with a gender perspective and with the support of digitization, focused on improving the experience of employees and increasing their safety, is the way to achieve sustainable development and higher levels of competitiveness.
From speech to action
According to a UNESCO report, digital skills favor the incorporation of women into economic activity and employment and open up innumerable opportunities for them to act and make professional and personal decisions in the digital society. In this sense, the current environment has accelerated the digitization of companies at different levels. Those that are not prepared are exposed to operational complications and, above all, put the productivity and well-being of their employees at risk.
Today, more than ever, finance leaders must have full visibility across the organization where real-time control becomes essential, especially in a remote or hybrid work environment. From this arises the need to have digital, mobile and Artificial Intelligence-enabled platforms such as
SAP Concur to automate your processes and efficiently manage your expenses, travel and invoices. Among its main benefits are:
- Reduction of up to 67% the number of lost receipts that facilitates the verification of expenses and reimbursements.
- Increased productivity as the time it takes to create expense reports can be reduced by 60% and the finance department streamlines their verification and billing processes
- Reinforcement of policies to ensure that employees comply with the established limits.
- Greater control and transparency of up to 60%, in addition to facilitating adaptation to regulatory changes and reducing the risk of fraud.
- Better employee experience through the facilitation of processes and the elimination of bureaucratic obstacles. However, the employee experience goes much further, since one of the highest priorities for any current organization is the safety of employees and their work environment.
SAP Concur solutions can help prevent, mitigate or control unexpected situations, whether within the work environment or during a business trip with tools ranging from employee location linked to human resource profiles, travel reservations, monitoring of global risks, security services and medical assistance, as well as bilateral communications with one, some or all employees.
Gender equity is not a concession but a fundamental right that we must all seek to continue opening doors both at a business and personal level. In addition, diverse teams are those that have the greatest capacity for adaptation and resilience and, therefore, are much more competitive, which is what our country and our world need to achieve the long-awaited recovery.
*The author is CEO of SAP Concur in Mexico and North Latin America.