Summertime is the season to spend holiday days recharging and relaxing. However, those weeks spent at work, when business might be slower in general, can be extremely beneficial for strategising and finding time to do a little ‘audit’ on practices and processes. Autumn time till Christmas is one of the busiest seasons to bid for new government tenders and acquire other new business. In addition, it is a season to start budgeting for the next fiscal year. This proves tricky without a clear view of what areas of operation and processes need investment and increased operational capability.
Social Value being the most pressing factor in winning new business from the public and the private sector has become an important part of business operations. However, many businesses lack refined processes, tools and systems for efficient, strategic social value delivery. Too much money and time is spent on ‘manual’ practices when it comes to building strategies and plans, and reporting on KPIs and impact. By this, we at whatimpact mean using manpower and processes, which could be easily and more efficiently conducted by using software and platform technology.
Social value planning is done as the tenders appear, and it feels like chasing a moving target – no clear workflow in place. Management-level professionals are spending too much time googling, filling in Excel sheets, doing research and writing plans and impact reports without sufficient data and tools. There is pressure to hire more people for delivery teams, which is straining the budgets. whatimpact latest research and white paper on social value management job roles confirms this dilemma:
What are the factors to consider when doing a social value audit and improve social value practices?
- Consolidation of ESG/CSR/social value
It is important to see social value as a strategic operations area, no matter what motivates the delivery. Whether the business is improving their sustainability through ESG benchmarking or delivering social value through procurement reasons. We are still talking about the same ‘social value’. Hence, teams working on each aspect of social value should come together and work with same data sources, tools and share good practice.
- Budgeting social value
Social value does not seem to have a separate budget line. Some might argue it shouldn’t, as all sustainability is part of modern business practices. Hence part of normal operational costs in different departments of the business. We at whatimpact wish to challenge this thought. Mandatory social value requirements require topic related investments not only in social value delivery (new employment practices, community engagement initiatives, environmentally sustainable practices), but to actually manage them in an efficient manner through systems and tools. It is crucial to have a budget for technology, data sources and building new capabilities through education and accreditation. Read more in our Social Value Handbook.
- Systems and tools audit
The rise of social value has created a vast number of tools for ESG and social value management, e.g. social value and CO2 calculators, ESG systems and local needs analysis, impact reporting. There is no one tool that can cater all aspects of the broad concept of social value. Therefore it is important to analyse the need of technology in relation to high level social value strategy, the operational delivery reality and what processes can and should be automated or supported by tech. The market offering is changing constantly, so keeping up with new solutions and comparing them can be a challenge. For more on choosing the right tools for your social value, read more HERE!
However, the social value strategy aligned with the business strengths, commercial vision and values should lead the decision making. Tools and systems should always empower the organisation to deliver more tangible value with efficiency. Rather than encourage tick a box exercises which might create motivational challenges within the organisation but also business risks. Read more about the different risks that businesses need to mitigate HERE!
whatimpact is a Social Value Management platform to help companies plan, implement and report on locally relevant social value. Companies use the matchmaking marketplace to connect with local charities, social enterprises and unregistered community groups (VCSEs). They do this in order to reach ESG targets and mandatory social value requirements in public sector procurement. The nationwide Social Value Model and TOMs aligned system used validated government data on all organisations. The impact reporting capability is built to cater procurement related, evidence based social value. The platform offers also volunteering management ; the only system in the market for contract specific volunteering.
Our latest project Water Drop delivers executive level monitoring social value dashboards for ALL social value. This dashboard is API connected to whatimpact delivery platform, but cater all other data for ESG, accreditations and contract specific social value. Read more HERE!
BOOK A 30 MINUTE CALL TO DISCUSS YOUR SOCIAL VALUE STRATEGY AND TOOLS AND PLANNING SOCIAL VALUE!
