– Sustainability is more than torch burning – Dataforeningen
Tiril Raknes (25) is head of the subject group Sustainability at the Data Association. On a daily basis, she is a business advisor and coordinator for the sustainability team at Sopra Steria, which helps companies realize business opportunities at the intersection between digitalization and sustainability. Already during her studies, she saw how the theme of sustainability became increasingly relevant in the forums she was part of, at the interface between innovation, management and technology.
– In everyday life, it can be difficult to see the connection between digitization and sustainability. The outcry that followed when the media broke the news that Netflix is a climate disaster is a clear example of the need to find new digital solutions to ensure sustainability in work and everyday life.
Digitization for sustainability
Sustainability and green development are often associated with new forms of energy, but challenges linked to sustainability are highly topical at all levels in business and the public sector. Real, everyday challenges in working life can be solved through new, innovative solutions and digitalisation. And requirements to document measures.
– It is no longer enough to show how good you are. Eventually, it will become a matter of course to document sustainability, but beforehand we lack robust systems. Here we face exciting challenges, and will need many hands on deck. Sustainability is a developing field that many students will be able to work with in the future.
– You can work with sustainability in very real ways, without working in an interest organization. There are many alternatives between the extremes of revision, tallow crushing and torch burning, says Tiril.
Sustainability, digitization and management
Tiril studied at Copenhagen Business School (CBS). The advantage of studying in Denmark is the opportunity to explore something new, but at the same time see the Scandinavian perspective on society and economy.
– I started studying economics and management, but gradually saw in the course of my education that I needed to supplement business understanding with IT understanding. I found out that without innovation, management does not work, without digitization, management does not work, and without sustainability, digitalization and management do not work. But during the study I got some input on what it actually meant to work with management and technology.
In Denmark, it is a student job market of its own, and Tiril therefore acquired valuable work experience as a project coordinator for a Norwegian startup before she moved on to admin support at Den danske bank.
– The work gave me a reality check every day. It is a systemic weakness in Norway that students most often have not gained relevant work experience during their studies. It can be a bit of a shock when you go out into working life. Membership in DND can help prepare students for working life.
Practical preparation for working life
– A membership or a role in a professional group in DND gives you an edge on your CV and shows a potential employer that you are committed, proactive and willing to learn. The contact network you increase the chance of finding your perfect future employer, but also a sparring partner for master’s assignments, approach to a company and a business case, says Tiril.
Not least, it opens up opportunities to get a close-to-life and realistic understanding of how working life works, and of challenges and industry jobs to find solutions to.
– As a student, I didn’t need more company presentations, but to learn about industries, hear real cases, and get an insight into what everyday working life looked like in a profession. As a student member of DND, you can build a profile through courses, network meetings and by trying out what interests you. In fact, you expose yourself to challenges that are real in working life now.
From the engine room to the control room
Digitization and IT have gone through a journey in working life, the realization is that IT can no longer be seen as a separate «machine room», but that digitization must be part of the company strategy.
– The recognition and the obvious place subjects such as economics, management, and lately: digitization have achieved, I want to contribute to sustainability. This causes us to stop just talking about sustainability and act. But at the same time we must continue to talk. Double-entry bookkeeping arose as early as the 15th century, and slowly but surely the accounting profession has developed into what we know today. Sustainability is a much younger subject, and thus we must work together to mature it. No one is the answer, but we must take one step at a time and find concrete solutions. Development of a sustainability strategy must become a natural part of the corporate strategy, Tiril believes.