GOING GREEN FOR PROFIT

How Implementing The Right Communications Strategy Will Save Your Business Money And Lower your Carbon Footprint.

It would be fair to say that most people in business imagine their bottom lines sliding off downhill every time anyone suggests reducing their carbon footprint. Because Politicians and Journalists always mention ‘green’ and ‘tax’ in the same sentence, we have been conditioned to think, ‘Green costs money’. Think again.

The truth is that communications technologies are developing with a focus on reduced emissions, not just by reducing their power consumption, but far more importantly, through the flexibility they offer employers and their teams. The new age of communications technology has taken us from face to face communications to anywhere, anytime contact. This opens a wonderful new world of reduced work related travel, instant information transfer and much greater efficiency, all we need to do is integrate with the technology.

“Can’t we just install the equipment?”

Let’s look at a simple example. Greg and Kerry own a small, but growing, wholesaling business in Sydney. As part of their superannuation fund they own their premises, a medium sized factory unit conveniently located in Waterloo. A third of the floor area was used for offices and a conference room while the rest was devoted to warehousing, receiving and dispatch.

Greg and Kerry are constantly adding new lines and the business began to outgrow their premises. No matter how they examined the problem the bottom line said they would need to go back into debt and it was unlikely that they could afford any of the larger buildings in their current, prime location.

It was Kerry who first turned the problem on its head. She was considering using the conference room to store additional stock when it suddenly occurred to her that there would be more than enough room for the next ten years if they could simply get rid of the offices. But how? The answer was simple, upgrade their telecommunications system and create a home office. That’s when we became involved.

We sat down with Greg and Kerry and examined their requirements. It was agreed that VoIP technology was the key. VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) allowed them to integrate their telecommunications into their overall computer system while reducing costs and adding a great deal of flexibility.

With their new IP telephone system, we were able to set up video conferencing.

The conference room had been used once a week by the Greg, Kerry and the three Sales Reps. The Reps serviced North, West and South Sydney. Every Monday they individually travel to the office at Waterloo, in their company cars, for the 9am sales meeting. It was usually after lunch before the Reps were back doing what earns the company its income, visiting clients and taking orders.

Once we had installed the new IP phone system which included video soft phones for video confrencing, Mondays became as productive as every other working day.

Now, at 9am on Monday morning, the South-side Rep is sitting in his home office, West-side Rep is enjoying a latte in his favourite coffee shop and North-side Rep is sitting on a picnic bench overlooking Sydney Harbour. They are all discussing the monthly target with the Greg and Kerry in their home office. They can all see and hear each other just as if they were all back in the conference room.

During the meeting they have been able to pass file to each other such as lead sheets, updated price lists and promotional material. The new technology has reduced the meeting time substantially. By 9.45am the meeting is over and each Rep is in his territory and ready to see clients.

Most business people can read this story and immediately understand how these changes would enhance a bottom line. What most of us don’t do is consider the reduction of the company’s carbon footprint. Let’s consider these reductions:

Firstly, more efficient use is being made of the existing floor space, both at home and in the office.

Previously, Greg and Kerry travelled separately to work every day, a round trip of 40 kilometers in city traffic. Now, they only go the warehouse a couple of times a week, often in the same car. Together, they have reduced their travel by, at least, 240klm per week.

Each Rep travelled an hour each way to go to the office meetings. Six hours in total. Three of which were on company time. (Returning to their territories) Not anymore.

Also they have increased face to face time with clients by two hours each, 6 hours in total. (10am to 12am).

Result: –

Financially - with increased revenue and reduced costs the company is around $70,000 better off per annum.

Environmentally - The decrease in fuel use, road use and the efficient use buildings and communications systems has resulted in a substantial reduction in the company’s carbon footprint.

Life-style changes – Kerry will tell you that the effect that the changes have had on their life-style are priceless. The reduction in time spent travelling has been given to the family. That’s is definitely a great outcome.

There are many other ways in which these new communications technologies can improve a business however, before this can happen you need to understand the potential of these technologies and what they can do for your company. You may then need to alter your business culture to be able to integrate with the technology.

The first step is to talk to one of our consultants so that we can identify your communications needs. All enquires are attended to by experienced IT&T experts who can tailor solutions to individual business needs.