The Elastic Sustainability Report

How do you make a Sustainability Report that's elastic? That's easy, you have to be an elastic company. ECI is a global provider of ELASTIC Network™ solutions for service providers, utilities and data center operators. In ECI's fourth Sustainability Report, entitled "Reinventing the Future", ECI explains how elasticity goes hand-in-hand with an innovative, responsible and ethical approach to conducting business.

All this is in addition to continuously improving environmental impacts  - check out these results: since 2010, ECI has reduced

• Energy consumption by 54% 
• Greenhouse gas emissions by 49% 
• Water use by 15% 
• Waste by 62%

But back to elastic. One of the problems these days with technology is the fact that it becomes obsolete so quickly as the pace of innovation overtakes it - especially in the world of ICT - internet and communications technology. In order to keep up with technology, which can be the main key to remaining competitive, companies have to replace old technology with new. That is, unless they have ECI's ELASTIC targeted applied technology solutions that hook onto legacy technology without throwing out the baby with the bathwater, as we say in Manchester. This is the sustainability of ECI's network solutions. In most cases, solutions are new enough to enable customers to stay ahead, and old enough to be compatible with existing platforms to avoid large investments that dent profitability or delay new competitive offerings. This is the case for example in Mexico. ECI supports the Mexican government's digital inclusion strategy by providing ELASTIC solutions for internet connectivity that reaches up to 97% of Mexico's population through fiber optic digital communications transported by existing power lines built for transmission of electricity. Bandwidth at the flick of a switch, combining legacy and innovation to deliver optimal flexibility, efficiency and conservation of resources. 

The concept of elasticity in business was introduced in a book called "The Elastic Enterprise" by NicholasVitalary and Haydn Shaughnessy - a truly interesting read. The authors present concepts such as radical adjacency, mass differentiation, new scale economics, sapient leadership and active strategy, supported by five dynamics of new operating models that together form a manifesto for business revolution. Elastic enterprises do well even in recession and support the creation of societal wealth and advancement. You'll have to read the book to understand the concepts in more detail. Even though The Elastic Enterprise was not written as a sustainability textbook, it could certainly be mistaken for one. 

Back to elastic reports. There is something always that little bit extra in ECI's Sustainability Reports - innovation with legacy. Each year, the report is brought to life by a global activity that engages employees in the company's mission and community spirit. Whether it's a Green Camera competition, or an "ECI and ME" photography competition or, as is the case in ECI's 2014 Sustainability Report , a "get-your-kids-to-draw-the-way-they-see-ECI" competition. The 2014 Sustainability Report is illustrated with drawings by ECI's extended family and includes children between ages 4 and 12 who creatively show ECI in its global ecosystem with drawings about about connectivity, the family culture of the company and the pace of technological advancement. Some show ECI simply as a home to thousands of employees and their families and communities.

Three other things that add interest and insight to ECI's 2014 Sustainability Report are commentaries from prominent voices in the world of sustainability today. These are (in surname alfa order):

Deborah Leipziger advises companies, governments and UN agencies on social innovation, human rights and business, and sustainability. Professor Leipziger is a Senior Fellow in Social Innovation at the Lewis Institute at Babson, and teaches at the Bard MBA in Sustainability program and other business schools. The third edition of her book, The Corporate Responsibility Code Book will be published soon (I have editions I and II - these are essential books for susty professionals). Deborah's commentary refers to the Guiding Principles on Human Rights, explaining their importance.

Margo Mosher is a Manager with SustainAbility. SustainAbility is a think tank and strategic advisory firm working to catalyze business leadership on sustainability. SustainAbility was founded by activists John Elkington and Julia Hailes in 1987.  Last year, SustainAbility published a very insightful paper on transparency and the need for greater strategic material focus. I mentioned this in a post back in December last year. Margo's commentary is about the role of the private sector in working to create a sustainable economy and the value of reporting. 

Luis Neves is the chairman of GeSI - a membership organization for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) companies and organizations around the globe and a leading source of information, resources and best practices for achieving integrated social and environmental sustainability through ICT. Luis's commentary is about the value of ICT an an enabler, helping companies to reduce environmental impacts through the use of technology. GeSi has produced some impressive publications about the role of ICT in helping create a sustainable future, and since Luis prepared this commentary for ECI's Sustainability Report, GeSI has managed to put out SMARTer 2030, which updates prior research and insight into how technology can transform business efficiency and deliver environmental advantage. Well worth a review. 

Anyway, back to elastic. Now you know what an ELASTIC Sustainability Report is.

As always, take a look. Give feedback!



(Disclosure: ECI is a valued client and I supported the writing of this report and all prior reports)

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of Understanding G4: the Concise Guide to Next Generation Sustainability Reporting  AND  Sustainability Reporting for SMEs: Competitive Advantage Through Transparency AND CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices . Contact me via Twitter (@elainecohen)  or via my business website www.b-yond.biz   (Beyond Business Ltd, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm).  Need help writing your first / next Sustainability Report? Contact elaine: info@b-yond.biz  

How to grow revenues by connecting women

I am often asked, by clients or people I meet in the course of my work: What is the difference between embedding CSR into business decisions and doing business that improves sales and profits, provided its ethical? When you talk about embedding CSR into business decisions, its hard to know where business stops and CSR sets in. After all, both should lead to better business results. How can you know when a business decision has integrated CSR principles, or if it was based solely on goals of delivering income and profit growth? Doing "good" business, beyond philanthropy and community investment, is just doing good business. Or is it? 

I often answer this question rather simply, in a way that more or less aligns with the direction described in the Big Idea of Porter and Kramer, who explain: 

"The solution lies in the principle of shared value, which involves creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges. Businesses must reconnect company success with social progress. Shared value is not social responsibility, philanthropy, or even sustainability, but a new way to achieve economic success. It is not on the margin of what companies do but at the center."

My answer, then, is about the considerations involved in developing new business initiatives or products. If it's about selling more to create economic growth (which is, in general, a good thing if business is done ethically), then this is hardly embedded CSR. Economic growth alone, as we have seen, does not always produce equitable social benefit and even risks perpetuating many of the global divides - poverty, malnutrition, access to medicine etc - that society faces today. Embedded CSR means approaching business development in a different way, that includes an assessment of the social and environmental impacts of potential decisions, and the social and environmental imperatives in the markets where a company operates. In making such decisions, then, economic considerations as well as social and environmental considerations share valuable weight in the decision-making process. The outcomes are measurable benefits to business, to the economy and also equitable social advancement. 

So far, I suspect, there's not much new here for the rather enlightened readers of this blog. Most of you already will already be familiar with shared value and integrating CSR type concepts. So let's get to the point. It's this. Vodafone. Mobile Technology. Economic Empowerment. Measurable Outcomes. Connected Women.

Earlier this year, Vodafone published one of the most fascinating reports I have read in a long while about the effects of mobile technology on women's empowerment and improvement in the quality of life. It's called: Connected Women. This actually missed my radar a few months back when it was launched, in March, at a Vodafone Connected Women Summit. Better late than never, I guess, and what's more, it's still relevant, of course. I learnt about it this week via an item from IndiaCSR, reporting the launch of the Connected Women report in India by Cherie Blair. 

The report is the summary of research for the Vodafone Foundation conducted by Accenture Sustainability Services. In addition to assessing the impact of increasing mobile ownership among women, Accenture modeled the potential social, economic and commercial impact of five services in the areas of education, health, safety, work and loneliness in 2020. These services are: 

1. mobile learning for adult literacy 

2. Text to Treatment: using mobile payments to cover travel costs to receive maternal healthcare 

3. an alert system for women at high risk of domestic violence 

4. a mobile inventory management system for rural female retailers 

5. new services to connect elderly people to their family, friends and carers.

The research ran in 27 markets around the world where Vodafone does business.

Conclusions are summarized in this infographic below, with the overriding message that the services Vodafone provides in the markets where it does business could enable 8.7 million women to improve their lives. Around the world an estimated 300 million fewer women than men own a mobile phone.  

I guess we all know that mobile technology can support education, health, safety and work so it is clear that improving access in these areas will have social benefits. The Vodafone reports looks at each of these issues in detail, and in relation to the special opportunities that women could enjoy, providing perspectives, data and impacts. There are some very compelling examples. The thing that I found most eye-opening is the issue related to loneliness. I guess, at some level, we know that phone and internet can help older people feel connected. We have all heard the stories of delighted grandparents who sent their first email to their grand-kids. But loneliness as a social issue is perhaps more real and more extensive than we imagined. In Spain, for example, 38% of people over 65 that live alone or have limited mobility report feeling lonely, the research shows.

"Loneliness and social isolation in old age can lead to sadness and anxiety and can even affect physical health. It is particularly a problem for women, since they are more likely to live longer and to live alone in old age."

Vodafone's initiatives in this area meet such real social needs - perhaps even ones that haven't yet been fully articulated - and open up opportunities for great business. Vodafone cites a potential $1.7 billion annual economic benefit to society in 2020 through reduced healthcare costs and informal carers being able to return to work. This translates into a potential $450 million cumulative revenue for Vodafone through 2020. Just by helping older women feel more connected.  

One of the neatest things in this report is the summary of findings and impacts. 

In each area, there is a clear benefit for society and a clear revenue opportunity for Vodafone as a result of empowering women through technology. The report closes with four recommendations, that place focus on doing business differently, engaging in partnerships and considering new business models.

Focus on women’s needs and preferences: Only by understanding their different needs as well as user preferences in each market, can operators provide the tailored services that will be valued by women customers. 

Local implementation with relevant partnerships:  Operators will need to work in partnership with NGOs, partners and funders to launch programmes at scale. Working with local partners will enable operators to leverage their expertise and networks to reach more women more effectively. 

Explore new models and funding options: Different economic models would be required to deliver the different services at scale. An estimated $900 million in donor funding would be required to achieve wide uptake of the modelled services in health, work and education in emerging markets. The mobile learning and Text to Treatment services are likely to require ongoing, large-scale donor or public sector funding. Nominal fees for services to recover development costs and public sector investments could contribute to these costs in some circumstances. Other services, such as those focused on work, safety and loneliness, have the potential to be self financing or revenue generating. 

Use local infrastructure and existing technologies: Combining projects with existing services, for example the M-Pesa mobile money transfer system, or infrastructure, such as local healthcare networks, will significantly improve reach and effectiveness.

Back to the question of how to define embedded CSR / shared value, it seems to me that this is an example of exactly that. It seems to me that Vodafone is quietly pioneering new business models and innovative ways of combining social needs with business development. 

It just so happens that I am currently reading Alice Korngold's excellent book, entitled: A Better World, Inc. In this book, Alice focuses on many of the ways that companies (including examples from Vodafone) are engaging in this new economy and achieving success through addressing social needs. In fact, Alice makes the point that "only global corporations have the resources, global reach and self-interest to build a better world". She says: 

In combination with a fundamentally RATS approach (responsibility, accountability, sustainability, transparency), corporations have the potential to change our lives for the better. This Vodafone example shows how. 

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of Understanding G4: the Concise guide to Next Generation Sustainability Reporting  AND  Sustainability Reporting for SMEs: Competitive Advantage Through Transparency AND CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices . Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen   or via my business website www.b-yond.biz   (Beyond Business Ltd, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm

This is an unsustainability unreport unreview

This is not a post. This is not a blog. This is not a review of EMC's latest sustainability report.

Haha. Of course it is all of the above.

However, I wanted to draw attention to Kathrin (Kate) Winkler's brilliant unblog post which totally made me want to read EMC's seventh annual sustainability report.  I recommend you read her post before you carry on reading mine. By telling us everything that she wasn't going to do, or isn't going to do, Kate effectively describes everything she has done. It's not only creative, it's truly insightful about the value of reporting and the process, recognizes key players that made a contribution and totally has the effect of getting you interested. Totally.

Naturally, I had to not take a peek. Which, in Kate's language, means, take a peek.

EMC has take a big (positive) step forward this year by organizing the report around sustainability (material) issues rather than the traditional triumvirate of people, planet and profit. This year, the body of the report is in 12 sections, representing the issues identified as most material and displayed in this infographic.

Oddly, these are listed in alphabetical order. I wouldn't have thought this is particularly helpful when reviewing material issues. Rather, order of size or magnitude of impact might have been more meaningful. Perhaps they are all equal? With corporate governance at the top, I tend to think that makes corporate governance the most important. As a result, since the report content  is ordered in line with this list, you end up with a whole bunch of corporate governance stuff at the start of the report. Now, anyone who reads reports knows that corporate governance is the most boringly tedious mind-melting yucky section of any sustainability report. Fortunately, at EMC, this is only two pages. But it's still boring. So I skipped to what I thought would be the most fascinating section: the role of IT in society.

Indeed. In this section, after some copywritery type generalistic stuff about how the cloud is transforming our lives and Big Data has become Big Everything, EMC provides three truly interesting case studies about the use of technology that makes a difference.

First: How better IT solutions have helped the fire service streamline its operations and make it possible to help save lives in Australia, one of the world’s most susceptible areas for bush fires.

Second: The ShieldMe App, activated  in situations of distress when no immediate help is available, using virtual channels to send out various types of SOS alerts. This was developed in India, in light of the increasing (despicable) situation relating to crimes against women that we have been witnessing for some time.

Third: Providing IT support and interactive data visualizations to bring the reality and impact of climate change to life for an online audience, during the 640-kilometer trek from the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica to the South Pole by environmental campaigner Parker Liautaud.

In each of these short summary stories, that indeed give a view of how technology is helping make a difference, EMC provides additional clickable detail in the form of videos or other website content. If you want more stories (I did), you have to download an expanded customers section that is a supplementary piece of the executive summary report, focusing on EMC's customer interface.  (I did). There was one additional story .. and a further half a dozen pages of explanations about EMS's Voice of Customer program and other background.

For EMC, "the role of IT in society refers to the impacts, both positive and negative, of the use of EMC® technologies, products and solutions, with particular focus on the enabling effects of cloud, Big Data, and Trusted IT." No negative examples, mind you.

As for the rest of the material issues, information security and privacy became the next topic of most interest to me. More blurby copy. In order to get the full picture, we are referred to three more sections to download. (I didn't).

Overall, I find EMC's report to have been developed with creativity and for that, I am happy to magnanimously confer a CSR Blog Cone Award.

The report comes in an Executive Summary of 40 pages and a suite of downloadable report sections, that together form the entire report, that can be accessed separately or as a comprehensive suite.  Self-service menu style. It's a bit unwieldy. I prefer a good old one-size-fits-all PDF. But it's creative. The Executive Summary is long and short enough to get an appreciation of a range of positive impacts that EMC is advancing without it putting you to sleep (except for the governance section haha). Each material issue starts with describing EMC's approach and follows with highlights of the year's activities.

The section on Goals and Targets and Progress follows the material disclosures. Multi-year targets for operational emissions and renewables show (good)  progress made to date. One target on ewaste was achieved. A range of other targets (all environment or supply chain related, with the exception of two community involvement targets) appear to be new targets. Most are detailed and measurable, as targets should be. And there is even a is a hidden gem! In the supply chain highlights we can find this short but really powerful update:

"Strategic direct material suppliers are now formally required to publish sustainability reports to the GRI standard."

 And the 2020 target is:

  

That deserves a load of cones:

I have maintained for years that the way to get more companies to advance sustainability practice in their business and report on sustainability is to have their customers require them to do so. More than regulation, more than consumer pressure, the need to do business will leave many companies with no choice other than to act and report. I am pleased to see that EMC is making the commitment to drive this forward. I'd love to see a list of EMC suppliers that have already published sustainability reports (especially the ones that wouldn't otherwise have done so). 

All in all, I am glad that Kate Winkler didn't write her blog post and that I didn't take the time out of my busy ice cream schedule to take an unlook at the report. 

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, winning (CRRA'12) Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of Understanding G4: the Concise guide to Next Generation Sustainability Reporting  AND  Sustainability Reporting for SMEs: Competitive Advantage Through Transparency AND CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices . Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen   or via my business website www.b-yond.biz   (Beyond Business Ltd, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm

Go online - save lives

When you use online tools to manage your daily tasks, you may be saving someone's life. Sound a bit far-fetched? A bit surreal? A little like bluewash? Read on.

This week, I had the pleasure of facilitating a webinar on the subject of how everyday business and household activities can contribute to a low-carbon economy. The study that prompted the webinar was conducted by the Global eSustainability Initiative (GeSI), performed by John "Skip" Laitner of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) and sponsored by some major telco's, including Verizon. The webinar was organized by CSRwire.com and presented the findings of this study, the bottom line being that, if we fully utilize the potential of broadband to engage in a certain set of online activities (teleworking, downloading music and books, taking educational courses, reading news, receiving online bank statements and billing and using email), in just 6 countries (U.S., France, Germany, UK, Italy, Spain), we can save 2% of carbon emissions in these countries, enough to take 55 million cars off the road.  55 million cars. That's some collective impact.

In this post, I wanted to reflect a little on the ways in which our online behavior is changing. For many, the main motivation of going broadband may not be to save the planet, but this study shows that doing more online in order to save our own time, money and endless pressure to get things done, also conserves the planet's resources.

I would consider myself an early adopter of online technology - way back in the mid 1990's, before anyone had conceived of Facebook and Twitter and many of today's online tools, I used to play bridge online at Yahoo with people from all over the world. That was just for fun. Today, I use online tools for a million other tasks, business, personal and pleasure: conference calling via VOIP; downloading books to Kindle; managing my personal and business bank accounts; reading Sustainability Reports; delivering lectures to MBA students and companies; downloading software; connecting with friends via Facebook; blogging; tweeting; learning through webinars and courses and generally staying up to date with what's going in on in the world. I work from home more and more, instead of driving to the office, and my latest recruit to Beyond Business is a teleworker.  Broadband has certainly changed my life and enabled me to build my consulting practice as a global business, serving international clients, in a way which would never have been possible in the "old" pre-broadband world. I have a broadband lifestyle because it works for me. My motivation was not green. I suspect most of us have drifted into broadbandland for the same reasons. However, for those of us who also like to be green, this new study shows that we are making a powerful contribution to a low-carbon economy. And it's not just about our own actions. There is a broader, more global effect.

By utilizing broadband, we are funding the future growth of broadband technology. The increase in uptake of broadband enables the ongoing development of technology which will provide greater opportunity, greater choice and greater positive green effects in the future. How is this saving lives? Consider this (from Verizon's online Sustainability Report):

"Each year more than 200,000 people in the U.S. die of chronic diseases that are both treatable and preventable. Among the causes of these deaths is lack of ready access to medical care, because of such barriers as distance, geography, or simply the availability of doctors and nurses. Verizon is currently deploying and developing wireless services that will overcome these roadblocks, using the Verizon 4G LTE network, smartphones, tablets and advanced video technology to enable virtual visits between patients and health care providers."

This telehealth technology is transforming access to healthcare data and services, reliability of data and the speed at which life-saving information can be transmitted to the right healthcare professionals. As we do more on line, we are helping to make these solutions possible, going beyond green and addressing real social needs. This is just one example of the new potential of broadband technology. No wonder, then, that Verizon, in the Company's recent published online  Corporate Responsibility Report, Verizon first and foremost emphasizes the "Shared Success" of  building a "truer connection between business and real social needs".

Another social cause that Verizon has put its broadband weight behind is the issue of domestic violence. One in four women is affected by domestic violence, and Verizon's Hopeline which collects no-longer-used wireless phones, batteries and accessories in any condition from any service provider to donate to victims and survivors of domestic violence - so far, Verizon has collected more than 8.9 million mobile phones. This is in addition to raising awareness and supporting education to end domestic violence, including the "Telling Amy's Story" documentary, about a young woman killed by her abusive husband, funded by the Verizon Foundation. Take a look at the vid - none of us are unaffected by tragedies such as these. 

But the power of ICT to save lives and advance social causes is not the only aspect of corporate responsibility that we should expect from telco's. Behind all of this social and environmental impact, there is a large, complex business, employing, in Verizon's case, nearly 200,000 employees, which must control and manage its own direct operations in a responsible, accountable and transparent way.

Verizon's online report shows a commitment to environmental sustainability, and a clear set of performance progress updates and new goals in the format that Verizon has adopted in its reporting for the past few years: "What we said we'd do, what we did, what we'll do next". For example, Verizon's carbon-intensity goal reduction by 2020 is 50% versus a 2009 baseline, and this includes exceeding 2011 target with a 17.45% reduction from 2010. Other goals including increasing alternative-fueled vehicles as part of the Verizon fleet to 15% by 2015, achieving 250 Smart Buildings by 2015 and expanding the Verizon Green Team membership to 10,000 employees by end 2012 (6,000 members in 2011).  Verizon's key performance indicators and metrics in all areas of Corporate Responsibility performance demonstrate clear targets and achievements in all areas.

Clearly, telco's also have other serious responsibility issues to address, such as conflict minerals, digital safety, pricing and much more. They are not perfect, and positive impacts don't cancel out negative impacts. The negative impacts must still be addressed. However, facilitating this webinar on energy savings through greater use of broadband, and researching Verizon's programs and transparent sustainability performance, as well as chatting to Verizon's Director of Public Policy and Corporate Responsibility, Chris Lloyd, prompted me to think about my own lifestyle, and the broader impact of online activities.

It seems that, the more we do online, the more we contribute to a more equitable, safer, healthier, connected, transparent society, in an energy efficient way. We even have the potential to save lives. The chances are that if you are reading this post (online), then I am preaching to the converted, so thanks for bearing with me in my online ramblings.

I think it's time for me to go and place my online order for today's ice cream. I just hope they don't deliver it via broadband. 

elaine cohen, CSR consultant, winning (CRRA'12) Sustainability Reporter, HR Professional, Ice Cream Addict. Author of CSR for HR: A necessary partnership for advancing responsible business practices  Contact me via www.twitter.com/elainecohen   on Twitter or via my business website www.b-yond.biz  (Beyond Business Ltd, an inspired CSR consulting and Sustainability Reporting firm)