Progressing your responsible business journey

Progressing your responsible business journey

Global, Dec 11, 2023

Authored by Logicalis CEO Bob Bailkoski

At Logicalis we have been on our own responsible business journey for several years. We have been very open about our desire to make the world a better place and take responsibility as a global technology service provider for contributing solutions for a sustainable future. A couple of years ago we announced our aim to become a carbon-neutral organisation across scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 2025, a goal we are already well on our way to achieving.  

Our responsible business agenda has been shaped by understanding who we are as a business, which social and environmental challenges are important to our customers, partners, people and in the regions that we operate in. By deeply focusing on creating a strong governance base, so far, our initiatives have made serious progress on improving our impact on our people, communities, and planet.   

And recently we upgraded our managed services telemetry to help customers understand their own carbon impact and where they can improve. 

So, what can you do as a leaders and how do you begin on creating shared value in your own responsible business journey? Before you get started, consider your core business and materiality. By focusing on what matters, is time efficient and cost effective, you can start to build ESG priorities that will stand the test of time. A materiality assessment helps you to identify, prioritise, validate and monitor specific material issues, allowing leaders to make informed decisions on what resources need to be allocated and why.  

The first step in formalising your approach to ESG is to understand stakeholder expectations and gain executive buy-in. Remember that ESG covers a range of issues across a wide range of stakeholders from carbon emissions to employee wellness and diversity, equity and inclusion. By understanding stakeholder expectations, you can make sure that strategies address the areas they are interested in. On top of this by building ESG into decision-making frameworks it can become an unconscious choice for executives and help to gain buy-in. It takes everyone working together to make a difference and reach goals set out in ESG priorities. Without a committed leadership team, it is hard for businesses to realise the value of a responsible business program.  

The next is to establish program governance, benchmarks, and a clear baseline. Don’t underestimate the power of data here. Without strong data collection and analysis, you cannot create a baseline or benchmark current activity. Additionally, when selecting the governance or framework that you want to follow – don’t try to do everything at once. It is about selecting the sustainability frameworks and benchmarks that your stakeholders derive the most value from and that you are expected to adhere to. At Logicalis we work with EcoVadis to give us a holistic understanding of our ESG performance, the Carbon Disclosure Project, to better understand our current greenhouse emissions baseline and the Science Based Targets initiative, the world’s first framework for corporate net zero target setting in line with climate science. Reporting requirements, standards and frameworks can translate into procurement requirements that help you understand the footprint of IT vendors that you’re buying from.  

Then you can set meaningful targets for your ESG strategy and goals, aligned to your corporate strategy and core business, using data to track your progress. Actionable, achievable ESG goals are a necessary element of an effective program. Again, without data you can’t demonstrate progress and could lack credibility.  

Finally, communicate your ESG narrative. To unlock that share value and move beyond compliance organisations need to communicate their commitment and impact in ways that matter to the stakeholders whose expectations influenced the agenda. This can be a mix of reporting through your chosen governance and frameworks, annual disclosures or an ESG report. The key is to make sure that everyone is aware of what you are doing.  

As it stands ESG is moving out of the shadows with competitive, stakeholder and societal pressure building on organisations to create strategy driven ESG programs that can also drive business transformation. 

And as technology leaders we have a pivotal role in delivering change and incredible opportunity to combine the power of technology and leadership to impact not just sustainability but all three pillars of ESG. 

For those that act now, they will be rewarded with strong engagement from customers, investors, and talent alongside a more resilient, adaptable, and sustainable organisation.  

In a world as connected as our own, cross collaboration is crucial to powering progress. As sustainability initiatives continue to move at pace, so will, shaping not only our own efforts, but also supporting everyone in our orbit to make an impact.  By embedding sustainability into everything we do and with everyone we work with, together we can build a better world. 

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