Sustainability: An Interview with BT’s Janet Blake

We recently sat down with Janet Blake, head of Global Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) at BT plc, to discuss what sustainability means today and the benefits of taking a sustainable approach to doing business.

ITSMA: What is sustainability, and more specifically, what does sustainability mean to BT?

Blake: Sustainability is about making a positive contribution to society and the environment in which we do business. At BT, sustainability is at the core of our brand and our value set: We see it as the way to make our business a long-term success. In a macro sense, any business can only be successful in an economy, society, and world that is also successful. So by investing time and energy into our sustainability initiative, what we are doing is managing our ecosystem for a maximum win-win situation.

If you put your hat on as a shareholder or an investor looking to analyze a company like BT, part of sustainability is not only being able to prove that we are doing it for the right reasons but also that we can actually demonstrate that there is a good business case, too. One of the things that we use to build our case is the “triple bottom line.” This means having a clearly articulated business case that says:

• Financially this makes sense
• Economically this makes sense
• Socially this makes sense

ITSMA: Your CSR program demands a serious investment; tell us more about the benefits BT receives as a result of its focus on sustainability.

Blake: Firstly, if you think about our corporate customers—large blue-chip global organizations—they want to do business with a company that is reputable and credible and takes care of the impact it has on society and the environment. This is because their own reputation becomes attached to the reputations of the companies with which they do business. We are now seeing customers asking us about our sustainability credentials before, or as part of, the bid process. We have been tracking how much business comes with a set of sustainability credentials attached, and last year it was £1.8 billion; this year it will be higher still. When you consider that the total revenue of BT is about £20 billion you can see that that is already a pretty significant proportion. So we know that being able to demonstrate our credentials relating to sustainability is absolutely key to our customers, and we know we win deals on the basis of this, which makes it a very strong reason to be doing it well.

The second example would be our employees. We employ 106,000 or so employees now and we ask them annually about BTs sustainability credentials. Sixty-two percent of them told us that our credentials make them more proud to work for BT, and we know that pride in BT is a reason that they both join the company and stay with the company. So it is really a way of attracting and retaining the best talent globally, which in a services industry is absolutely key as a differentiator.

Ultimately as a shareholder owned company, all of the different stakeholders, be they customers, partners, employees, community groups, or investors, will see the benefits to their own individual group and feel, in turn, more positive about the company. That has a knock-on effect, so investors are more likely to invest in us and the share price is more likely to be protected and to increase over time.

ITSMA: What’s next for sustainability within the telecommunications industry?

Blake: I see it really heating up in the innovations space: What solutions can you offer to your customers to help them become more sustainable?

For instance, if a customer has a high carbon footprint and it needs support to drive that carbon footprint down, IT and communications services are a key way to help them do that. As another example, agile working is really you offering your workforce the ability to work from home or from various offices, perhaps in cheaper areas, as opposed to the main central city locations. When you enable your workforce with broadband from their homes, they can reduce their own carbon footprint as individuals at the same time you can reduce significantly the company’s own carbon footprint by not having to fund heating, lighting, power, etc. from large central city office locations.

A second example would be collaborative working such as using things like audio or video conferencing, Telepresence, and Webcasting. For big-team communications, these technologies can have a huge effect on travel. You don’t have to bring dispersed global resources together on a regular basis. Instead you communicate with them in a different way through these other methods, which would have a significant reduction on CO2 emissions. It also improves individuals’ work-life balances, so you get an extra spin-off benefit.

A third related example would be field team automation, where you have organizations that are geographically dispersed or a mobile workforce. In this instance, technology can really help workforce management through applications like vehicle tracking, real-time job status advice, or dispatch on wireless handheld devices that enable engineers to go straight from one job to another job but also report back after completing each job. As a result, you can allocate work more effectively and reduce the number of miles driven by each of those drivers. So I have just given you three top-level examples that for most businesses would be applicable on an immediate basis.

‘

Comments are closed.

ITSMA specializes in helping companies market and sell services and solutions more effectively. We work with the world's leading technology, communications, and professional services providers to generate increased demand, strengthen customer relationships, and improve brand differentiation. ITSMA annual program clients include business leaders such as AT&T, Cisco, Deloitte, EMC, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, and Tata Consultancy Services, among others. Our comprehensive research, consulting, and training on topics including ITSMA Account-Based Marketing℠, Brand Positioning, and Solutions Development provide the insight and experience companies need to improve business results. ITSMA is based near Boston, and has offices in London and Tokyo. Learn more at www.itsma.com.