The Meeting Coach
InterCall's Monthly Newsletter

Going Greener – What’s in It for Businesses?
Sustainable Practices in Everyday Business Can Help More Than the Environment

Examining your business to create more sustainable processes has benefits beyond "being green". Companies that are making moves in this direction are experiencing cost-savings and productivity lifts while they improve their footprints. Here are some scenarios that can help you realize the same benefits.

First, we must address travel reduction, a topic nearest and dearest to our heart. You’re probably not surprised to hear us say that conferencing is much less expensive than traveling and to mention that air travel is extremely polluting…all the more reason to avoid it. But while costs for conferencing technology remain steady, the cost of travel is increasing at a rate that outpaces general inflation. (American Express Global Business Travel Forecast, 2008)

• A three hour meeting consisting of five people from different locations will cost $5500 for travel. You can save about $5000 per meeting by using web and audio conferencing.
• Teams working in different locations can save around five trips per year, per manager, by working together more efficiently virtually.
• InterCall's travel calculator gives you an estimate of how much money you'll save by calculating factors more specific to your needs…give it a try!

When it comes to technology expenses, there are many gains to be found by following "greener" practices. Energy accounts for up to 40% of a company’s IT costs. (Gartner, 2006) Think about it…all those servers, PCs, accessories and data center facilities, and it’s the power usage that culminates in the single most significant cost!

• Using ENERGY STAR guidelines for computer power management can reduce power usage by 14,000 Kwh each year, cut 18,000 lbs. of CO2 from that power usage and save over $6000 per PC in energy costs based on the average lifespan of use. These guidelines recommend setting workers’ computers to turn off monitors after 15 minutes of inactivity and to enter standby mode after 30 minutes. (See a good net out of the ROI in this article at ITworld.com.)
• Increasing the efficiency of data centers (addressing heating and cooling, consolidation and virtualization of servers) can result in energy savings of about 25% annually. (Read the EPA’s latest server efficiency study for more detail.)

The average business goes through 350 lbs. of paper per employee, per year. (NRDC.org) The cost of paper plus the printing of pages runs about $750,000 per 1000 employees.

• Setting printers to print double-sided will immediately cut that cost in half.
• Creating electronic processes to replace forms will further reduce paper costs, as well as office waste. There are also many estimates that indicate the cost of time people spend printing, copying and reviewing documents can be reduced by going paperless, but of course this may vary based on your actual processes.

A final factor to consider is how the perceived value of your business improves by adopting greener policies. Investors, customers and employees are increasingly influenced by the concept of the "triple bottom line" and place additional value in companies that follow this philosophy of Profit/People/Planet when forming their business strategies.

• Most investors believe that the better a company addresses sustainability issues, the more profitable the business will be. A recent survey reflected that 54% listed investing in the environment as an "important focus" for their future investments. (GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media for Allianz Global, 2007)
• More than half of consumers say they prefer to purchase from a company with a good environmental reputation. (Tandberg/ipsos MORI, 2007)
• Almost half of investors surveyed said that in the next year they are likely to invest in a company or fund that is proactive on environmental issues. (Allianz)
• Over 80% of employees feel that it’s important to work for an environmentally ethical corporation. (Tandberg/ipsos MORI, 2007)

Based on these findings, greener business is slowly but surely improving, as many companies have begun implementing environmental thinking into their operations in ways that align with core business strategies and bottom-line goals.

Visit InterCall's web site GreenConferencing.com to find more of the benefits of being environmentally-friendly.