Every aspect of everything that we do as individuals and businesses impacts our environment. In some cases, that impact is obvious: polluting vehicles and powerplants, noisy industrial sites and masses of landfill are clear indicators of damage being done, but we must not miss the many smaller contributions from less obvious sources. Decisions made by businesses in particular, multiply out as environmental compound-interest in ways that are often not fully understood.
Coderus has committed to playing its part in meeting our environmental responsibilities by implementing the ISO14001:2015 Environmental Management Plan to enable us to both practice and demonstrate high standards of environmental performance through efficient use of resources and reduction of waste by our business and employees. We have currently completed stage one of our accreditation, and we hope to fully certified by the end of June this year.
Why Coderus is investing in being part of the ISO14001 Accreditation Scheme
Sustainability
Environmental care is the responsibility of all businesses and, in the UK, ISO14001 accreditation provides both a framework and proof that an organisation is helping to create a sustainable future; something that Coderus passionately believes in both as a social responsibility and as a path to efficient and cost-effective business practices.
Translated simply; we see it as a process that has enhanced the delivery of our services, creating more sustainable solutions that are cost and energy-efficient, more environmentally friendly.
As a leading-edge tech company, we must be aware of and be able to deliver solutions that are in line with the current trends, but this commitment runs far deeper than that. We all must take steps to make a difference.
We design software solutions to have small code footprints, which means that we’re delivering less code and therefore using less energy, both when delivering the mobile app, and when used on the final device. This minimises battery consumption so that the device will run for longer per charge, and so will need charging less often, therefor extending the lifespan of the device. It also avoids filling up the device’s memory and storage with Apps, so lower spec machines can be used, all of which reduce cost (both financial and environmental) at every point of delivery and, most importantly, we are doing our bit for the world and future generations.
Lots of small steps, repeated every day by our teams, our suppliers, our customers, and their customers, all add up over time to produce important and significant results. This is why we embrace ISO14001.
On a personal note, Mark and Ali, our directors, as well as many of our staff and associates have children, and what we do now is shaping the world that they and the following generations will build their lives in.
Commitment to good practices sometimes requires changes in how we do things, and at times can seem like unwanted additional cost and effort for a business, but it also brings benefits. The ISO accredited Management systems, including ISO14001 Environmental and ISO9001 Quality Management (which we also have) help us to stay competitive by streamlining our processes and keeping our costs down, and they are seen by other businesses, partners, the community and potential employees as signs that we are ‘doing our bit’.
Part of our role in the technology sector is to recruit and nurture highly competent and energy-aware new employees; there are definite signs that younger people entering the job market are much more environmentally aware than in previous years and are attracted to companies who take this seriously, not just for the status, but because they care about working for a company that actually cares. We want our team to grow with new talented people who share our values. Innovation is key, and when combined with a model of building for tomorrow and beyond, it’s a winning combination for everyone.
Of course, Coderus is not the only business that cares; other organisations have their own have moral consciousness and prefer (or require) to work with like-minded people, which feeds along the supply chain and supports business growth both for us and for our clients.
Building More Sustainable Solutions and Why this is Important
Our business model is based on providing practical and effective solutions to help our clients to run their businesses. We use technology as a means to an end – to make things work well.
By streamlining operational delivery to support profit today and to minimise environmental impact for the future we are developing a cycle that is sustainable for following generations. As core technology develops so do our opportunities to create solutions that are innovative – that offer clients the flexibility to adapt to new business trends and legislation, and to do more with less – less cost and less damage.
Cost Management
For any business at any time, cost management is essential – and when finances are stretched by escalating costs it often becomes starkly clear how much wastage we all create; a problem that we are often too busy to see when we are focussed on our core business. When analysed, cost savings and environmental efficiency often go hand in hand – production of waste materials, inefficiencies in outdated systems, poor strategies for recycling/refurbishing equipment, excessive use of server capacity due to inefficient processes and coding of programmes and apps can all be avoided.
Key things we have managed to improve are:
- Not buying as much new equipment – recycling/reusing equipment. Not buying new things saves money and reduces landfill.
- Not printing documents (we are a fully paper-less office) saves using paper and printer toner (and the impact of delivering them) and electricity and eliminates the need to shred and commercially recycle documents which also reduces costs.
- Electricity – we develop applications that reduce impact on servers and IT infrastructure, they use less energy to power the computers, less air-conditioning to cool the computers, require less communications bandwidth, and typically benefit from quicker build and implementation time.
Conclusion
ISO14001 is important to us at Coderus – certainly accreditation takes time and effort, but we believe that it is our responsibility to the future, and others agree – our customers, employees and suppliers are asking what we are doing to manage and reduce our carbon footprint and this is our answer. Alongside the environmental benefits, the process improves our business in many small but important practical ways. Most importantly though, it provides us with a focussed strategy for our passion to build technology for a better future, it clearly declares our beliefs to the world, and proves our willingness to invest for the future benefit of all of us, and future generations.
