Going Green: Where telecoms industry can help

Feb 15 2008 By The Journal

ADOPTING a green business agenda delivers the double whammy of “doing well and doing good”. Businesses are now competing on their green credentials and their plans to be carbon neutral, with some pretty bold statements out there – but beyond the lofty talk, what about the practical ways businesses can reduce their environmental impact? Can communications technology really help your business be greener?

Choose a greener carrier network

Although telecommunications is generally not regarded as a polluting industry, and performs a valuable role in reducing travel, the UK’s telecom networks consume a surprisingly large amount of power – energy consumption for BT’s network and estate during the financial year 2005 was 2,624,000,000 kWhr
(source bt.com).

There are greener alternatives. Gamma Telecom, one of the UK’s largest wholesale network carriers, recently committed to offering the greenest minutes in the UK by the end of 2008. The company’s early adoption of IP (Internet Protocol) based soft-switching means that already calls via their network consume only 6,000,000 kWhr of electricity annually and using less power means lower cost and greener calls for your business.

Phil Herring, sales and installation director at NTE Limited, said: “We chose Gamma Telecom as our network provider for a number of reasons. We liked their ethical approach and appreciate the cost savings we can deliver to our customers through Gamma’s strategic choice of IP networks for call delivery. The reduced environmental impact is also a great benefit to pass on to our clients.”

Consider Home or Tele-working

Studies have found that tele-working does not always reduce the number of miles travelled, but by shifting from commuting in peak periods to a more even travel pattern throughout the day, businesses can reduce fuel use and emissions.

With the rapid rise of IP technology, companies of any size can now easily enjoy the benefits of teleworking through low-cost, “plug and work” solutions that can extend the corporate phone system to virtually any location. In addition, there are real lifestyle benefits as IP teleworking enables employees to adopt more flexible and productive work patterns.

Think about recycling

“It’s important that companies understand that there are environmentally friendly options,” said says Phil Herring. “That’s why we introduced our Re-cycle.IT scheme, to encourage our customers to gain the maximum benefit from their telecoms investments. Re-cycle.IT is a package of service contracts for the maintenance and hygienic refurbishment of expensive, high use items such as telephones and headsets to extend their life.”

Phil suggests businesses, should also be asking what happens to their obsolete equipment. He added: “We offer all our customers a disposal service, recycling what can be used and disposing of waste in accordance with new WEEE directives.”

Can it really make a difference?

Research commissioned by Climate Risk, an Australian climate change researcher, found that better use of telecoms could cut Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 5% – enough to bring the country within its Kyoto Protocol target by 2015.

It’s a huge claim, but the old adage of ‘work smarter’ has never been more relevant than when it comes to using telecoms technology to deliver green business initiatives.

As Phil Herring said: “The growth of IP communications is rapidly increasing the number of options for the environmentally conscious businesses.

“What’s more these initiatives also make good business sense, delivering real cost reductions and lifestyle benefits. The telecoms future is bright, and there’s a very good chance that it will also be green.”

For more information about green minutes or for a free audit of your existing communications infrastructure, call a member of the NTE sales team on 08450 346 611.