Some telecom companies rarely think twice about selling new phones or computers. This contributes to lots of hardware being needlessly manufactured. But there's a better way, and the solution is surprisingly simple.
“What can we do to achieve a more sustainable way of living?” That’s the question on many people’s minds, not least since The UN recently held their climate conference COP26 in Glasgow. The good news? There is a way for telephony providers to promote sustainability and responsible consumption.
Keeping sustainable promises
In Europe, both Spain and Portugal have a roadmap in place for how to achieve a more sustainable future. The long-term goal for these countries is to achieve total decarbonization by 2050. Those are ambitious goals – there needs to be a shift in mindset to reach them.
In March 2021, Portugal and Spain signed the declaration A Green and Digital Transformation of the EU at Digital Day 2021. The ones that signed will invest in green digital technologies to achieve climate neutrality.
Among other things, they promise to do the following:
- Help cities become more green and digital.
- Promote eco-designed products and accessible digital public services.
- Make green public procurement the default option overall.
A specific point mentions improving resource efficiency and allocation to “encourage industrial symbiosis and asset sharing”. This will promote “durability, repair (including software updates), reuse and recycling”.
This is a crucial point for telecommunication companies: Not only does the industry have a responsibility to work towards these goals – but consumers also expect companies to act with sustainability in mind.
Companies’ responsibility to the climate
According to the Capgemini report How sustainability is fundamentally changing consumer preferences, “organizations fail to grasp how fundamentally consumer preferences have shifted as a result of sustainability – in terms of trust, loyalty, and price expectations.”
The threat of climate change may feel daunting. We can make a difference as people, but companies can affect more individuals to bring about change.
All of this ties into the telephony and communications industries. We are responsible for the climate and generations to come, and we want to promote a greener future.
But too often, some companies’ promise of sustainability doesn’t make it past the buzzwords. They might have good intentions, but they rarely walk the walk.
A single company can’t stop climate change themselves, but they can lead by example.
The solution is in the cloud
At Telavox, we do quite a few things to reduce our carbon footprint, but there’s an even easier way we promote sustainable thinking and responsible consumption: use a cloud-based solution!
You can use the Telavox app on your regular work computer or mobile to take calls, manage the PBX and survey stats. All this and more in one app. This means that you neither have to provision new hardware nor contribute to waste.
With cloud solutions, you reduce the need for hardware such as desk phones or mobiles. By using a softphone, you can wave goodbye to cables and complex on-prem solutions, delighting your IT manager in the process.
Instead of having to toggle between a bunch of apps on your computer, it’s more efficient to have it all in one cloud-based platform – like Telavox.
Cloud-based solutions are not only scalable and easier to manage compared to on-premise solutions, but it’s also more sustainable. If you want to make a change for the climate and go with a cloud-based solution, don’t hesitate to contact us!
