While sustainable credentials can prove a hit with some customers, especially those in the public sector, many organisations believe that there is little point concentrating on environmental matters when revenue is falling off a cliff. Sustainable business practices quickly moved from the next business necessity to a nice-to-have.

But it does not have to be this way; going green is by no means exclusive from economic efficiency. Implemented in the right way, sustainable business practices can help your firm to increase its effectiveness, cut costs and reduce its environmental impact.

This fact is recognised by the financial professionals who were recently surveyed by document management provider, Version One. 90% of respondents stated that going green is still a key consideration within their organisations’ current buying process. 18% actually suggest that the concern is now more important than ever.

Yet in a constrained economic environment, what will be the incentive of going green? The answers, according to the Version One survey, revolve around economics and governance.

As much as 39% of respondents believe financial incentives are most likely to persuade their organisations to become more environmentally conscious. And just under a third (32%) suggest that new environmental legislation, combined with penalties for non-conformance, would influence their organisation to become greener.

While concern for compliance is significant, going green should never be treated as a tick box. While compliance can provide a compelling reason to act, organisations must not lose sight of the important business benefits that can be garnered by pushing the green agenda.

Going green does not need to be an expensive exercise and key systems, such as document management, also make smart business sense. While helping to reduce paper consumption and carbon emissions, document management technology can cut costs and improve efficiency by giving executives automated access to key documents at the right time.

Such systems mark an important step in the right direction. However there is still much to be done with as many as 66% of senior finance professionals suggesting to Version One that they are still concerned about the negative impact of their company on the environment. The sooner that organisations recognise that going greener and operating cost-effectively should not be viewed in isolation, the better!

What will persuade your organisation to go green? is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment

Catherine Murphy, Marketing Manager of document management and imaging company, Version One (Part of the COA Solutions group), – a ‘green’ company since the launch of its Carbon Neutral Initiative in October 2006 – provides the following tips to businesses looking to reduce their CO2 emissions. These top ten tips, which have been compiled based-upon Version One’s own experiences, are measures that all types of company can implement.

Give your company a CO2 health check – It’s important to determine approximately how much CO2 your company emits and in which areas of the business CO2 emissions are the highest. Some businesses bring in a third party to assess this, however, this isn’t essential. Commonsense combined with a decent business-specific carbon calculator are usually sufficient for CO2 health checks in office-based organisations. 

Appoint a green executive – If this isn’t already in place, a member of staff needs to be given overall responsibility for the company’s environmental policy. Smaller organisations may decide to provide an existing member of staff with this responsibility, in which case they need to have the time and the desire to take on the role.

Involve staff – The buy-in of all staff needs to be obtained from the outset if measures to reduce carbon emissions are to be successful. Advise all staff of the company’s ‘green’ plans and request help and suggestions. Ensure staff continue to be involved with the company’s environmental direction by establishing a ‘green committee’ and/or a ‘green ideas box’ which allows staff to put forward their own suggestions for reducing emissions.

Recycle and re-use – Whenever possible, ensure office waste is recycled or re-used, including paper, IT equipment, office furniture, textiles etc.

Cut-down on paper use – As well as recycling paper, you should implement measures and technologies to cut-down on paper use. Encourage staff to refrain from printing-out emails and invest in document management technology. This technology dramatically cuts-down on paper use as well as the printing and photocopying of paper. With a typical return-on-investment of just six months, document management also makes smart business sense.

Enforce good housekeeping – Ensure staff turn off all electrical equipment when they leave the office, including PCs, phone chargers, photocopiers and lights.

Reduce out-of-office meetings – Where possible, cut-down on car travel by encouraging phone, video and web conferences as opposed to out-of-office meetings.

Promote public transport and car sharing – When staff do have to travel, encourage the use of public transport. A car-sharing pool also reduces the number of car journeys to and from the office.

Look into offsetting schemes – As well as reducing CO2 emissions, look into carbon offsetting schemes, which often have a range of economic and social as well as ecological benefits. Tree planting, investing in ‘green energy’ projects such as wind farms and providing funds for low carbon technologies in the developing world, are some of the offsetting projects available.

Evaluate progress – After 12 months, it’s important to evaluate what impact the various measures have had. Have carbon emissions been reduced? Have staff bought-into the new measures? Have the measures cut costs? Once the results have been evaluated, plan the company’s environmental policy for the next 12 months, setting-out organisation-wide targets.

Within the past year, ‘climate change’ and ‘carbon footprints’ have been so widely discussed that businesses are in danger of becoming complacent to the part they should be playing in reducing carbon emissions. With organisations trying to profit from the climate change frenzy by offering CO2 consultations and all manner of CO2 reducing solutions, businesses could also be led to believe that implementing measures to reduce CO2 levels is both costly and very time-consuming.

In actual fact, all types of organisation can take steps to reduce their emissions from ensuring staff turn-off their PCs to encouraging web, video and phone conferences. ‘Going green’ needn’t cost a fortune and in actual fact, environmentally-friendly measures can save businesses money whilst improving staff morale.

For further information about Version One’s green policy, contact Liz Ebbrell, Version One’s Green Executive on +44(0)1625 856505 or email green@versionone.co.uk

Top Ten Tips for Reducing CO2 Emissions is a post from Advanced Business Solutions - Supplier of accounting software, business intelligence and document managment