Acting for a greater good

Steve Nola, CEO for the organisation, said that prior to 2004, Dimension Data was simply writing cheques to local charities that had no real engagement with the company.

“For an IT organisation to have a successful CSR strategy, we realised that it needs to be embedded within its corporate DNA and then use this to form really strong engagement with its charitable interests,” said Nola.

As part of this belief, Dimension Data formulated its ‘Heads, Hearts and Hands’ program which seeks to use its business strength for altruistic purposes in the community, as well as support its staff’s aim to ‘give something back’.

“Over the last 12 months, we have seen 82 percent of our staff participating in our CSR program, which is very encouraging,” said Nola.

Focusing on education, children and the environment, Nola is adamant that a successful CSR program must also originate from the desire of its staff. “If it is just something that is concocted by management, then it is not going to work.

“Rather than it just being an adjunct to the business, a policy such as this needs to come from the heart of the staff who will be integral to working and implementing the program’s philosophy.

”In addition, said Nola, the Dimension Data program is designed to be interactive with its customers.

“Heads, Hearts and Hands really does drive our go-to-market ideas and aligns with what our customers want from us,” he says. He highlights the company’s current environmental initiatives such as helping clients reduce the power emissions from their data centres. “If we can help our customers reduce their carbon footprint, then that often aligns with their own CSR strategy.

“This obviously furthers our relationships with them and has knock-on commercial benefits for all – us, them and the environment,” Nola said.

A green outlook

Having unveiled the industry’s first Green Ethernet technology for network connectivity, D-Link marketing director Australia and New Zealand, Maurice Famularo, said the company likes to think it is at the forefront of ‘Green’ thinking. Both D-Link and its suppliers’ products conform to environmentally
friendly local standards, including for disposal and recycling.

However Famularo believes that government legislation is still not quite in place yet regarding IT. Whilst directives such as RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) and WEEE (Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment) have been firmly embedded for some time, measures still have some way to go, he said.

“The trouble is things are changing all the time. New research concerning the environment is constantly evolving and this makes it hard for legislation and companies to keep pace.”

He said the industry also needs to be honest with itself regarding what it is and isn’t able to achieve. “From a reseller perspective, if they are going to only worry about the environment or CSR, then it is obvious they are going to quickly see themselves losing money!

For this reason, Famularo agrees that resellers should be incorporating Green thinking into their overall company views – both in terms of product functionality and manufacture – as well as the corporate mind set. “Everything, from how they use their print paper and toner to turning off the PCs at night, should be incorporated into how business is conducted.”

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