Business opt to go green for different reasons. Some are genuinely worried about the direction the planet is going and wants to do their part. Some companies do their part, not because they care for the environment, but because apparently baby boomers and millennials are willing to pay more for their product and service if they think it was produced with Mother Earth in mind.
Regardless of the reason, whether self-serving or not, the important part is that more and more companies are embracing the green movement and are doing their part to save the planet. But while there are companies who are interested in going green, they are struggling about how to start.
So how do you start putting your business in the green direction? The answer may actually lie in technology, particularly cloud communications technology. In a Carbon Disclosure study, they found that from an economy-wide standpoint, US businesses with annual revenues of more than $1 billion can cut carbon dioxide emissions by 85.7 million metric tons annually by 2020 as a result of spending 69% of infrastructure, platform and software budgets on cloud services. While this study was completed in 2011, it still shows the potential of cloud-based technology as a viable environment-friendly option for businesses.
But with cloud communications itself, the effect goes beyond technological benefits like optimal use of servers. What cloud communications brings is a means to change the way businesses do business that is also beneficial to the environment.
Here are some examples of how a cloud-based unified communications solution can help your company go green:
Making work-from-home a viable option for your business
The environmental benefits of work-from-home or telecommuting policies had been well documented. With fewer employees commuting, there is also a significant reduction in carbon emissions from transport vehicles. In addition, employers are also saving on power and utilities because they can opt for smaller offices or they have few people in the office to actually consume power.
However, implementing telecommuting within your company also presents its own challenges. The two biggest ones are communication and collaboration between a team that is physically miles apart.
Fortunately, these problems are easily addressed through a cloud phone system provider like RingCentral, which lets employees stay connected to the company even if they are at home or anywhere else.
This business phone system lets your employees make or take calls using company number, send fax and SMS, and even check and share voicemail. They can also host and join audio and video conferences from home if there is a need for the team to meet. With an effective cloud phone system, telecommuting is now more viable and the environmental benefits from it will also follow.
Removes the need for actual IP phones
Not everyone needs a regular desk phone but because there is no alternative, it has become a norm. As a result, there are a lot of these desk phones that just ends up in landfills as waste. This can be avoided by opting for softphones and mobile VoIP apps to employees who does not necessarily need a regular desk phone.
Most cloud communications providers have a softphone or a dialer software that you can install and use in your laptop or desktop. Mobile VoIP apps on the other hand are the app equivalent of softphone, which lets you make VoIP calls from your smartphones or tablets. This eliminates the need to purchase hardware phone units that will only end up in the scrap heap in the long run.
Giving you alternative to paper and printing
Another popular method of going green is going paperless. Through this, companies are able to reduce waste by eliminating, or at least reducing, the need to print on paper by going the digital or soft copy route. However, going paperless is not that easy when you have to worry about more than just storing or archiving it.
Again, the cloud has the answer. Fist, all digital files can be stored on cloud storage apps like Box, Google Drive, and Dropbox. This also allows you to share these files over the Internet. Best of all, most cloud communications providers also integrate with these storage apps, giving you other channels on how to share these files like through Internet fax, through team messaging chats, or even during conferences.
These are just some of the ways cloud communications can help your company go green. Once implemented, you’ll find that there are more ways that you can use your cloud phone system to promote best practices that will help save the environment.
