Our ESG strategy
UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
We have aligned our ESG programme with the broader sustainability agenda set out by the United Nations. From the seventeen goals, we have identified these seven as being most closely aligned to SoftwareOne. These goals help shape our strategy and ambitions.
Being climate responsible
SoftwareOne’s environmental strategy is primarily focused on implementing effective carbon reduction and emission avoidance practices within our operations whilst continuing to measure our carbon footprint each year. Using our 2022 carbon footprint as a baseline, we developed and implemented a clear emissions reduction strategy and roadmap to net zero1 for Scope 1 and 2. All leaders in SoftwareOne will set climate-related KPIs from 2024 onwards to ensure we meet our reduction targets. As SoftwareOne is a software and cloud solutions provider, we offer purely services and cloud solutions to our clients and do not manufacture products from raw materials. Therefore, our environmental programme is focused on our greenhouse gas emissions and waste reduction targets and activities related to our business. Our programme does not include any other environmental areas that are not relevant to the nature of our business, such as biodiversity and water, due to our lack of infrastructure directly negatively affecting those areas.
We aim to reduce emissions associated with Scope 1 and 2 activities by transitioning to renewable energy to power our offices where possible, switching company vehicles to Electric Vehicles (EVs) and enforcing recycling practices in our offices. Our objective for Scope 3 is directed at reducing business travel and emissions associated with employee commuting as explained in more detail in Climate commitment.
I see my role as chair of the Environmental Committee as an incredible opportunity to support our passionate SWO team to create positive change. The programme isn’t about labelling ourselves as “green” but rather putting in place tangible actions to reduce our global carbon footprint. We see SoftwareOne as one part of the larger fight against climate change where we are not only focused on our own actions but also on helping our customers achieve their carbon reduction goals.
Bernd Schlotter,
President Software & Cloud and Environmental Committee Chair
1) Net zero: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure any ongoing emissions are balanced by removals.
Cutting downstream emissions
We take appropriate action to support our clients with their ESG journey by helping them reduce their carbon footprint in the cloud. The objective of our Cloud Sustainability programme is to provide clients with accurate and specific emissions data for their cloud solutions and provide high-level advice on the complexities of cloud emissions. The goal of these services is to advance emissions measurement and compliance as explained in more detail in Cloud Sustainability.
Promoting an inclusive and diverse culture
Achieving gender and ethnic diversity in the tech industry is challenging. In 2023, women represented just 26.7% of the industry employee base, and only 6% of all tech industry new hires come from ethnic minorities.
As a global software company, spanning many locations across different geographies, it is vital that in line with our core values, we create a positive and welcoming environment for all employees. In 2022 we developed our Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) strategy which focuses on attracting and retaining diverse talent. We have been focusing on gender diversity and in 2023, 34% of our general workforce and 33% of our leaders are female, which is higher than the industry standard. Understanding the diversity and intersectionality of our workforce is a priority, hence the importance of our annual DEIB survey, which provides data and helps build our action plan to increase diversity. By working closely with Talent Acquisition and People & Culture teams in the implementation of our DEIB strategy, we remain committed to growing our diversity levels at SoftwareOne for the future.
We carefully consider how we support our employees with an attractive work-life balance, generous benefits and learning and development opportunities. We expanded Mosaic, our diversity employee resource groups, to all our regions and many local teams got involved in international events such as Pride, International Women’s Day and Black History Month. Find more details in Social responsibility.
It is a pleasure and honour for me to chair the Social Committee at SoftwareOne. Having lived and worked in different industries, cultures, and regions, I have learned that supporting diversity and inclusion not only promotes equal opportunities, innovation, and creativity, but is also a smart business decision. I support many D&I initiatives such as the Academy programme to bring young mothers back to work, providing transportation to female shift workers, and many other activities. We ensure that D&I remains at the forefront of our priorities – this is my commitment to all Swomies1.
Julia Braun, Chief Human Resources Officer and Social Committee Chair
1) Swomies: SoftwareOne employees
Supporting direct positive digital transformation of NPOs and local communities
At SoftwareOne, not only is it important to focus on our employees’ wellbeing but also on the positive impact that our services and products can have on the wider community. As such, our programme focuses on engaging positively with organisations such as charities and non-profits.
Our objective is to empower non-profit organisations (NPOs) around the world to reach their goals and scale through technology. We leverage our core competencies as a services and software & cloud company to help NPOs gain access and learn how to deploy and use tools they need to be successful. We also work with our extensive partner network including Microsoft, AWS, Google and TechSoup to expand our capabilities and generate new opportunities for non-profits. Find more details in Supporting direct positive digital transformation of NPOs and local communities.
Furthering our corporate governance
SoftwareOne continues to strive above and beyond expectations. As our global reach has expanded, so too have our opportunities to prevent unethical behaviour and promote compliance. The structuring of our business, with centralised procurement and checks on pricing and tight controls on delivery and services, has lowered the risk of exposure to bribery and corruption. Due to our compliance programme and given the complex nature of the SoftwareOne offerings and our reliance on a highly skilled workforce, the risk of human rights violations is equally diminished. As such, our compliance teams are collaborating to review, remediate and tackle any areas of risk in our due diligence programmes. In 2024, our compliance teams, along with our cybersecurity, data privacy and legal teams will continue to refine our programmes, initiatives, mitigations, and controls as explained in more detail in Governance.
I am honoured to chair the Governance Committee at SoftwareOne, with our growing ESG programme being embedded into our core business practices, as well as our legal and compliance environment. A key aim of an ESG programme should be to further instil integrity into core business practices. With an already excellent compliance programme, I am confident our ESG programme will further our capability to act with integrity across all business practices and be a more ethical business.
Frank Rossini, Chief Legal Officer and Governance Committee Chair