Verdantix Says Competition Is Hotting Up In The Battle To Conquer Europe’s Sustainable Telecoms Market
London, UK. July 12, 2010. Three telecoms operators – AT&T, BT and Orange – lead the European market for sustainable telecoms solutions and corporate sustainability performance, according to a new report from independent analyst firm Verdantix. The four month study of the entire portfolio of sustainable telecoms solutions offered by Europe’s 17 largest telecoms operators across Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the Nordics, Portugal and Spain, finds that customer demands for improved performance on sustainability criteria have triggered a big increase in investment by a few telecoms operators but many of their competitors lag far behind.
“Business objectives like energy efficiency, natural resource metering and travel cost reduction create opportunities for telecoms operators to increase sales of sustainable telecoms offerings” commented Verdantix Director, David Metcalfe. “Astute executives at firms like AT&T and Orange have woken up to the market opportunity. Leading telcos have boosted investment in marketing the sustainability benefits of their services and developed exciting new propositions such as smart metering, mobile handset recycling and machine-to-machine remote monitoring for water, fuels and human health.”
The Verdantix report, Green Quadrant Sustainable Telecoms Europe 2010, compares 17 telecoms operators on 49 criteria and includes insights from interviews with a panel of 15 senior IT and telecoms buyers. Key findings from the study:
AT&T, BT and Orange lead the sustainable telecoms market. These three telecoms providers lead the European market due to their executive leadership of the sustainability programme, a vision for how they will support customers’ sustainability goals, a broad portfolio of best-in-class sustainable telecoms offerings and more budget allocated to marketing sustainability benefits. AT&T, BT and Orange are positioned to win market share in fast-growing markets like smart meter connectivity and telepresence.
Corporate sustainability performance is an essential platform. Deutsche Telekom, Swisscom, Telefónica and Vodafone, as well as AT&T, BT and Orange, have built an impressive platform of corporate responsibility programmes over many years. Internal initiatives on network energy efficiency, social inclusion, carbon reduction, electric vehicle trials and CSR reporting provide essential ammunition for bid support teams responding to customer requests for detailed information on sustainability performance.
Weak corporate sustainability performance blocks commercial success. Organizational maturity of the sustainability team is critical for success. Firms identified as Leaders in the Green Quadrant® analysis all have a Chief Sustainability Officer who integrates sustainability into corporate strategy, co-ordinates the internal programme and provides domain expertise for commercial teams working on propositions like telepresence and fleet telematics. To compete for customers with sustainability requirements, firms in the Entrepreneurs quadrant like Belgacom and KPN need to upgrade their organizational capacities for sustainability leadership.
Telecoms marketers should dig into the gold mine of sustainability data. Firms with broad sustainable telecoms portfolios like Telecom Italia, TeliaSonera and Verizon should dig into the data on the use of their telecoms services to articulate the sustainability benefits they already provide. The Verdantix telecoms study finds that for maximum success telcos should apply the same scan for sustainability benefits to the entire product portfolio and then articulate a consistent set of sustainability messages across all offerings.
“Interviews with our independent customer panel revealed that when they buy telecoms services they weight sustainability criteria, such as in-life energy efficiency and equipment recycling, at between 10% and an astonishing 20% of the total score for the bid response” commented Verdantix Director, David Metcalfe. “Telecoms executives could not have a clearer message from their customers. They need to invest in enhancing the sustainability performance of their services and must articulate the benefits to customers.”
Based on the supplier assessment and customer panel interviews Verdantix recommends that IT and telecoms buyers ask probing questions to test the reality of telcos’ sustainability capabilities. Buyers should assess multi-year plans for network energy efficiency improvements, the average Power Usage Effectiveness of data centres, the deployment of energy and carbon management software from providers like CA Technologies and SAP, quantitative targets for CO2 reductions, the percentage of electric vehicles in the corporate fleet and ethical supply chain audit coverage.
The report, Green Quadrant® Sustainable Telecoms Europe 2010, is available to download by Verdantix clients at: www.verdantix.com.
About Verdantix
Verdantix is the fastest-growing, independent, analyst research firm focused on sustainable business strategies and market opportunities. For more information visit: www.verdantix.com.
Press Contact
Elinor Newman-Beckett, press@verdantix.com
+44(0)203 371 6792
Monday, 12 July 2010