At a time when most companies are questioning their environmental practices, Avanade supports its employees' initiatives to invest in actions to reduce its environmental impact, both individually and globally.

Interview with Ronan Glemain, Agile consultant within the "Agile and DevOps" Talent Community and co-leader of the Avanade Green Team in France.

"I joined Avanade in September 2021," explains Ronan. "This followed an evolution in my professional career as I came from the industry world, first as a project manager and then as a department manager. What allowed me to bridge the gap between industry and IT was an associative project I created that gave life to an ecological and social application."

A strong ecological ethic

It is essential for Ronan to be in line with the values of the company he works at. "During my job search, Avanade met several of my criteria. I like that Avanade offers significant time to training in very different fields. The company is near my home (this allows me to limit my carbon impact daily). Avanade also has a strong environmental commitment. There is a strong social will here, reflected in our slogans 'We do what matters' and 'Make a genuine human impact'".

Avanade is committed to the "Global Compact", the worldwide pact launched by the UN in 2000, which brings together a network of voluntary companies to act for a more sustainable development. In this context, one of Avanade's commitments concerns Green IT. "Our mission is to educate and train our employees and customers on 'green software'. Avanade is even a funding organization of the Green Software Foundation, which sets up tools, standards, practices, and a community for IT development with reduced environmental impact," continues Ronan.

Did you know?

Software and artificial intelligence also have a carbon footprint. It is generated by the consumption of electricity by the servers used, the hardware required to build them, and the carbon intensity of the electricity used.

Eco-responsibility and transparency

"Avanade France was the first region, among all Avanade subsidiaries worldwide, to calculate such an extensive and precise carbon footprint", explains Ronan. It was the publication of this report, and the MyCO2 workshop offered to Avanade employees (a carbon footprint calculator), that motivated him to join the Green Team. "This publication honors Avanade because at the time, French regulations did not require companies to publish their scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions. This was an opportunity for me to put my environmental knowledge to good use and to relay this initiative in Avanade's Nantes offices, where I work. It is by leading this MyCO2 activity that I was able to launch the Nantes branch of Green Team France" explains Ronan.

As its name indicates, Avanade's Green Team aims to help reduce the company's environmental impact, on several levels.

"Avanade is a company that encourages this type of initiative. I was able to create a Green Team branch in Nantes, I was also asked to rethink our organization and propose activities to help reduce the company's carbon footprint. As an Agile consultant, I was able to implement animation and brainstorming tools to structure common actions, but also to propose a holacracy organization, a form of free governance in business," he adds.

Concrete action

In 2021, the Green Team conducted a carbon assessment of Avanade France to measure its environmental impact and define improvement objectives. It is also implementing a multitude of "green" actions throughout the year:

Raising awareness of environmental issues, through information and training sessions, in particular to change our professional practices. A group of Avanade employees train for Fresque du Climat to propose it internally, as well as to clients.

Green office: to limit the environmental impact of the office (sorting, accessories, low impact services, etc.).

Organization of "green" events: for example, green TV shows with the screening of a documentary followed by a debate, "low-carbon snacks" around MyCO2, awareness-raising quizzes, bicycle workshops, etc.

On Earth Day, the team put together a week of knowledge sharing sessions and actions.

"We are very happy to have organized this Green Week in coordination with our colleagues in Belgium and the Netherlands. This allowed us to highlight the work and activities of local teams and to advance mobilization. It was very important for us to bring together events to raise awareness of individual actions, develop our professional practices, share solutions for supporting our customers and control the company's carbon footprint. These different facets form a coherent and interdependent whole. This is our holistic approach to corporate environmental responsibility."

In addition, Ronan and two colleagues from Avanade, gave a lecture to MyDigitalSchool France students on Green IT at Avanade. Raising awareness of these issues, possible actions and sharing their expertise with the new generations of tech are subjects that are close to their hearts. But it is also very enriching to have the feedback of these students and their perception of the future in tech.

The future of Avanade's Green Team

"The Green Team regularly has the opportunity to discuss with Avanade's management the projects underway and those to come. We feel in line with the company's strategy, and we feel supported in what we do," explains Ronan.

As a joint venture with Accenture and Microsoft, Avanade also benefits from the green commitments of its two partner companies. "Microsoft and Accenture are also very well structured in their 'green' approach. We benefit and learn from what has been put in place in these two large companies," continues Ronan.

"There are a lot of volunteers in our teams to get involved, because it's a subject that interests many people. There is a real desire to do more. We are on favorable ground and have a real capacity for action to have a significant environmental impact. Our objective is to control our carbon footprint and to improve our professional practices, but also to offer solutions to support our clients in this crucial area," he concludes.

To learn more about Avanade's carbon footprint, Click here.