Listen to this articleFigBytes delivers an enterprise cloud-based platform that empowers organizations to integrate the principles of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental sustainability into core business strategies. Below is our recent interview with Colin Grant, Chief of Strategy at FigBytes:
Q: We have to ask – why “FigBytes”?
A: Great question! We were looking for an intriguing name that conveyed how we are different from the conservative, Environment Health & Safety (EHS) compliance based software companies that we compete with and how we simplify the complexity of modern ethical business. As I discussed this with a friend, he mentioned a quote from US author Oliver Wendal Holmes Senior who said he wouldn’t give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity but would give all he owned for the simplicity beyond complexity.
If it looks like I’m losing my audience after that explanation, I tell them that a byte of a fig is a laxative for data constipation, which usually breaks the ice!
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Q: Who are the primary users of FigBytes platform and what are some of the key challenges you are helping them solve?
A: We work with corporations, cities and not-for-profits who want to future-ready or future-proof their organizations by taking leadership in balancing social, environmental and economic issues. When we meet our clients, they are generally suffering from three interacting challenges.
Firstly, their sustainability/CSR strategy is usually stranded in a complex slide deck so “stakeholders” (or “people” as we prefer to refer to them at FigBytes!) just don’t “get it” to the degree they need to for the programs to be transformational.
Secondly, their data are all over the place and disconnected from the strategy. They may be using a traditional EHS data management solution and they will always be using Excel in addition to this or as the main data receptacle, which we refer to as the “Hell in Excel” stage.
Thirdly, they are losing most of the brand value associated with their social and environmental achievements by using a 1990s reporting format, the non-financial/sustainability/CSR report, as the primary tool to communicate their progress. In short, they are stuck using 1990s tools to try to meet 21st century challenges.
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Q: What is unique about FigBytes and how does it stand out from competition?
A: Our competitors generally came of age in the 1990s providing EHS compliance software designed for an era where company leaders’ primary concern was avoiding breaking laws, incurring fines and even imprisonment. Most corporations and other organizations have moved far beyond this to future-readying and future-proofing their business plans and brands and FigBytes is uniquely able to meet the demands of such modern, forward looking, strategic, brand-building initiatives. We bring the sustainability strategy alive, link it to the data, giving the equivalent of Corporate GPS for the 21st Century™ as we describe it, and then empower our clients to share their brand-enhancing ethical journeys in close to real-time. We have been described as looking like an iPhone versus our competitors’ Blackberry-esque offerings, and appearing “digital” versus competitors’ “analogue” appearance.
Q: You’ve recently announced a monthly webinar series “Beyond EHS Compliance”; tell us more?
A: When I started working in sustainability in the 1990s, we were operating in the era of the Bruntland definition of sustainability, which talked in watered down terms of living today in a way that didn’t reduce the living quality of future generations. 15 years later, it is clear that our impact is immense, catastrophic to the stable climate and ecosystems we rely on, and exacerbating problematic social dynamics and that these impacts are compounding and accelerating exponentially. Smart leaders understand that meeting the moral imperatives of our times only strengthens their company, city, university, etc. and we are now seeing cross-sectoral collaborations around “stretch goals” for humankind such as cities with 80% GHG reduction goals, corporations aiming for and already achieving 100% renewable energy, zero waste, etc. The UN has also moved beyond Bruntland with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which are uniting various sectors of society.
In the webinar series, along with leading experts from our client and partner networks, we will be exploring these issues and how cutting-edge technology can bring these transformational journeys alive.
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Q: What are your plans for the next six months?
A: This is a very dynamic time for FigBytes. We have just launched a new website and during Q1 2017, we will be releasing V2 of the FigBytes Sustainability Platform. This will feature our Living Infographics™ module, which our partners believe is about to transform sustainability/CSR reporting, taking engagement into a 21st century format of data-driven storytelling™. We brought on a number of solutions-providers and consultants worldwide as partners to scale our outreach and we are looking forward to major growth.
Q: How big is FigBytes and what are your ambitions?
A: We have offices in the East and West of North America and in India and we currently have clients up to Fortune 50 size in multiple sectors (Power Gen, Food and agriculture, IT services, Finance, tertiary education, cities and airports) around the world and we are set for triple-digit growth this year as our network of solution-delivering partners takes us to their clients and prospects. A wonderful aspect of having industry-leading cloud based products is how we can sell and deliver services remotely which saves time, money, and carbon and allows us to spend most evenings at home with our families rather than being in airports and hotels. We can supplement our remote services with on-the-ground support from our multinational partners, so we feel well positioned to become the pre-eminent software player in the post-compliance era of sustainability.
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