By Richard Eglon, CMO of Oxygen 250 partner Nebula Global Services
Firstly, I would like to congratulate all those businesses, and their respective leaders, who have been listed in the inaugural edition of Oxygen 250. Nebula is immensely proud to be associated with the initiative, which looks to highlight all those channel businesses that are exploring new frontiers and embracing true innovation when it comes to building a more sustainable technology community for the benefit of future generations.
From a Nebula perspective, we firmly believe that the rules of engagement are changing when it comes to the provision of technology services. Service providers can no longer lead solely with their capabilities. Technology businesses need to clearly define their purpose when it comes to sustainability and become accountable to their committed pledges, creating a more sustainable technology value chain.
The Oxygen 250 project is the first of its kind and provides a trusted source when it comes to showcasing and grading the sustainability trailblazers in our industry. To be supporting such a comprehensive and progressive initiative truly aligns to Nebula’s strategy for the sustainable unification of people & tech through our obsession to source-local, source-responsible, and source-ethical, creating a sustainable technology channel community for future generations.
As we enter 2024, there is no doubt, after speaking with many business leaders, that our industry is at an inflection point that will significantly determine the future outcome of all the businesses serving the technology channel marketplace. Never has there been such a focus on environmental. social & governance (ESG) methodologies when it comes to building your business strategy.
To remain relevant in a fast-changing market, companies, rightfully, are increasingly required to demonstrate their environmental credentials, commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, and alignment to industry best practice as part of the customer experience. This is placing increased expectation on technology business leaders to invest additional time and resources to ensure their business is adopting the correct processes to deliver the desired outcomes of today’s marketplace.
Like with many new initiatives, it’s always useful to determine ‘what does success look like’ and work back from there. Starting your ESG journey is no different. Once you’ve identified what it is you’re trying to achieve and why, start to map out a plan to deliver your goals. As many of you reading this will already be well down the road on ESG, the one thing you will understand is this is an infinite project. Building a sustainable business with a focus around ESG is all about continual improvement, reducing waste where possible, and doing what’s right for the planet and your people. In essence, these are the fundamentals of any quality and responsible business whether past, present, or future.
For those more advanced on their sustainability journey, what are you doing to move the needle further? The technology channel is inter-dependant on global ecosystems, strategic partnerships, and robust supply chains, so what initiatives are you introducing to encourage like-minded businesses to bring sustainable value to these communities?
For communities to prosper they need to be built on foundations of trust, transparency, and authenticity. As a result, we’ve seen a rise in communities with a common purpose, in this case, a more sustainable future for the tech industry. These societies don’t have rulers, and span all facets of the technology channel, looking to influence and drive positive change from within in the form of collective action towards a greater good.
With the rise of machine learning, generative AI and robotics growing at an exponential rate, it is equally important we encourage the rise of the ‘sustainable technology activist’ to retain an equilibrium for the future of the global technology channel.
