Speaking Sensis

Back in November, Speaking Sensis profiled Connie Barbagallo, who had recently joined Sensis’ Sustainability team as a trainer under the WPC Group’s GreenSkills initiative.

After contributing mightily to the production and distribution of Sensis’ new small business guide – Small Business Big Opportunity: Sustainability – Connie’s time with Sensis hit a really exciting high last week.

Last Thursday, Connie (pictured on the left with teammate Dina Karamaloudis) and Sensis were awarded the Best Employer and Employee for green initiatives at the WPC Graduation night. This award is a really clear endorsement for Connie’s contribution to our sustainability commitment.

Congratulations Connie and all the best for your future at Sensis.

I was delighted to recently receive our recent Corporate Responsibility Index (CRI) scores.  For Heads of Sustainability across the country, the release of the CRI results is a tense time. Essentially for us, it is a little bit like waiting for your exam results.

Measuring, benchmarking and reporting our sustainability performance and practises is a critical part of being transparent and accountable.  One of the ways Sensis measures its progress in sustainable practises, is through the international Corporate Responsibility Index (CRI) run by St. James Ethics Centre in Australia.

Importantly CRI is independently audited, which provides third party assessment of our performance.

This year, Sensis achieved a score of 92 per cent (a 13 per cent increase on last year) and reached an overall gold star rating. 

Significant achievements in our scores include three judging areas reaching the new “platinum” level, which was established for companies considered to be setting the benchmark (scoring 96 per cent and above). 

Sensis achieved the new platinum level in corporate strategy, integration and assurance and disclosure.  I’m particularly proud of the assurance and disclosure score given the significant increase from a participation ranking last year.  Transparency and assurance, I believe ,are also the foundations for sustainable practises and often more challenging to achieve. 

In addition to these platinum scores, Sensis also received a gold rating for management practise and social impact, alongside a silver rating for environmental impact. 

Last year Sensis participated for first time and were pleased to score 79 per cent, achieving a bronze star and the award for Best New Entry. Our initial submission also identified areas for improvement, which we have focused on.

Already this year we have made significant steps in improving our performance, particularly around environmental impact. Sensis announced its Commitment to Climate Change in February, which included reduction targets for operational greenhouse gas emissions and the carbon neutral certification of the Yellow Pages® and White Pages® print and online directories through the Australian Government’s Greenhouse Friendly program. The carbon emissions created through the production of these directory products will be offset through Greehouse Friendly™ accredited providers and projects in Australia.

For Sensis, other mechanisms we use to measure, benchmark and report our performance are through the London Benchmarking Group (community investment measurement and verification); and through our Sustainability report which meets AA1000 standards and reports against Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines.  Sensis’ Sustainability Report was independently assured last year for the first time and achieved an A+ GRI reporting standard.   It is available for viewing and download on our corporate site (about.sensis.com.au).

Sustainability remains on of Sensis’ five priority business areas and with the ongoing focus and drive for improvement, I hope to see us continuing along the journey and also achieving even higher scores in benchmarking indexes to reflect our progress.

Hi again, and thanks for taking the time to find out more about how Sensis is bringing buyers and sellers together. In today’s update you can read about a tasty new way to demonstrate the value of Yellow® Pages; kicking off the 2010 metro canvass; more new innovations to make life easier for buyers and sellers; the phenomenal growth of mobile; and some more great news about our commitment to sustainability.


8,500 guys and girls and a pizza place
In April, Sensis ran a ground-breaking campaign that really brought the value of Yellow Pages® to life. The campaign worked a bit like this. Team up with well-known Melbourne pizza chef, Tony Fazio. Open a restaurant offering free pizza for two weeks. Don’t tell anyone the address or phone number. Instead tell them to “look it up the way you would any other business”. Then sit back and watch the dough fly.

And fly it did. Over the campaign’s two weeks, over 8,500 calls were made to Hidden Pizza, with over 70% of the callers saying they found Hidden Pizza through the print, online and mobile Yellow Pages®. That’s a lot of pizza… and a great testament to the ability of Yellow Pages® to bring buyers to your door.

Yellow Pages® Metro Canvass is up and running
Our people are now out and about talking to businesses as part of the 2010 Yellow Pages® metropolitan canvass. This must be one of the largest customer engagement programs in Australia, with consultants all over Australia contacting more than half a million businesses over the next few months.

This year, we’ve got some great new products for our customers. These include a Brisbane version of the popular Yellow Pages® In the Car book, Yellow Pages® Online Gold Plus, which is a new advertising solution for businesses without a web site, and enhanced accountability through our metered ad program.

But, perhaps the most exciting new step is a range of bundles that make it even easier for our customers to advertise right across our network. As I’ve talked about before, Yellow Pages® has evolved from a print directory to a diverse and sophisticated advertising network spanning print, online, voice and mobile. These bundles make it easier for businesses to profile themselves to potential buyers right across the network.

From the labs
Of course, we’ve been busy delivering for buyers – the people who use our products – as well.

Firstly, we’ve launched more new features to make our digital services easier to use.

Recently, we reconfigured the Yellow Pages® Online search experience. To begin with, we’ve dropped the ‘business name’ and ‘business type’ radio buttons in favour of a more intuitive search. Now, you can search for a business name, like ‘Sensis’ without having to click a ‘business name’ search button. Instead Yellow Pages® Online will drop down suggested listings relating to Sensis for you to choose from. We’ve also re-built the business profile pages to give buyers easier access to more content. The results of this have been pretty immediate, with a significant reduction in nil result searches and a big rise in interaction: most notably in the number of business profile readers clicking on email links and image galleries.

We’ve also added a series of new features to the White Pages® Online site. White Pages® is all about finding people and businesses you already know, so it’s a fair bet that you’ll be wanting to find your White Pages® contacts over and over again. Recently, we made this easier with the ability to save your contacts to a new ‘My List’ feature on White Pages® Online. We also launched send to mobile, which lets you send your listing from White Pages® Online straight to your mobile to save in your contacts.  In May, we’ll be taking this a step further by launching a new ‘save and share’ feature. With save and share, you’ll be able to save your White Pages® contacts to your pages on Facebook and a wide range of other social networks.

Secondly, we’ve made our services easier to access with new additions to our network.

As you may know, Telstra recently released the home phone of the future, the T-Hub. This is great for buyers and sellers using our services because White Pages®, Yellow Pages® and 1234 (with Whereis® coming soon) are all easily accessible right where your phone is. Just one touch of the console and you’re searching. And when you find the result in Yellow Pages®, you don’t even have to dial… just click to call.

The Yellow Pages® enhanced location search on Whereis.com I mentioned last time is also delivering results. Yellow Pages advertisers are now being profiled on Whereis.com more than 8 million times a month: a number that’s been boosted by about 2 million since we launched the enhanced location feature . This is fantastic for both buyers and sellers. It means Whereis is playing a growing role in bringing buyers and sellers together, while improving the ROI we can offer Yellow Pages® advertisers.

Finally, we’ve also been busy in the mobile space.

We launched a new CitySearch® Mobile site, with an improved look and feel, expanded TV and Movies content, a new ‘Bars’ vertical and improved mapping functionality. And we also launched new Yellow Pages® and White Pages® apps for Android devices to complement the incredibly successful launch of our iPhone apps.

Mobile coming up trumps
On that note, mobile has been an incredible success story for the buyers and sellers who rely on our services. As I’ve mentioned before, mobile usage is growing at a rate of knots. Average monthly Yellow Pages® Mobile visits for the March quarter have doubled YoY yet again. When you look across our entire network, mobile now accounts for over 13% of our total digital (online and mobile) usage.

And smart phone apps are playing an enormous role in this exciting growth. iPhone apps account for something like half of our total Yellow Pages® Mobile and White Pages® Mobile usage and these two apps still sit in the lifestyle category Top 10 in Apple’s App Store … months after they were launched.

More great news on the sustainability front
As I mentioned last month, I’m really proud of the positive contribution being made by our sustainability initiatives; such as our directory recycling program and the decision to offset our carbon emissions through Greenhouse Friendly™ accredited providers and projects in Australia.

Now, we’ve taken this a step further with the release of a new book: Small Business, Big Opportunity: Sustainable Growth. This free book, which is a complement to our highly successful advertising guide, provides practical information on how businesses can reduce their impact on the environment and save money as well.

Small Business, Big Opportunity: Sustainable Growth has been written by Jon Dee, who is the Founder and Managing Director of the not-for-profit action group, Do Something, and the NSW Australian of the Year 2010. If you’d like to order a copy, just check out the Small Business section on our corporate web site.

And finally, in more good news on the sustainability front, I’m pleased to say that our efforts to support a more sustainable future are being acknowledged. Last year we joined the global Corporate Responsibility Index program for the first time. This program is run in Australia by the St James Ethics Centre and we were incredibly proud to achieve a ‘Bronze’ rating and Best New Entry Award in our first year. Since then, we’ve put a lot more work into our sustainability commitments and, as a result, I’m told we have lifted our result even higher this year. More on that next time, when the results are out.

Until then, all the best,

Today, I’m exceptionally pleased to be blogging about the official launch of our brand new, hot off the press, ‘Small Business, Big Opportunity: Sustainable Growth’ book.

It’s a new and free resource for small and medium businesses in Australia with information and tips on how to operate more efficiently, save money and reduce impacts on the environment.

Now. Before you start accusing me of being a geek for being so excited, I’ll ask you to hold on for just a moment. Let me present my case and then, if you should still feel the need, the name-calling can begin.

This 230+ page resource has been authored by renowned environmentalist and 2010 NSW Australian of the Year, Jon Dee.

As Jon says in his introduction to the book: “For the modern and efficient business it’s not a case of having a successful company OR a healthy environment. In a truly sustainable world, you must have both”. I reckon this sums up the benefits of the book (and my excitement), very nicely indeed.

First and foremost, this book has been designed to help small and medium businesses save money by being more efficient in their operations. And by being more efficient, they can also reduce their impact on the environment.

Small (less than 20 employees) and medium (20-199 employees) sized businesses in Australia account for around 70% of actively trading businesses in Australia, employing around 40% of total employed people in Australia and contributing almost half of the value of Australia’s GDPⁱ.

So the SME sector is incredibly important to the Australian economy. With more than 2 million SMEs in Australia, this sector has the potential to make some significant changes to the impact they have on the environment.

If there’s an opportunity to save money, it’s something we all want to do. But what if the environment isn’t your thing? While it’s not popular to admit, you secretly just don’t care – you don’t have time. You’re not into hugging trees and you certainly don’t want to pay extra for some flash-harry light, you’ll be right with an incandescent, thanks very much.

The simple fact is, regardless on whether you believe in climate change or not, the global population is growing – 2.55 billion in 1950, 6.8 billion today and an estimated 7.6 billion by 2020ⁱⁱ. The fact is, we’re using more resources than our planet can generate and we need to start working out how to do more with less.

So, how do we address the challenge of a growing population and shrinking supply of natural resources? What can you do? You can green up your operations. Not only could you be saving yourself some cold hard cash, but you’ll be playing your part in ensuring a sustainable future.

Pretty exciting, yes? A free resource with information on how to save money and do your bit. You can order or download your free copy of the book here: http://about.sensis.com.au/small-business/free-sustainable-growth-book/

Yours in proud geekiness,

Jess

• ^i’SME trends and achievements’, Prepared for Telstra Business by CRA International

• ⁱⁱSee www.census.gov

North America’s Yellow Pages Association (YPA) has launched the industry’s first Sustainability Report to focus on environmental commitments, impacts and goals of major US industry players.

Designed to document sustainability efforts on an annual basis, the report provides a benchmark for the organisation’s goals for 2010 and beyond.

Key successes outlined in the report include:

• Launch of industry consumer choice programs (www.yellowpagesoptout.com) to give consumers in the United States a choice to reduce or stop directory delivery;

• Use by some companies of directory paper that contains recycled content and fibre derived from “residual chips,” (by-product after logs are converted to lumber) making it unnecessary to use new trees to produce Yellow Pages;

• A 29 per cent reduction in the use of directory paper since 2006, as a result of programs to reduce the size of directories, use of more efficient pagination systems and expansion to digital and mobile search products like Internet Yellow Pages sites and apps;

• Implementation by some North American companies of soy-based inks and non-toxic dyes that pose little threat to soil or groundwater supplies and adhesives in the binding process that are eco-friendly and non-toxic; and

• Support of recycling and up-cycling programs that ensure directories have a life after use, either as new paper or for other materials like coffee cup trays, egg cartons, cellulose insulation and cereal boxes.

“We’ve made so much quiet progress since we set environmental guidelines for the industry in 2007 in the areas of resource reduction, manufacturing, and recycling. There’s no better time than now to report to communities and consumers about the actionable steps we’ve taken and to outline where our industry needs to go,” Neg Norton, president, YPA said.

This report is an excellent first step for the industry in becoming more transparent and detailing publically its commitments to product stewardship and sustainable business practises.

It demonstrates the focus of sustainability on our international counterparts and is a response to consumer demands to be more sustainable. 

While Sensis is significantly further ahead in reporting terms, we can learn from some of the excellent product stewardship examples. The most important lesson we can learn is: it is much more profitable to voluntarily lead in sustainable business practises than to simply deliver compliance.

On Thursday 22 April, I went along to Victoria’s most prestigious environmental awards ceremony: the 2010 Premier’s Sustainability Awards, which saw printing business VEGA Press win both the Small Business and Premier’s Recognition Awards. 

Victorian Premier John Brumby and Sensis General Manager Corporate Affairs Prue Deniz congratulate Vega Press Commercial Manager Robert Nugent. Photo: James Thomas

For the second year running, Sensis sponsored the ‘Small Business’ award category, which was also won by VEGA Press.

And as a nice little behind the scenes story, Sensis contracted VEGA Press to print some promotional material for our soon-to-be launched ‘Small Business, Big Opportunity: Sustainable Growth’ book the day before the Premier’s Sustainability Awards.

We appointed environmentalist Jon Dee to write the new book for small businesses, which features practical information and tips on how to improve their bottom line while also reducing their impact on the environment.

The book also looks at how small businesses can gain a competitive advantage by embracing environmentally sustainable practices, which is exactly what happened with Sensis and VEGA Press.

We put a call out to our print brokers for a printer with sensational environmental credentials that would allow us to print this piece of collateral in a way that had a minimum impact on the environment. VEGA Press came in with the most price competitive quote and the best environmentally sustainable credentials – which won them the job.

It’s wonderful to see first hand a practical example of a small business using its commitment to environmental sustainability to win work from a large business.

Vega Press is Australia’s first business to gain international certification for greenhouse gas verification from SGS Australia. It purchases carbon offsets to ensure all of its operational greenhouse gas emissions are calculated and offset. It has installed systems to reduce water consumption by 50 per cent, energy usage by 20 per cent, and since 2006 – waste sent to landfill has reduced by more than 50 per cent.

The theme for this year’s Premier’s Sustainability Awards was ‘Rise to the challenge of change’, recognising organisations that are acting now for sustainability.

It was held at the Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, which is fitting since the MECC was the first convention centre in the country to be awarded a ‘6 Star Green Star’ environmental rating by the Green Building Council of Australia.

I wanted to share the story of VEGA Press winning Sensis’ business because of its commitment to sustainability, in hope of motivating other small businesses to take some steps towards greening up their operations as well.

Congratulations to everyone involved – entrants, finalists, and of course the winners. May your commitment to sustainability inspire and motivate others to embrace sustainability and ‘rise to the challenge of change’.

Do you know of a small to medium business that consistently goes the extra distance to provide a better service to its customers? Have you thought about ways to help it get the recognition it deserves? Would you nominate it for a business award?

Well, if you have answered “yes” to all three questions, you now you have a chance to do your bit. The 2010 Telstra Business Awards are now open and your favourite small to medium business has a chance to share in the fantastic opportunities that have been benefitting Australian businesses for the past 18 years. And for the first time this year, all entrants have an opportunity to receive a business health check to help them plan for tomorrow, encouraging them to keep up the good work.

I’ll be coordinating our support of the Sensis Social Responsibility award category. While sustainability is at the core of our Sensis’ business strategy, we recognise that embracing sustainability can be a bit scary for small and medium sized businesses. So, this is an opportunity for us to recognsie and support those businesses we believe are giving it a crack and to celebrate their efforts. And through their success, we hope to encourage more businesses to do the same.

The Telstra Business Awards give small to medium businesses amazing networking

opportunities, media exposure and business development prospects.

Every year, the awards get me thinking about the small and medium business owners I know and who I’d like to nominate. There’s a fantastic beautician I go to in Prahran, but then there’s also that amazing breakfast place on Gertrude St, Collingwood. And I can’t forget about my hairdresser in Fitzroy. The one thing they all have in common is that the owners and their teams are all putting their heart and soul into making their businesses the very best they can be.

While a lot of large businesses have their own internal rewards and recognition programs in place, who is there to pat the small and medium business owner on the back and say, “Well done. You’re doing it right. Keep up the good work”?

The Telstra Business Awards give them that and also provide them with amazing networking opportunities, media exposure and business development prospects – not to mention the serious prizes getting around.

So, a final question for you. Who are you going to nominate?

Connie Barbagallo joined Sensis’ Sustainability team as a trainee in July 2009 under the WPC Group’s GreenSkills initiative.

GreenSkills creates opportunities for apprentices in the green economy, so our workforce has the skills to make a real difference to the sustainability of Australia’s future.

Read more about Connie’s Sustainability Coordinator traineeship at Sensis here.