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CEO
statement
2020 has been a year of unprecedented challenges but also a year of contrasts.
The world has seen so much suffering and struggle, and at the same time we have
witnessed an incredible resilience of human spirit. It’s been inspiring to watch
humanity triumph over adversity to achieve great things – from the race to develop
a vaccine to the swell of support for those in need spilling out of local communities.
I feel incredibly proud that in these most difficult
circumstances, we have been able to support our
customers and partners through thick and thin,
navigating the rapidly changing circumstances together.
We’ve deepened our relationships, grown our trust in
each other, and worked more closely than ever to ensure
we deliver and implement solutions that work for
business and for the planet.
At 3stepIT we too have had to navigate a new and
evolving landscape forged by the COVID-19 outbreak.
We’ve had to adapt, be nimble, learn quickly.
When pandemic struck, we immediately took important
actions to ensure business continuity, retain service
excellence and maintain the safety of our people. The plan
focused on three areas – people, customers and costs.
All office teams were immediately asked to work from
home and did so seamlessly. It’s a testament to the
work by our IT team in prior years to deliver a digital
transformation that would allow our network and
systems to function remotely without disruption.
Throughout 2020, our refurbishing centres remained
open. We introduced a number of important measures
to keep our people safe, including socially distanced
working, no transport drivers allowed on site, no
external visitors and staggered breaks. All incoming
goods were quarantined for 7 days. Our colleagues in
the refurbishing centres showed great dedication in
keeping production going throughout last year. Thanks
to them, many more businesses were able to access the
technology they needed to support their own shifts to
home working. We owe them our gratitude.
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Of course, we firmly prioritised our customers. We put
in place a comprehensive outreach program to ensure
we spoke to the businesses we work with to understand
their needs and how we could offer support. Over 90%
of customers were contacted – thousands of businesses
in total. We trained all our customer-facing people in
how to conduct virtual meetings, to ensure we were
supporting customers in the best way possible. Our sales
team showed flexibility and speed, providing nimble
solutions to our customer’s challenges as they arose
Finally, we reviewed all ongoing activity in the business
as part of a pre-emptive cost savings drive. We decided
to maintain a strong focus on the development of our
key, customer-facing systems, while putting other
internal projects on hold. With so much uncertainty
over the duration and severity of the crisis, it was a
responsible course of action.
The processes and mechanisms we put in place
helped 3stepIT deliver a strong financial performance,
while keeping the safety of our people as top priority.
The results that we have delivered while fighting the
pandemic demonstrate:
• The dedication of our people to deliver results, despite
the many challenges.
• The trust our customers have in us to provide support to
help them through the crisis.
• The resilience of our business model.
I’ve been encouraged to see that despite everything
that 2020 has thrown at us, our customers still remain
incredibly focussed on addressing the climate crisis
and playing an active role in building a society for the
future. We are having conversations every day, at the
highest level of business, about the role of sustainable IT
in greening the recovery; proof that our mission remains
more relevant than ever.
Last year, 3stepIT was recognised for the leading work on
sustainability with the industry’s top accolade – Leasing
Life’s Sustainability of the Year Award. We also achieved
a ‘Grade A’ in the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s first
ever Circulytics™ Assessment, widely recognised as the
leading measure on how successfully a business has
implemented the principles of the circular economy.
It’s always an honour to win these awards, but it is not a
reason to stop challenging ourselves. In 2020, we continued
our fight against electronic waste, handling more than
530,000 devices through our refurbishing centres.
More than 500 new customers joined us on this mission.
These growing numbers are by far the most significant
contribution we can make to the fight against global
warming. Every business that adopts a technology
lifecycle management solution represents an officefull of laptops, mobiles and tablets that will not end up
in landfill. 98% of devices returned to us at the end of
contract are resold, with the remaining 2% recycled
through our trusted partners. It’s an industry leading
rate and it means our customers can have confidence
that we will support them to manage their technology
responsibly and sustainably. We like to think we’re
saving the planet one laptop at a time.
Critics may argue that “sustainability” and “circular
economy” are just buzz words or a beauty contest
between the top companies, but I passionately
disagree. Alongside its obvious environmental benefits,
sustainability creates competitive advantage, and the
circular economy is an untapped source of profit and
new jobs, estimated to produce $4.5 trillion in economic
output by 2030¹. We are uniquely placed to tap into this
and to help our customers to do the same.
In fact, our business model answers many of questions
being asked by businesses about how to adapt and evolve
to the current environment. We offer practical solutions
that help businesses to introduce a new sustainable
way of consuming IT, and as we do so we also help
our customers save money, improve productivity and
increase efficiency.
This relevancy has propelled the launch of our Joint
Venture, BNP Paribas 3 Step IT. In just 12 months we
have launched six markets across Western Europe, a
testament to strength of our business model and the
demand for our services. Throughout the year, we began
the important task of creating a fusion of our two strong
cultures and operating model. We onboarded our new
international clients, including our first deals in North
America. This alliance has created a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to bring together the best people, skills and
ideas in the industry to form one unbeatable team.
We are at the start of a journey that will see technology
lifecycle management adopted at scale by businesses
across Europe. As we look ahead to the future, I am
heartened by the idea that together we can have a
positive impact on the health of our planet and the
resilience and continuity of our customers’ operations.
Carmen Ene
Chief Executive Officer
¹ Accenture Strategy, Waste to Wealth, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015,
‘https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/the-circular-economy-could-unlock-4-5-trillion-of-economic-growth-finds-new-book-by-accenture.htm’
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