CSC Smart Business October Edition - Greener Orange
Greener Orange
CSC toolkit powers successful launch of Orange recycling system
All well-run companies with a Corporate Social Responsibility strategy actively want to do their bit for the environment and encourage recycling. If such a move can be to the benefit of a brand, its customers and disadvantaged social groups, then all the better.
Orange, the mobile telecommunications operators owned by France Telecom, is a case in point of how recycling can go beyond environmental gains alone. When it looked at recycle rates for mobile phones the figures clearly backed up its feeling that more should be done. Although empirical wisdom suggests half of all phones could be refurbished and half recycled for their constituent parts, a tiny 2% of the 100 million phones sold in Europe each year are actually recycled.
Orange saw an opportunity to pioneer a new way of ensuring handsets a user no longer needs are put to good use. CSC was brought in by Orange to help devise and execute a strategy that would go beyond recycling alone. It was important for Orange that its new service, Eco Orange, should embody environmental protection, social equity and economic efficiency aspects.
The resulting Eco Orange service could serve as a blueprint for companies conducting business in the EU that are affected by recycling rules brought in the by the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive. The requirement to set up a system so that goods can come back to a company, so they can be recycled, amounted to a major reverse logistics challenge. Hence the strategy behind Eco Orange is likely to be highly beneficial to businesses outside electronics, particularly logistics companies and retailers, who need supply chains to work efficiently in either direction.
Helping people and profits
Recycling, in line with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, allows Orange to deliver on the environmental aspect of putting old handsets to good use, encouraging customers to become involved in sustainable development. If a handset is in good condition it can be refurbished and sold on to customers in developing countries who might not have been able to afford the model brand new. If it is not serviceable, and so better off sold as parts, the money raised is put towards charities such as Unicef and WWF.
Economically, Eco Orange helps associate the Orange brand with responsible, sustainable development. At the same time there is a huge benefit for the brand because recycling customers receive vouchers which can be put towards their next purchase from Orange. This has boosted footfall in stores and has helped increase market share. In fact, Eco Orange has been identified as leading to 200 extra shop visits every month and so is clearly proving popular with its existing customers as well as prospects from rival networks.
Eco Orange is part of the Orange Care portfolio of services designed to support customers from their purchasing decision, to looking after their handset, up to the point they retire and replace it. Crucially the recycling programme has allowed Orange to build on its range of care services without adding cost to the business but, instead, encouraging customer base growth while supporting good causes.
Integration challenge
Since its launch two years ago, Eco Orange is now operational in eight European markets: Belgium, France, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and the UK.
The fact the service was always envisaged to run across so many countries required CSC, at the start of the project, to thoroughly research and understand the unique characteristics of the customer journey in each market. Only then could a single tool kit be developed that would allow the system to be monitored and run efficiently.
Of course, the real challenge was not just in mapping out the customer journey but in giving a household brand the ability to deal with the logistics of what amounts to a reversal of its normal business model. Instead of solely issuing phones to customers, Eco Orange requires the company to instead receive them and push them through a recycling programme.
The logistics therefore requires bar coding to track devices as they make the reverse journey back to Orange and on to recycling. A thorough checking service is offered to ensure handsets are not stolen, to protect against fraud. The secure system also begins with a sophisticated real time web service which allows customers to input a handset’s model number to establish its recycle value. Web users can also order a recycle envelope, if they do not plan to visit a store. Once their phone is received, and passes fraud checks, the system issues vouchers towards their next Orange phone.
Moving forwards
Orange has been an early pioneer in showing how recycling can be utilised to not only deliver on a brand’s determination to be a good corporate citizen but also boost its standing with consumers, offer help to disadvantaged groups and contribute to charitable organisations.
More companies will need to follow suit, particularly those affected by the WEEE Directive who will need a cross-market toolkit to enable them to meet electric and electronic recycling rules across the EU. The good news is that as more companies follow in the footsteps of the Eco Orange service, awareness of the importance of sustainable development can only be increased.
There are applications for the types of IT capabilities built in to the Eco Orange service beyond the mobile phone sector, though. Any organisation which needs to work effectively in reverse, and accept goods coming in as efficiently as sending goods out, could benefit from an integrated barcode tracking, fraud detection, valuation and payment system.
Such companies are likely to be found in the logistics industry as well as, in particular, retail. High street and online brands will admit one of the greatest challenges is not just fulfilling orders but also dealing with returns and ensuring repairs and amendments are efficiently processed and dispatched back to customers.
Learn more about CSC’s work in: Corporate responsibility