How Ingram Micro’s partner collaboration platform is driving the channel’s ESG agenda...
Ingram Micro’s Trust X Alliance functions as a collaboration platform for like-minded global partners and is structured around subject matter committees including the ESG Group. Penelope Johnston (pictured), UK Lead for the Trust X Alliance Partner Community, stated: “The alliance works towards growing together through a system of facilitated sessions that help members adopt practices not currently used in their organisation.”
The ESG Group is leveraging this collaborative approach to help partners tackle the UN’s 2015 sustainability goals. “Around two years ago we started to hear more about ESG issues, particularly from companies in the upper small and mid-market space in the channel that were asking what this meant for their businesses and how they could tackle it,” added Johnston.
Over half of Ingram Micro’s UK Trust X members are part of the sustainability project. Elliott Carter, Experience Director at Microsoft cloud expert Perspicuity, is the Trust X Alliance lead partner for the initiative. He said: “Most companies are coming to understand the critical role of an ESG strategy but not everyone knows how to take the first steps. We are creating an environment for the free flow of ideas and discussions where no one fears looking ignorant when asking questions.”
All members have committed to tackling four of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. These chosen objectives are Good Health and Well Being, Climate Action, Decent Work and Economic Growth, and Gender Equality.
Tangible results
Utilize Managing Director Guy Hocking is also Regional President (UK) and Global Council Member for the Trust X Alliance. He observed: “The alliance aims to dissect these goals into something more tangible by creating targets for businesses that don’t have the resources to throw at the problem. We want to make sure that our partners have a more joined-up and holistic ESG strategy they can present throughout tendering processes and to prospective employees.”
The Alliance takes on a new focus every few months, its most recent project was looking at writing ESG reports. Carl Henriksen, CEO at Sustainability Alliance member OryxAlign, commented: “The group has helped us take a more structured approach which has been a real accelerator for many of the activities we had been previously considering.”
OryxAlign has now undertaken an environmental assessment and will go ahead with the process of becoming a B-Corp organisation. “It’s great to work with likeminded people towards a common goal,” added Henriksen. “It’s also refreshing to see that you are not swimming upstream by yourself.”
The Trust X approach encourages members to feed their learnings into their own partner and supplier ecosystems. Kailas Bryant, Communications Manager at ADM Computing, added: “We are sharing the information we learn from the programme with our business network through webinars and educational sessions. Many companies we interact with have come to see us as an ESG specialist they can learn from.”
Another benefit of the Alliance, noted Bryant, is that it brings together partners with multiple vendors and suppliers. “Measuring and limiting Scope 3 emissions is the hardest part of a sustainability strategy due to the lack of control we have in the process,” he stated. “Having a direct channel to talk about sustainability to our suppliers further up the chain is powerful.”