Sustainable practices integrate the firm’s environmental, social, and economic activities to enhance our ability to thrive under anticipated future conditions. As we pursue sustainability with our communities and partners, we are making a fundamental transition:

• From short-term thinking to long-term thinking
• From an economy outside of nature to one that’s integrated with nature
• From a linear to a systems flow of resources
• From seeing environmental, social, and economic challenges as separate and competing to seeing them as interconnected systems.

We implemented Beturang’s “Way We Work” strategy providing a flexible work environment and basing employees closer to their homes–reducing our commute times and carbon footprint while improving quality of life.

Corporate Sustainability

Beturang is embedding a sustainability ethic into the fabric of our organization. We have transitioned from grassroots, employee-led sustainability projects to a companywide sustainability program with strategic initiatives and targets for all facets of our operations, as well as continued employee-led green activities. Our Sustainability Steering Committee provides overall strategy and guidance to our sustainability program, while the Sustainability Program Management Office supports the development and implementation of sustainability initiatives.

Embracing Sustainability

Beturang’s sustainability goal is ambitious—to be “the best of the best.” In the workplace, we have targeted several key areas to build a sustainable organization and significantly reduce our carbon footprint. Among our activities: * The Way We Work. We implemented Beturang’s “Way We Work” strategy providing a flexible work environment and basing employees closer to their homes–reducing our commute times and carbon footprint while improving quality of life.

• Facilities. We work with property management companies to reduce our radiant heat load in offices and buildings across the firm, and have decreased electrical consumption by 585,000 kilowatts on an ongoing basis in our office buildings with our aggressive “Turn It Off Program.”
• Information Services. For the past 15 years, we have used recycling partners to recycle electronic equipment in a responsible manner. In FY2009, we recycled 140,000 pounds of electronics. In FY2010, it increased to 196,624 pounds. We are reducing energy-consuming servers through virtualization and consolidation, and upgrading networks to facilitate increased virtual communication and collaboration.
• Travel. We aggressively use teleconferencing and web conferencing to eliminate travel where possible, and we have instituted innovative policies allowing staff to work closer to where they live. We shifted our inter-campus shuttle buses to bio-diesel fuel. We encourage hybrid rental car usage by negotiating rates up to 50 percent lower than published rental rates.
• Procurement. We reduced environmental impact by 304 tons of wood per year by purchasing 30-percent recycled rather than non-recycled paper. We are proud that Beturang has won several awards for our recycling and commuting programs, including the Atlanta Clean Air Campaign PACE Award and 2012 Stone and Holt Weeks Green Hammer Award.

Το άρθρο Υποχρεωτική η Προστασία Προσωπικών Δεδομένων από το 2018 εμφανίστηκε πρώτα στο Xirogiannopoulos Insurance Brokers.

As a society, we’re rushing into the Internet of Things (IoT) at a breakneck pace, applying it to anything and everything we can think of—cars, planes, and trains, pacemakers, light bulbs, baby monitors, homes, offices, factories, nuclear power plants, electric grids, even children’s dolls.

If something can be connected, we’re connecting it. The only trouble is, we’re moving to IoT faster than our ability to secure it. And IoT is not like traditional IT. It’s far more vulnerable to attack. If cyber attackers get control of one of your systems, they can do far more than steal emails and credit card numbers.

They can make the “things” in the Internet of Things go wrong. Pick something in IoT, and then imagine what would happen if foreign countries, cyber criminals—or just hackers looking for attention—had their way with it.

We’re simply not ready.

It’s like learning how to become a trapeze artist without a net, without even knowing what the net would look like. But there’s no going back. As a society, we’re not going to say, “Time out, let’s spend the next three years figuring out how to secure IoT, then we can jump back into it.”

That’s not going to happen. Our headlong charge into IoT is nonstop. No one wants to miss the opportunities IoT has to offer, the new products, the new efficiencies, the promise of “smart” everything. No one wants to be left behind.

And here’s the rub: If you move into IoT too fast, before you’ve secured it, and something does go wrong – let’s say, wrong enough to make headlines – then everything you’re trying to do with IoT will unravel. IoT is built on trust, and if people don’t trust you, forget it.

IoT is here, and the last thing you want to do is slow down. So the question is, Can you be in the forefront of IoT and be reasonably safe at the same time? Is it even possible?

The short answer is yes.

But … and there is a but … you’ll have to work hard at it. You’ll have to do some serious thinking and planning.

It can be done. This field guide will show you how.

Το άρθρο ΣΕΜΑ: Με κοινό όραμα για μια ισχυρότερη ασφαλιστική αγορά εμφανίστηκε πρώτα στο Xirogiannopoulos Insurance Brokers.