If you are familiar with Service Objects as a company, you probably know that one of our core values is protecting the environment. It was the reason our company was founded in 2001, and remains at the heart of both our business practices and our contact data quality products.
When our CEO Geoff Grow – a mathematician and an environmentalist – saw the amount of misdirected print marketing mailed to people many years ago, he was struck by what a waste of resources were involved. He often received mail addressed to someone else, duplicate catalogs, and mailings addressed to different variations of his name and recognized what a widespread problem this was and the impacts it has on businesses and our environment. So he began Service Objects with a goal of using mathematical equations to reduce this massive waste stream.
Here, as we approach two decades in business and over 4 billion transactions processed, we wanted to take a look at the results of these efforts to date – and show you what one company can do to make a difference on important social and environmental issues.
2020: A look at the numbers
The infographic shown here is a summary of the impact of our contact data quality transactions to date. These numbers are pretty substantial: over two million trees saved, over three-quarters of a billion gallons of water, and nearly half a million kilowatt hours of energy saved. Not to mention 70 million pounds less air pollution and over 350,000 cubic yards of waste kept out of landfills.
More importantly, these numbers represent a sharp increase from those of just a year ago, in some cases nearly doubling the figures from our previous years combined. This tracks our rapid growth in transaction volume over the past year, which saw us go from 3 billion to 4 billion transactions processed in less than two years.
There are numerous factors behind our rapid growth, ranging from our reputation in the industry, our relationship with many of the leading consumer-facing firms in the US and elsewhere, and perhaps most importantly, a growing focus on data quality. Between the emergence of stiff new consumer data privacy regulations and increasing competitive needs to lower marketing costs, maintaining contact data quality is no longer an option for businesses of any size.
Thankfully, this is a good development for the environment as well as our business. Nowadays businesses can no longer afford the luxury of tolerating bad data, and this in turn has a tangible impact on the waste stream and its effects on the ecosystem.
Looking to the future
Of course, it will take more than one company’s contributions to address the massive environmental issues facing society today, fueled by developments ranging from climate change to deforestation and more.
Here in our native California, for example, wildfires have devastated large numbers of both homes and forest land since 2018. We have responded by partnering with One Tree Planted, an organization that provides direct reforestation efforts, as one of 500 organizations who have publicly committed to repopulate the state with over one million new trees. We plant 10 trees for each new customer, and are well along towards fulfilling our company’s commitment to this project. You can keep in touch with our ongoing corporate conservation efforts here.
We all have a role in protecting the environment, and encourage you and your organization to also look at how you can do your part – not just in terms of formal efforts and corporate support, but in looking at your own day-to-day business practices, as we do here at Service Objects. Together we can make a real difference in the health of our planet.
