How BT and ADVA Are Working Towards a More Sustainable Field Service Future

2018 set new records in terms of global temperatures, with unusually prolonged periods of hot weather being experienced around the globe. In fact, the last 22 years have seen the 20 warmest years on record with 2015-2018 setting the top four temperatures. If this pattern continues, global temperatures are predicted to rise by up to five degrees by the end of the century. Should it occur, this warming will see rising seas levels, an increase in oceanic acidity and temperatures, and an impairment of our ability to grow crucial crops such as rice, maize, and wheat.

To prevent this from happening, we must commit to living our lives more sustainably. BT is one company which understands this and is incentivizing companies to become more environmentally friendly.

BT

The British telecoms giant has long had a reputation for developing and supplying products and services with sustainability in mind. In 2018, BT generated five and a half billion pounds of revenue through carbon combative products alone - 23.4 percent of its total annual revenue for the year.

"This marks a 200,000-tonne increase on our 2017 figure and comes as the company is striving to help customers collectively cut their emissions by three times the company's own end-to-end emissions," said BT's Head of Environmental Sustainability, Gabrielle Giner. "The 3:1 ambition currently sits at a ratio of 2.6:1, up from 2.4:1 last year. Climate action makes sense for business and through our people, products and services we've been able to take some dramatic steps towards tackling one of society's biggest challenges."

And BT is not just looking to make its own operations more sustainable either. Through its Sustainability Innovation Award, BT incentivizes its clients and partners to change their environmental outlook as well. During the contest, companies compete in a Dragon's Den style pitch, where they are challenged to present their ideas in front of a panel of BT senior managers. These managers then decide between them which of the ideas presented will be taken to market. They then award gold, silver, and bronze prizes to the best three.

ADVA

This year, ADVA was awarded the top prize by BT for its work building a more sustainable field service operation with its Carrier Ethernet demarcation solution engineered to minimize lifetime CO2 emissions. It's the second time ADVA has been granted the gold award, and the European telecommunication vendor has been working closely with BT to help reduce its carbon footprint and drive greater sustainability.

"With BT, which is famously close to its target of using 100% renewable energy, we had to focus our innovation on other areas," said Director of Global Sustainability at ADVA, Klaus Grobe. "This award win highlights our deep-rooted and longstanding commitment to reducing carbon emissions throughout the entire lifecycle of our products. As well as the benefits of our products for BT and its customers, this award sets a standard for the rest of the industry to follow and helps our sustainability ideas have an even greater effect."

ADVA has earned this accolade for its innovations in AI-powered predictive maintenance, using components optimized for recycling and developing technology that can be manually disassembled and reused. The world of field service gets through a lot of materials, so by increasing the number of components which can be reused or recycled, ADVA will significantly reduce its own carbon footprint.

Using AI to predict when components are failing and finding the least disruptive times for maintenance and service appointments will help to prevent large scale shutdowns and repairs. This will not only mean a better and more continuous service for clients, but also that ADVA will often only need to replace smaller components, further reducing its carbon footprint.

Final Thoughts

Driving sustainability in field service should be a top priority for all brands working in the field service industry. Through its innovation awards, BT is doing its best to make sure that it inspires its partners and clients to follow its own environmentally-friendly lead.

"ADVA is a great example of a major supplier striving to improve sustainability at every stage of its products' lifecycle," said Chief Procurement Officer at BT, Hari Sundaresan. "This latest initiative takes an end-to-end approach to product eco-design. Through circular economy design processes, ADVA is aiming to reduce CO2 emissions in production, transportation, use phase, and recycling. ADVA is targeting major reductions in its carbon footprint while also driving down cost and creating a blueprint for further sustainability drives in other technology areas."

You can hear BT's Director of Global Field Service, Edward Bownass, speak at Field Service Europe 2019, taking place this December at the NH Collection Amsterdam Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky.

Download the agenda today for more information and insights.