Moving into the next entry in our “Win Together” series, I’m going to make mention of the open-source operating system on which Coevera runs: Ubuntu. Ubuntu is a Nguni word that translates to “I am what I am because of who we all are.”
We share a very small planet. If we don’t win together, we will eventually become extinct. It’s been true for over a century that, because of the network community we live in, everything we do affects someone else.
Taking The Global Approach
While the term is liberally used today, “global approach” isn’t a new idea by any means. It was always in the minds of countries or empires in power who sought to colonize as much of the world as possible. And even before the first world war, governments were also thinking in terms of the globalization of products and services.
Our interconnection in terms of technology has been obvious since the advent of the internet. But it’s also clear that our connection extends far beyond technology. For example, a country could be super-clean and environmentally aware. But if a neighboring country is careless of its environment, is reckless in its production factories, the first country won’t be able to prevent the second country’s pollution from crossing its border. The same is true of how we treat our oceans—pollution dumped in one place will eventually affect many others, and often at some distance.
It was the publicity generated by films such as Erin Brockovich in the 1990s that began forcing the hand of major corporations in taking their share of responsibility for the river, lake, groundwater, and air pollution. Such pollution is still an issue in many places, however.
We will not survive as a species unless “win together” is practiced on many levels.
In practice: Coevera notes that going office-free lets it hire fractionally — for instance, an HTML newsletter optimization expert needed only 10 hours a week, with no obligation to fill the other 30. The specialist is free to work elsewhere, and both sides win.
Our Contribution as Coevera
Coevera has moved its more important operations to the cloud, along with many other organizations. The cloud is a great sustainable strategy, as it means that companies no longer require their own energy-consuming data center. Cloud providers such as AWS and Microsoft Azure utilize highly energy-efficient systems.
Our green approach as a company goes even further. For nearly a decade we haven’t occupied any centralized office infrastructure. Our employees have worked, and continue to work, at their own locations. Travel to and from work has not been required. The only power we utilize is computing power.
Having seen a substantial uptrend throughout the pandemic, this trend has a significant impact on society. It reduces travel, commuting, pollution, and even stress. Is it possible for every company to have their employees work from home? No, but many of them certainly could.
Benefit is Multi-Dimensional
This method of operation has a positive impact on any organization practicing it, well beyond its effects on the environment and sustainability. In our case, it allows us to find the best possible person for a particular job, no matter where they are located. Our knowledge workers can live wherever they like—in places with the best real estate prices, natural beauty, or convenience. It’s a true win-to-win, or win together.
Employees doing what they love are easier to manage. With this practice, they can continue doing what they love no matter where they live. They’re happy, and we’re happy.
A number of years before this trend caught on, one of my valued employees asked me if it would be possible for him to move to Florida (our company is located in California). His wife wanted to live near her sister, and he wanted to continue to work for Coevera. I told him he certainly could do this. He continues to work for me to this day—just one of many examples of winning together with this practice.
This winning strategy has also enabled us to hire different kinds of experts without having to cover a full-time position. For example, we could recruit an expert in HTML newsletter optimization, whose skill is only needed 10 hours per week. We don’t need to find work to keep this person busy during the remaining 30 hours in the week, and they’re free to pursue other work during that time. Again, it’s a win-win.
Long before the pandemic, we well understood this method. It has been an underlying strategy for us for many years, and therefore covid didn’t change anything for us. We continued to increase efficiency, which made us more productive and allowed us to innovate our product continually.
It is clearly evident that winning together is a great deal more significant than just being between a salesperson and a prospect—it is truly a global issue.
