Nine, seven, twelve and three: these four numbers will in future indicate the path that DIMATE will take toward sustainability. They symbolize concrete sustainability goals to which DIMATE is committed as a matter of priority, as Peter Rosiepen, Managing Director of DIMATE, explains: “As an IT company, we can exert the greatest influence on these four SDGs and achieve the most impact. Of course, this does not mean that the other 13 of the total 17 Sustainable Development Goals are not lived by us. However, these four goals strike at the heart of our business and will be incorporated into our corporate strategy accordingly.”
Here's what's behind the numbers
SDG 9: Industry, innovation and infrastructure
This goal stands for the aspiration to lay the foundations for sustainable economic growth and to set the right course as early as the planning stage for industrial infrastructures, for example. Sustainable means resource-conserving, low-pollution, fair, climate-friendly and yet economically successful. This goal is to be achieved by means of innovative solutions that enable transformation and replace non-sustainable structures and processes.
This is exactly the claim DIMATE pursues with the software solutions PACS and CCM: Analog processes in non-destructive material testing become more efficient and resource-saving through digitalization. For example, because X-ray films no longer have to be produced, developed and disposed of for tests using radiography. Or because image quality can be assessed immediately, images can be sent at the push of a button and decisions can be made much faster due to the immediate availability of information. In this way, we support our customers in establishing sustainable processes and meeting their own sustainability goals.
In addition, our software as a product is based on important sustainability criteria: It is based on internationally recognized standards, is interoperable, easy to integrate and, as software-as-a-service, does not rely on dedicated hardware.
By optimizing and further developing our software solutions, we will continue to ensure that the industry has access to intelligent solutions that shape and accelerate the sustainable transformation.
SDG 7: Affordable and clean energy
This SDG represents the aspiration to ensure access to affordable, reliable, environmentally sound and sustainable energy for all and to use resources as efficiently as possible.
Here we see two levers for DIMATE: On the one hand, our customers include companies whose core business is energy production. Although we can only make a small contribution with our software to making their production process more sustainable, we are firmly convinced that every small step is decisive on the way to the goal.
On the other hand, we can make a significant contribution to conserving resources through our behavior and business activities. For example, by changing our mobility behavior or by reviewing and optimizing electricity consumption in our offices. But we have already taken an important step toward sustainability: Our servers are already powered by green electricity today.
SDG 12: Produce and consume more sustainably
Sustainable production and consumption requires a change in thinking. Resources should be conserved and only used instead of consumed, for example. Switching from fossil, finite raw materials to CO2-friendly and renewable energies also plays a role.
Here, too, DIMATE can contribute in two ways. We can continue to align our software with the standards of sustainable software development. And we can align our company's procurement with sustainable rules. In addition to rethinking and revising our mobility strategy, this includes developing sustainable trade fair and travel concepts, switching to sustainable office supplies suppliers, focusing more on regional and organic products when catering for customers and employees, or purchasing remanufactured electronic devices instead of new ones.
SDG 3: Health and well-being
Protecting and maintaining one's own health is a human right. And even though we are generally well cared for in Germany and have a high life expectancy, health risks also lurk in our everyday working lives.
Working life in particular harbors risks of impaired health, for example due to the handling of hazardous substances, mental stress or lack of exercise. Here, too, we as a company can and would like to counteract even more in the future. On the one hand, through our digital solutions, which also lead to greater safety in our customers' workplaces. On the other hand, by establishing health offerings for our employees in the form of company runs, providing healthy snacks, or by creating a good work-life balance.
Staying on the ball and documenting progress
By identifying the four most important SDGs and naming concrete measures, we have reached an important milestone in terms of sustainability. The task now is to implement the measures, document the successes and readjust the targets. This process will accompany us constantly in the future and lead to sustainability reporting in the medium to long term. "We have this goal firmly in mind, even though we are not yet obliged to prepare a sustainability report due to the size of our company. We are convinced that the success of small and medium-sized companies is directly related to sustainability efforts. After all, we are part of a supply chain and our large customers are already looking very closely at who is acting sustainably and who is not," concludes Peter Rosiepen.