Technology Solutions Provider Helpings Businesses Achieve Their Mission
Waterloo, Ontario’s PeaceWorks Technology Solutions Puts Building Relationships First
A service provider like PeaceWorks Technology Solutions can only achieve its mission if it truly assists its clients in achieving theirs. The level of interdependence has led PeaceWorks to prioritize its clients impact and triple-bottom-line success — and has landed the company on B Lab’s 2017 Best for the World lists.
PeaceWorks provides services and technology solutions, building client-focused relationships and connecting client needs with sustainable and reliable technology solutions. PeaceWorks offers strategic planning, custom software development, CRM technologies, cloud computing, websites, hosting, reselling, as well as network implementation, maintenance and support. PeaceWorks’ offerings are provided by skilled employees and supported by a diverse team of technical consultants. PeaceWorks has handled hundreds of not-for-profit and for-profit business clients over its 20-plus years in operations.
We heard from Elaine Adema, the company’s marketing and account manager, on ways PeaceWorks fulfills its clients’ — and thus, its own — mission.
What practices has your company implemented that has helped you become Best for the World?
We are systematically reviewing the requirements for B Corp certification, and analyzing what we could accomplish to continue becoming a better company. Understanding that the certification requirements are a constant and consistent process means that we are always aware of our responsibility to maintain and improve ourselves.
Our №1 priority is building relationships. We are an IT consulting company and our business is built on healthy relationships. Those relationships begin with our relationship with staff. When our staff are treated with respect, and provided with fair remuneration for their work, those values are passed on to our clients. The foundation that we establish with our employees and our clients helps us to constantly push for improvements. We want to keep encouraging sustainability, reliability and growth.
Finally, we have implemented a Strategic Planning process. Most of the Goals in our Strategic Plan are operational, but some are mission driven. It is another way that we are working at being a better company.
In what ways does Peaceworks include and consider your stakeholders in achieving your mission and having a positive impact?
Our mission is actually tied to the missions of our clients. Our hope is that our clients will be able to use the technology solutions that we set up for them to fulfill their own missions more effectively and efficiently. Becausee the majority of our clients are not-for-profits, we believe that by helping them we are enabling innovative poverty-reduction projects, community-justice initiatives, cultural development, equitable food distribution, shelter programs, support groups, green-building initiatives, assisted-living program enhancements, and so much more.
Our employees are also our owners, and the directives that our organization operates under are well-communicated and well-adopted by each staff member. Because our staff is given a say in how the company is run, honesty and transparency are integral elements of our operation and help us to continually strive for excellence.
In what ways does B Corp certification help your company perform better?
Completing the B Corp assessment has helped us understand and communicate our values in a clear and well-established way. We were able to review our strengths — our commitment to our staff and clients — and also to assess our weaker areas. We have established an environmental committee to come up with tangible ways for us to improve our commitment to a sustainable world and decrease our environmental footprint. We have planned to implement more metrics within our HR to measure our success in diversity and inclusion. We plan to work more with our suppliers and define our needs from a Corp perspective, which will include a review of our suppliers and our needs.
How does your company seek future improvements?
In addition to our environmental-improvement initiative, we have laid out goals to further increase our employee benefits, to increase our client and community engagement, to work on our supply chain logistics, and to increase our profitability. By offering significant discounts to our not-for-profit clients, we often struggle to make sufficient profit. We are looking to actively increase our profit margin so that we can afford to give more back to our stakeholders, clients, community and the world.
B the Change gathers and shares the voices from within the movement of people using business as a force for good and the community of certified B Corporations. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the nonprofit B Lab.
