ESG is becoming central to the operation of systems integrators, manufacturers, and end users alike. Kelly Bousman explains her new role as AVI-SPL’s ESG mastermind.
In this industry, your reputation is everything. You can make or break a career, you can develop relationships that last a lifetime, and, in the case of Kelly Bousman, you even use your titanic reputation as a force for good in the workplace and beyond.
Boasting an extensive career with AVI-SPL of almost three decades, Bousman’s involvement with the global systems integrator is legendary. As a familiar face on any show floor from Europe to the US, to Asia, Bousman is familiar to many as AVI-SPL’s face and brains of marketing strategy, playing a central role in developing the global integrator’s brand around the world.
Today however, Bousman is embarking on a new path, as AVI-SPL’s global head of ESG and sustainability. This new role will see Bousman’s well developed skills, masterful relationship building, and strong industry presence make a positive influence on the environment and social impact of the AV industry. But what drives a marketing mastermind to transition into the world of ESG? Bousman explains: “I have been with the company for27 years, and I have been a leader in the company for a couple of decades. To have a successful sustainability program, you need to integrate it into the business strategy, and you need to be able to develop engagement within the company and with company partners.
“The key to having a program like this work is knowing which levers we can pull and who to engage to help achieve the goals. That's part of why, as a career path, it makes sense for me. I know our vision, our strategy, and our teams. I have been interested in the subject since a child, as my father worked in solar cell membrane development, so my middle school science project was all about efficacy of solar cells. I grew up with this mindset of sustainability through technology. I followed the technology path, and at the same time, I’ve always had a passion for sustainability.”
Bousman’s appointment follows almost a year and a half of work in the field of ESG and sustainability, taking the reins behind the scenes to drive the company’s strategy forward. This approach of knowing the industry outright understanding the players and the approaches makes Bousman’s approach to integrating ESG and sustainability seamless.
“ESG is a complex topic and our industry is a complex place,” says Bousman. “Bringing somebody from the outside in to lead an ESG strategy would require a long ramp-up period to understand our technologies and value chain.
“One of the biggest barriers that we're starting to see our industry resolve is transparency. Sustainability is pre-competitive by nature. The only way we win is by working together, so transparency about sustainability key performance indicators is key. Traceability is another area where the industry is starting to make strides. We can’t tell the story of sustainability unless we can measure it, and we can’t measure it unless we know all the parts. More and more vendors are sharing their sustainability metrics, adding carbon labelling, or disclosing their carbon footprint. Calculating the carbon emissions of a product across its entire life cycle is daunting. Manufacturers need to go back through their supply chain, considering not only source materials. Design teams are having to reorientate supply chains and meet new sustainability requirements, which has been a real challenge and an opportunity for companies. But it's happening, and the change is coming from inspiring innovation. The carbon neutral labels we're seeing at shows like ISE and InfoComm this year won't just apply to a few new models but will herald entire sustainable product lines.”
"The only way that we're going to win is by working together." - Kelly Bousman, AVI-SPL
A global company like AVI-SPL deals with numerous clients in a plethora of countries around the world, some of which are more matured in their approach to sustainability than others. With such a large global client base, how can you coordinate a global approach to ESG and sustainability that is accepted by clients around the globe?
“Internal engagement really comes to the fore here,” continues Bousman. “I’m tied in to every country leader, so we have created a library [to standardise processes] as our program is a global program. The questionnaire that we are filling out in Hong Kong is very similar to the questionnaire that we are filling out in Canada, for example. Everything that we are responding to, we are doing on a global basis, and we have created a system internally where everybody knows where to get information and who to validate with.
“Even though countries and clients may be at different stages, it doesn’t matter; global reporting is starting to standardise and there is a standard framework that is being followed, and other frameworks are starting to fall away. We have been preparing ourselves, so no matter which country we are operating in, there is one generally accepted global framework, so it is scalable.”
The impact of ESG goes beyond the traditional thinking around E-Waste and recycling. For AVI-SPL, the importance on the social aspect of ESG is just as important to AVI-SPL’s development. Bousman says: “The social aspect of ESG is also important as well. That includes developing our employees and intentionally recruiting in diverse pools of talent. We have seen our diversity metrics outpacing the industry in general because of that focus. We also devote August to ‘give back month’; in every country where we operate, we do projects in the field like coastal cleanups, planting trees, working in a shelter or in education. Giving back is an important part of sustainability as ultimately sustainability is about making your own business more sustainable, but it’s only as sustainable as the employees it can hire and the communities where it can work.
Under Bousman’s leadership, AVI-SPL is following a three-year blueprint, highlighting what AVI-SPL wants to achieve across its ESG and sustainability program; and it’s not just the traditional thinking of sustainability that this blueprint is adhering to.
“Some people were surprised that cybersecurity falls under ESG, because that’s a governance perspective. This is how we’re governing the security and protection of our customers’ data, as well as our own data and network. We have a steering committee of business leaders who set the strategy, you have blueprint owners who ‘own’ pieces of that strategy (cybersecurity, climate impact, product life cycle management etc.) these blueprints are ‘owned’ by people on the taskforce, and we meet monthly to look at the blueprints, it’s a whole program management process.
“Externally, with our partners, it’s become much more of a topic of collaboration and opportunity. We had a great conversation with Logitech at InfoComm; we were looking for opportunities to collaborate, and we’re working with Logitech on a pilot in North America of electronic waste management. Logitech has piloted this in Europe, and they are learning lots of lessons there. We learned from Logitech how to be hyper-local and how to take the friction out for the end user.
“We work with the end user; we take all of the old products and work with local recycling partners so that it’s not getting shipped, and that the partners are certified. This gives traceability and certification of data destruction, which is key. It’s a good thing that our industry is becoming more software-based, and there are good things that our industry is doing to extend product life, but it takes an integrator like AVI-SPL that knows how to manage a complex supply chain to be able to find and qualify those hyper-local partners. We’ve seen great interest from global partners that want to do this.”
There is much more that systems integrators around the world can do, in collaboration with industry partners, so how can integrators of all sizes do their bit to make a positive impact on the industry and our planet?
“Engage the suppliers to see what programs they already have running that they can leverage,” explains Bousman. “We are an industry that is working together as a whole to solve this, and there are lots of supplier programs that can help. We were fortunate that we had a supplier that wanted help to make it work in the US, so have a conversation, you would be surprised.”
Main photo credit: O-IAHI/Shutterstock.com