Profiles In Travel Management: Green Efforts Prep Co. To Focus On Cutting Cost

Company: Symantec
Headquarters: Cupertino, Calif.
2008 Global Air Volume: $75 million
Spurred by a companywide initiative to cut carbon emissions by 15 percent by 2012, software company Symantec reduced travel by 15 percent year-over-year after installing Hewlett-Packard Halo remote conferencing technology in September 2007.

By March 2009, the company had eight Halo sites in several locations, including the United Kingdom, India and its Cupertino, Calif., headquarters, with plans to install four or five additional suites, said vice president of global operations John Sorci.

The success of virtual conferencing coupled with the need for cost savings contributed to the company's November decision to move its entire 5,500- to 6,000-employee annual sales and marketing conference from Las Vegas to a virtual environment.

Symantec participates in The Carbon Disclosure Project, an international database of corporate carbon emissions, and is a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact, which among other corporate practices focuses on environmental sustainability. Its travel management company, American Express Business Travel, handles the travel-related carbon calculations and reporting. In fiscal year 2008, Symantec generated 54,000 tons of CO2 from 273,632,984 air miles traveled, less than one-third of its global emissions, according to Symantec's 2008 corporate responsibility report.

Symantec's carbon-reduction effort is focused on altering employees' long-term behavior, so the company does not pay for carbon offsets, said director of corporate responsibility Cecily Joseph. "Given the economic downturn, many have been strongly encouraged to use something like Halo, whereas before they might not have gone there as quickly. We are going to have many more people who experienced it and use it much more frequently than they had before."

The economic downturn has delivered an added incentive to use the travel alternative. "The CFO has really clamped down," Sorci said. "Just because somebody is under budget in other areas doesn't mean he wants travel to go up. We are not telling people to not travel. We are telling people to use your best judgment, but at the same time a lot of the budgets have been cut way back and people have been encouraged to use alternatives."

Aside from the initial purchase and installation investment, Symantec pays a fixed monthly cost for unlimited use of the Halo systems. Since quantifying the savings associated with using a travel alternative is difficult, Sorci began issuing surveys to understand the reasons employees use the technology.

"In some cases, people are just doing it to enhance communication," Sorci said. "In other cases, it really did replace travel."

While Symantec, which Sorci said spends about $75 million on air globally, has saved money and conserved energy through remote conferencing and demand management, the long-term implications of its strategy could impact supplier contracts. The company is in the middle of two-year airline agreements. "We missed our hurdles in a number of places," he said, "but they were seeing that from all of their customers. It was a buyer's market for buying travel-related services. That didn't affect us yet. In the future, as this new world comes around where there is going to be less travel, that could change things."

Travel requests for proposals now include more green questions, especially for hotels, but Symantec has not eliminated a potential supplier because they were not "green enough," Sorci said. "Over time, it's going to become more of a factor if all other things are equal."

Sorci added, "From a procurement standpoint, a lot of our own customers are asking us about our own program and social responsibility before we quote to them."