Sustainability at iPoint

We live Sustainability

iPoint places sustainability at the forefront of everything that we do. We do not only support and accompany other companies on their way to sustainability. We also strive to embed sustainability into our corporate strategy, organizational culture, and everyday operations.


Applying principles of responsible management, supporting and respecting the protection of human rights, upholding employee rights, and implementing environmental protection, are therefore integral elements of iPoint’s corporate strategy, policies, and procedures.

Our Sustainability Reports

In our annual Communication on Progress (CoP) report for the UN Global Compact, published on November 3rd, 2022, we describe the progress in our actions to continually improve the integration of the Global Compact and its ten principles into our business strategy, culture, and daily operations.

> Read the report 2021/22

> Read the report 2020/21

> Read the report 2019/20

> Read the report 2018/19

> Read the report 2017/18

United Nations Global Compact

iPoint is a proud signatory of the United Nations Global Compact, the world’s largest and most widely embraced voluntary corporate sustainability initiative. As such, iPoint has committed to aligning our corporate strategy, day-to-day operations, and organizational culture with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption, and to take actions that advance societal goals, in particular in relation to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By doing so, we aim to underline our commitment both as a company and a corporate citizen to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable future.

Sustainability Commitment

For iPoint, sustainability means acting responsibly to secure future generations a world worth living for – in social, ecological and economic terms.

Social Responsibility

As a globally operating company, we take our social responsibility towards society and our employees seriously in order to contribute to a stable social environment.

With subsidiaries and offices in 10 countries worldwide, we have identified diversity as one of the strategic success factors in terms of iPoint’s future viability. At iPoint, men and women from various nations and age groups, with different cultural, religious, ethnic, and social backgrounds, and sexual orientation, work side-by-side.

The diversity of our workforce shapes our corporate culture. With their individual perspectives, our employees in heterogeneous teams not only achieve better solutions and higher productivity, but also expand the potential for ideas and innovations within the company. We treat each other with respect, appreciation, and mutual acceptance, are committed to the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights and act in accordance with Germany’s Anti-Discrimination Act (Antidiskriminierungsgesetz).

In general, we at iPoint nurture an inclusive culture, starting with the first day on the job. Each new employee is presented with our Code of Conduct (Verhaltenskodex) – defining and condemning all forms of discrimination and sexual harassment – which must be signed. In the interests of equal opportunity, our personnel and salaries are selected on the basis of the applicant's qualifications and motivation, not on the basis of ethnic origin, race, gender, religion, or origin.

63%
Male-to-female ratio (Reutlingen & Munich locations)*
31%
Female upper-level managers*
28%
Employees over 50 years*
21%
Part-time employees*
3%
Employees with disabilities*
22%
Non-German citizenship*

Ecological Responsibility

We take our responsibility to do our part in protecting and sustaining our planet very seriously. Our contribution as an environmentally-conscious corporate citizen range from minimizing waste through recycling, to working with suppliers who, where possible, have sound environmental values and practices for improved energy efficiency and conservation. Furthermore, we place great value on ecologically sustainable offices, event venues, and giveaways. 

We are very proud of the newly built company headquarters building in Reutlingen, Germany, into which we moved in December 2014. Meeting the latest environmental standards, it is characterized by high resource efficiency with regard to building materials, energy sources, and water technology, and a number of other features make it especially eco-friendly:

 

  • Large windows allow for much natural light to enter the building, and indoor lighting relies on LED lights which enable a clear reduction in energy consumption;

  • the building regulates its temperature through a geothermal heat pump – a central heating and cooling system that transfers heat or cold air to or from the ground (while substantially more expensive to install than viable alternatives, iPoint does count on the geothermal pump to pay for itself over the coming decades);

  • the building’s open design reduces the need for ventilation, heating and therefore also reduces electricity consumption;

  • hand dryers were installed in the bathroom to render paper towels obsolete;

  • with a vegetation layer on its roof, from above the building is literally turning green; it reduces the amount of wastewater, as a large part of the rainwater is absorbed by the plants;

  • plants within the building provide fresh oxygen;

  • we continually reminded iPoint’s employees to follow the instructions and charts on correct waste separation provided next to the central waste bin in the kitchens on every level in iPoint’s headquarters. This measure not only enabled us to optimize our waste separation, but has also led to a reduction of trash bags. Additionally, we gave practical tips on how to avoid waste during the Environmental campaign in 2020 and the Plastic Free July campaign in 2021.


At our Reutlingen headquarters, iPoint only consumes electricity from renewable sources (Ökostrom), at a significantly higher cost to the company than regular electricity. We gladly absorb that cost impact, as it is one concrete step we can take.

Part of the reason we opt to set up country offices is to offset carbon emissions through international travel. The specific locations of our country offices are chosen in such a manner that they have ready access to public transport infrastructure. By traveling on business by rail, we were able to conserve resources compared to traveling by car or plane, saving 808 or 999 kg of CO2, respectively. We also encourage carpooling, in order to reduce emissions and to relieve road traffic. iPoint’s eco-friendly culture also maximizes the “practice” of webinars and web conferences in order to reduce travel costs and environmental impacts.

Since May 2019, we have a home office policy in place which permits employees to work remotely for up to 20% of their weekly working hours in order to reduce their volume of travel. As a preventive measure to protect employees and external visitors from COVID-19, we have increased this percentage during the COVID-19 pandemic, temporarily even switching entirely to telecommuting and virtual meetings, which supported us in reducing our CO2 footprint even more.

Our commitment to ecological responsibility extends to the products and services we procure, and implicates our business partners. In a bid to lead by example, also our gifts and giveaways for trade fairs, conferences, customer visits, and employees are selected according to ecologically and socially sustainable standards.

-CO2
By contributing 1,557 kilometers to a cycling campaign, cyclists from iPoint were able to avoid 239.8 kilograms of CO2 emissions*
FSC
iPoint's entire in-house paper consumption is based on FSC®- and ISO 14001-certified paper with an EU Ecolabel, and all of our corporate printing needs are met by FSC®- and ISO 12647-2-certified printers
2
iPoint’s Reutlingen site features two electric vehicle charging stations*
44%
Forty-four percent (40%) of our fleet are alternatively powered company cars (electric and hybrid)*
ECO
iPoint’s headquarters run on sustainable geothermal energy and are powered by renewable electricity sources*
~ 2t
During an iPoint-sponsored plogging challenge, almost 2 tons of garbgae were collected in city parks, on sidewalks, etc. within 2 hours*

Sustainable Business and Growth

For iPoint, sustainability also means achieving long-term growth. Economic sustainability is anchored in our business processes, solutions, and customer relationships.

We strive for continuous, sustainable improvement of the quality of our business processes and products. To this end, in May 2021 we had our quality management system audited (surveillance audit) in accordance with ISO 9001. Organizations that are ISO 9001-certified have a single and complete set of managed and applied procedures, regularly updated and audited.

The investigation of corruption risks is part of our company-wide risk management. iPoint’s employee contracts contain written compliance regulations regarding the issuance and acceptance of gifts, donations, etc. There is also a written process for selecting and evaluating suppliers.

iPoints unique portfolio of solutions is also available to small and medium-sized companies in terms of price level and applicability. We recognize that software must be simple to use and easy to understand to support users in new, efficient, and sustainable business processes. Our stable and mature solutions enable our customers to meet compliance and sustainability requirements and to produce sustainable products – thereby achieving a significant cost and competitive advantage for themselves.

Sustainable customer relationships, customer proximity, and a pronounced understanding of the specific needs, wishes, and requirements of our customers form the basis for profitable growth and long-term business success at iPoint. This manifests itself in a wide variety of areas, e.g. regularly conducted customer surveys as well as regularly hosted customer events, worldwide presence in order to serve our customers as one company with tailor-made solutions and competent contacts – face-to-face on site and digitally –, and data protection and information security measures according to international standards.

We view ethical behavior as the cornerstone of a successful business. Anti-corruption clauses are therefore included in iPoint’s employee standard contracts since 2018. Furthermore, our Social Charter contains several paragraphs on what kind of ethical, responsible behavior is expected from iPoint’s employees.

As we strive for continuous, sustainable improvement of the quality of our business processes and products we had our quality management system audited (surveillance audit) in accordance with ISO 9001 in 2021. The ISO 9001-certification ensures that Point has a single and complete set of managed and applied procedures that are regularly updated and audited.

Participating in anti-corruption joint action, iPoint has endorsed the Call to Action: Anti-Corruption and the Global Development Agenda by signing the letter of support on August 2, 2018. With the letter iPoint affirms its commitment to integrate anti-corruption into our strategies and operations, and work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.

In May 2019 (Sweden, Germany) and October 2019 (Austria), an EU Non-Financial Reporting Directive study of our commissioning was released that specifically hones in on the actions companies are taking to counter the unethical practice of corruption.

SDGs
iPoint’s business solutions are aligned with SDG 3, SDG 8, SDG 9, SDG 12, SDG 13 and SDG 16*
62,000+
The iPoint Conflict Minerals solution is now used by more than 62,000 companies around the globe*
3
iPoint joined 3 initiatives and projects dedicated to advancing one or more of the SDGs*
2
iPoint received 2 awards which align with the UNGC principles or the SDGs*
9
iPoint donated to 9 charitable causes*
22
Twenty-two percent (22%) of our employees have a citizenship other than German
31
Thirty-one percent (31%) of our upper-level managers are female

Advancing the SDGs

As a member of UN Global Compact, iPoint is fully committed to promoting and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) inside and outside of our company to accelerate the transition towards a sustainable future.

In the current reporting year, in an effort to assess our contribution systematically, we conducted a detailed analysis of the SDGs. This process, during which we also took into account established tools and guidelines on the interpretation of the SDGs, comprised the following steps:
 

1. Understanding the SDGs

We continued to familiarize ourselves with the SDGs and their targets in order to understand the opportunities and responsibilities they represent to our company.
 

2. Defining our priorities

Since not all of the 17 SDGs are equally relevant for iPoint, we conducted an assessment of the impacts of our business activities on the SDGs. The aim was to assess iPoint’s current contribution to the SDGs by focusing on the measures we implement to reduce our negative impacts while enhancing our positive contribution to the sustainable development agenda. The analysis of our strategic priorities extended to the following areas:

  • a) Products of our core business
  • b) Internal processes, workflows, operations
  • c) R&D projects
  • d) Social commitment (mainly: donations to charitable causes)

The result of this analysis is the following heatmap:

Newsletter - iPoint-systems