Pandemic impact is seismic as economies stutter, says Carmen Ene

With two Master’s degrees in cybernetics & informatics and business administration and management, Ene has held a variety of senior executive positions during her 20-year long career with IBM. For example, in 1995 Ene was appointed the chief financial officer for IBM Romania, a position she for four years.

In March 2001, she accepted the role of general manager for global financing across the EMEA region for IBM. As her career lead her to more central- and western-central locations, Ene became the vice president of risk analytics and fraud solutions in Europe in 2012. In this role, Ene was the risk & compliance, counter-fraud & financial crimes solutions leader for Europe.

Pascal Layan, chairman of the board at BNP Paribas 3 Step IT, said: “Given her proven ability to drive results in core 3StepIT markets, the Board is very pleased that Carmen has agreed to lead the Joint Venture. Our goal is to establish BNP Paribas 3 Step IT as the leading provider of technology lifecycle management solutions in Western Europe, leveraging the BNP Paribas network and customer base. Speaking on behalf of the Board, we are very confident that under Carmen’s leadership, this objective is wholly attainable.”

Carmen Ene, chief executive officer at 3StepIT, explained: “The joint venture represents an exciting opportunity to capitalise on three powerful global trends – digitalisation, sustainability and the shift to remote working – and to support businesses as they transition towards a simpler, more sustainable and efficient model of IT management.”

29% of desktops left behind

Alongside the news of Ene’s appointment, 3StepIT released a report detailing how, during the lockdown, some 29% of desktop PCs across Europe were left in office spaces as employees began working remotely sparking fears over the “potentially devastating impact for the planet.”

The report, entitled The State of Business IT 2020⁽¹⁾, detailed the road ahead for IT decision-makers in the wake of the pandemic as they balance the demands of business resilience, financial responsibility and sustainability.

According to 3StepIT, some 23% of these abandoned PCs are not expected to be required over the next year potentially yielding a drastic environmental impact. This is compounded by the results that 10% of businesses admitted to throwing old and redundant tech into landfill sites and 5% not having an asset disposal policy in place at all.

To find out more about this and the overall theme of the circular economy under the rule of the pandemic, Asset Finance International sat down with Carmen Ene (pictured above).

She explained: “Our research revealed that 84% of businesses across the EU had invested heavily in new technology to facilitate home working. This trend is set to continue, as priority purchases for IT managers favour mobility, including laptops (52%), new IT software (35%) and cloud-based infrastructure (26%).

“Placing an emphasis on the circular principles of reuse and refurbishment at the end of the device lifecycle provides a sustainable IT alternative to using landfills. It ensures businesses can access the latest technology and enables a productive workforce while eliminating electronic waste and achieving their circular economy goals.”

How has the overall dip in trade during the lockdown affected BNP Paribas 3 Step IT?

“The impact of the pandemic has been seismic,” Ene continued, “and you only have to glance at the headlines in papers across the world to see the pressure businesses have been under as economies stutter, working conditions change and the ability to operate efficiently is challenged.

“As a business, we have been fortunate enough to be able to support many of our customers through the rapid digital transformation that was required to facilitate remote working. At the height of the pandemic, we launched a campaign to help businesses transition employees to new workspace environments, allowing them to deploy laptops and iPhones with substantial cost savings when compared to cash. We also buy used and redundant devices from businesses at market price, providing much needed cash injections and reinvestments back to customers looking to fund digital upgrades.

“Like every business, we have had to adapt and adjust our strategy to meet the demands of a particularly challenging environment and to continue to support our people and our customers. We have remained focused on giving more businesses across Europe access to our technology lifecycle management solutions to help them navigate through the crisis.”

Unsung heroes of the pandemic

Ene went on to explain how IT departments across Europe played a crucial role in facilitating businesses’ responses to the pandemic. She said: “For many companies, the IT department was the unsung hero of the crisis, playing a pivotal role in a rapid transition to remote working. Now, a big shift is underway; 84% of companies purchased additional IT to enable employees to work at home, while 60% plan to continue this flexibility.”

According to 3StepIT’s research, the aforementioned host of desktop PCs sitting idle in offices across Europe represent a missed opportunity in terms of IT budgets and could be accelerating the global e-waste crisis. Of the businesses surveyed, some 36% admitted they did not know where their e-waste ended up, yet the demand for businesses to contribute towards solving the climate crisis hasn’t gone away.

Ene added: “Sustainable IT management can be a significant part of the solution. Leading decision-makers are rethinking their asset management strategies, as our research shows that over half of organisations are now likely to finance their assets.”

Considering that many lenders could be struggling with collections and cashflow, what are the main benefits for them to develop the circular economy and invest more in green assets?

According to The Ellen MacArthur Foundation⁽²⁾, the EU is uniquely placed to exploit the investment opportunities that the circular economy offers. In a recent report, the foundation stated that applying circular economy principles could unlock up to €1.8 trillion worth of value for Europe’s economy.

Furthermore, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) calculated that UK businesses could benefit by up to £23 billion per year through low cost, or no cost, improvements in the efficient use of resources⁽³⁾.

Perhaps in recognition of the potential boost to revenue, several big names in the finance sector ramped up their investments in the circular economy throughout 2020. For example:

• BlackRock unveiled an investment fund dedicated to accelerating the global development of a circular economy and has so far raised more than $900 million in its first year of operations;
• BNP Paribas Asset Management has launched a global equity hedge fund to invest in companies grappling with environmental challenges and enable BNP to trade energy, materials, agriculture and industrials stocks in both developed and emerging markets;
• Citigroup has launched a new business unit within its corporate and investment bank dedicated to environmental sustainability to strengthen its commitment to the sector.

Ene continued: “In 2021, it’s likely that environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing will grow further as the sector throws its weight behind green and circular investment opportunities. Sustainable IT isn’t just about businesses helping save the planet. By adopting a green approach to technology asset management, companies also stand to manage IT more simply and efficiently, saving time, money and resources.”

Founded in 1997, 3StepIT offers its technology lifecycle management solutions across Europe, aiming to reduce e-waste and global emissions by helping businesses to consumer technology more sustainably. The company offers an end-to-end approach to the acquisition, management and renewal of IT devices and its dedicated asset management platform provides complete control of all IT devices to simplify upkeep and budgeting.

3StepIT has grown to serve more than 3,000 businesses worldwide, refurbishing and reselling end-of-life IT devices. So far, the company prevents more than half a million devices from being destroyed and sent to a landfill each year.

(1) The State of Business IT 2020 report – https://www.3stepit.com/blog/state-business-it-2020-exploring-it-trends-and-challenges
(2) The Ellen MacArthur Foundation – https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/our-work/approach/business
(3) DEFRA – http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/wraps-vision-uk-circular-economy-2020#:~:text=The%20adoption%20of%20a%20circular,of%20resource%20efficiency%20could%20eventually