Helping build a greener NHS
Back in 1987, the United Nations defined sustainability as "meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." It may be a hot topic today but the need for sustainable business has always been vital. That's why the team at babblevoice have been committed to building a sustainable company from the very beginning.
And it's also why the Greener NHS programme was launched in 2020, becoming the world's first health service to commit to reaching carbon net zero.
Leveraging cloud telephony technology
When a surgery or PCN makes the move to cloud-based telephony from a legacy system, they take a step towards a more sustainable solution because a cloud-hosted system like babblevoice reduces their energy consumption.
Cloud-hosting removes the need for each surgery site to house a server. Instead, a company such as babblevoice can run group servers in more effective and efficient ways for multiple customers. This reduces the overall energy that is used to maintain the running of the telephony system – good for the planet, and good for budgets.
Making sustainable choices
"We have always been careful to select providers who match our own sustainability ethos", explains our co-founder Nick Knight. "Right from the start we have used the most efficient servers and chosen equipment that consumes the lowest power. For example, we have maximised the use of ARM processors because they have around 27 times less power demand than Intel processors.
"We have also always considered how to reduce energy usage as much as possible in our own custom-built software," continues Nick. "Highly efficient code for example, enables us to maximise the number of phone calls per unit power of processing which contributes to an overall system that minimises energy consumpution."
Babblevoice has remained committed to this approach by working with companies such as EMIS Health who take their environmental responsibilities seriously, with a carbon reduction in development to achieve net zero by 2045 at the very latest, if not before, and AWS, provider of on-demand cloud computing platforms who aim to be operating on 100% renewable energy by 2025.
"EMIS is committed to sustainability and doing the best we can for our customers and partners. We recognise that net zero cannot be achieved in isolation and are fully engaged with our partners in realising not only this goal, but also positive societal and environmental benefits." Sarah Pellegriti, Sustainability Manager at EMIS Health.
Achieving cost savings in primary care
Over the last six months the ability to reduce energy consumption has become even more critical due to the hugely volatile energy markets that have sent costs soaring. Our sustainability focus means babblevoice can achieve savings for our customers in areas including hosting costs, server costs and electricity costs.
Onwards and upwards
And of course, our sustainability journey doesn't stop here. Our plans for 2023 and beyond include continuing our AWS cloud migration in order to improve reliability and scalability to help us achieve even greater power consumption reductions. We have also set ourselves a goal that the next edition of babblevoice will attain increased energy efficiencies by utilising intelligent infrastructure that switches off when it's not needed.
We remain as committed to ensuring babblevoice is a responsible, sustainable company today, as Nick and Antoine were right at the beginning of our journey. We are looking forward to a positive future for us, our customers, and the next generation.
If you'd like to explore how your surgery could save energy costs and contribute to the NHS's green aspirations by switching to customised cloud-based telephony, please get in touch.
