We’re living in a time of extreme climate change, sparking a cultural zeitgeist of green policies and environmental conscientiousness. Many mid-to-large-sized businesses are particularly in the spotlight, as the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has revealed that nearly half of all greenhouse emissions worldwide are produced by the industrial, electric, and heat production sectors.
It’s no surprise that major corporations are seeking new ways to minimize their carbon footprint. In this new age of corporate social responsibility, businesses are pledging their commitment to the environment and the future of our planet. They are instituting changes throughout products and processes to lessen their ecological impact and prove their core values to customers, investors, and the public.
At Sertainty, we are always seeking new ways to leverage our software solutions for the greater good, including crucial environmental causes. Our partnerships are chosen thoughtfully and with social impact in mind. As such, we are excited to witness the incredible potential of Uluro Smart Delivery to help businesses reduce their carbon footprint without compromising a safe, secure, and efficient standard of operation.
Empowering Change with Uluro Smart Delivery
In early 2021, Sertainty proudly partnered with software solutions developer Transformations, Inc. to launch Smart Delivery. With Sertainty UXP Technology, Smart Delivery is the first-to-market secure communication delivery system to make emailing data-sensitive documents possible on any device from anywhere.
“The integration of these technologies represents the only data-centric solution available on the market today,” said Sertainty CEO Greg Taylor about the partnership. “Smart Delivery enables customers to go paperless with peace of mind that their personal information is not at risk.”
Smart Delivery is a module of the revolutionary and award-winning product suite, Uluro. A comprehensive front-to-finish Customer Communications Management (CCM) platform, Uluro generates, tracks, and delivers vital customer communications. Uluro allows users to streamline their workflow, reduce costs, and foster unimpeachable trust with clients.
“The best approach to avoid experiencing a data breach is prevention,” said Transformations, Inc. CEO and founder Bill Tidwell. “Smart Delivery is built on unique self-protecting data technology, which offers protection that travels with the data. It is a competitive game-changer in securely managing sensitive customer communications.”
With cyberattacks continually increasing and system vulnerabilities difficult to prevent, tools like Smart Delivery are more critical than ever before. Yet, security is not the only incredible benefit of implementing this communication solution. In addition to its robust, Sertainty-powered data privacy capabilities, Smart Delivery also has a distinct environmental advantage, enabling businesses to quickly and efficiently reduce their carbon footprint at scale.
How Smart Delivery Impacts Your Carbon Footprint
As businesses invest time, resources, and passion into their environmental and energy initiatives, Smart Delivery presents a specific opportunity to make a change. Reflecting on our commitment to a greener future, Smart Delivery helps lower users’ carbon footprint by mitigating the need to share vulnerable data as physical documentation.
We’re undoubtedly living in a digital era, but some forms of communication still lag behind. In particular, many people continue to have reservations about digitizing sensitive documents. Certain government agencies and non-profit organizations still lean heavily on faxing to transfer files and paperwork, not to mention the preference for faxing in the legal sector. In the same vein, certified mail is still the standard for secure delivery of documents such as tax returns, bank statements, and other time-sensitive paperwork.
The main reasoning behind the continued use of fax and certified mail is a lingering concern that emails lack adequate security, and may leave attached documents at risk of interception or a data leak. However, these analog forms of communication come with a steep environmental cost.
The ecological ramifications of sending a fax or physical letter naturally begin with the unnecessary use of paper, which contributes to deforestation. However, this is but one in a long chain of environmental impacts. To weigh the true cost of sending a document through certified mail, one must also consider factors such as the following:
- Emissions produced through harvesting, transporting, and pulping wood
- Emissions produced during the factory production of paper, envelopes, and ink
- Emissions produced by transporting stationery to its end user
- The electricity used to print each letter or document
- Emissions produced during delivery of documentation to its final destination
The widespread ecological price of traditional mail service becomes difficult to comprehend. A carbon emissions analysis of this process begins to illustrate the environmental impact more concretely.
- CO2 emitted per page produced: 5 grams
- CO2 emitted per printed page (electricity and ink): 1.5 grams
- CO2 emitted during letter distribution: 20-40 grams
As such, we might conservatively estimate that to produce, mail, and deliver a single-page document would result in emissions between 25-50 grams of carbon dioxide — an impact 6-10 times higher than the emissions produced by an email, which typically average at an electrical cost of 4 grams each. Furthermore, this gap grows exponentially with the length of a document, with each printed page stacking an ever-increasing burden of carbon emissions on messages sent via physical mail.
To make matters more stark, this mathematical comparison only accounts for a printed document’s cost up to its delivery. The cost of disposal is not considered, which will incur more transportation emissions and add to the growing environmental issue of landfills.
In short, defaulting to paper communications as a means to ensure data privacy can dramatically worsen your carbon footprint. Adding insult to injury, it also takes its toll on your bottom line. Sending documentation through certified mail can cost $5-12 for each letter, and this is in postage alone, not including the money spent on paper and ink. For the same $12, you can send approximately 10,000 emails.
Addressing these significant pain points, Smart Delivery can reassure privacy concerns while drastically reducing the need for physical documentation. It is the most promising new solution on the market for companies looking to transition their communication needs from unsustainable paper consumption to secure digital channels. This opportunity to take even sensitive communications online will not only dramatically cut costs when it comes to your company’s financial bottom line but will also allow you to be ever-more environmentally friendly when it comes to messaging protocols.
Better Partnerships for a Better Future
The partnership between Sertainty and Transformations, Inc. is a shining example that illustrates how forward-thinking companies can develop new innovations that not only lead their field, but do so in a way that embraces the environment. Green initiatives need not sacrifice effectiveness, efficiency, or quality. Case in point: showcasing the versatility and power of Sertainty data privacy, Uluro, and Smart Delivery can impact your carbon footprint while still providing the best CCM solutions available today.
Sertainty can also empower your brand with peerless data protection that works within the files themselves. Data breaches are to some degree inevitable, but with Sertainty, privacy loss doesn’t have to be. From securing your network architecture to ensuring privacy in the realms of research, development, and beyond, Sertainty is eager to partner with organizations that are building a better, greener future.
For more information on Sertainty UXP Technology and our groundbreaking development of self-protecting data, contact us today.