Sustainability
At SonataSW, we consider it natural for our company that to make decisions, so that our strategy and business processes include protecting and improving the environment, and not compromising human rights and ethical business principles in terms of sustainable development goals (https://sdgs.un.org/), see our SonataSW Sustainability.pdf
We at SonataSW are convinced that, where corruption is entrenched, it is difficult to meet other sustainable development goals.
That is why it is important for our company to support organizations that reveal or expose corruption, especially in our homeland.
“I am glad that in my entrepreneurial journey I had the strength to stay true to moral principles and the rules of fair business.
Slovakia, the country in which our company was founded, is among the countries that have not had a good rating in global corruption indices for a long time (https://www.transparency.org/en/countries/slovakia). And therefore, it is no exception that our company also had negative experiences with corruption – one of our work opportunities was participating in a team of specialist subcontractors on a project for a government institution. After revealing a form of corruption and unfair business practices, where we would have become part of the fraud, we unilaterally terminated the contractual relationship with the customer, despite the fact that this attitude has caused us significant financial damage in the long term, extending to the present.
This experience was the turning point where we stopped delivering our professional services to order. We have created a SaaS platform for the general business community as a product that entrepreneurs – our esteemed business partners – rent from us, which, in addition to consulting, makes up almost one hundred percent of our revenues.
I believe that it is possible to do business without bribery and fraud. The product itself, its quality, and especially the good name of SonataSW have aroused the interest of even big companies, which as corporations have demanding requirements not only for high quality and safety of the product, but also for the seriousness and value setting of the supplier.
It is also important for us to support organizations that reveal or expose corruption (especially in our country), and therefore, on our own initiative, we have been supporting investigative journalists for a long time by operating an information system that we have created specifically for this purpose.
SonataSW does business fairly and tries to contribute to society with what it is extraordinary at.”
„While there have been successes, our climate, water resources, oceans, forests, soils and biodiversity are all increasingly threatened“, said John Elkington*, a world authority on sustainability development.
That’s why we support organizations that protect forests, and also we engage in green projects.
“No one can fight alone against the increasing changes in the environment. However, each of us has the potential to achieve something so that the environment that surrounds us is not destroyed completely. As part of the whole of human society, each of us has the chance to preserve our environment for future generations.
I am an environmentally minded person, so it is no coincidence that I chose living in the middle of nature outside Bratislava to live with my family. I appreciate the fact that I was allowed to work from my home, although back then it was not as common as nowadays. This decision was the impulse that made others in the company think about the necessity of travelling and using a car to work every day. In addition to other social benefits, the current home-office significantly reduces CO2 emissions in the long term.
At SonataSW, we often reflect on the environment. We follow current environmental trends that we can use both in our company and in our homes, such as eco-friendly heating methods. Together we have come up with many eco-friendly IT solutions that we have also implemented in our system. I am pleased that we have developed a product that fully replaces paper-based communication.
I have been involved in forest protection for a long time – I support a non-profit organization that protects forests in Slovakia. We also use a web search engine focused on environmental protection, which I use to “plant” trees around the world.
In addition, we donate part of our automated payments to green projects at SonataSW. We think about the future conceptually and comprehensively, so we not only save trees, but also save the energy used in running IT technologies.
Environmental protection is and always will be part of SonataSW’s corporate strategy. Our goal for the coming years is to find further opportunities for protecting the environment in the IT field and to increase awareness of these opportunities in our community and in our cooperation with our business partners.
We think about the environment in every decision we do – we are Thinking about the Future.”
The circular economy minimizes waste and resource depletion. Climate change is not indifferent to us.
Therefore, reducing the carbon footprint as much as possible is also our ecological priority.
Circular economy
Given our environmental responsibility with a focus on the future in the sense of the UN Sustainability Goals, as well as national and European regulations, standards, and measures such as the EU’s A new circular economy action plan for a cleaner and more competitive Europe or the national document of the Slovak Ministry of the Environment: The Strategy for Environmental Policy of the Slovak Republic until 2030, we are aware that every product can be reused.
Each of us, and together as a company, strive to produce less waste as part of the mission of the circular economy. Waste separation is already a matter of course for us, as well as the use of packaging-free products.
Recycling is important to us, including e-waste – although our work computers usually contain sensitive and confidential data, we always delete them thoroughly because we want them to continue to serve others who
still could use them. Special technologies such as servers, while maintaining data security of course, are kept in running for as long as possible to reduce the environmental impact of their production.
Reducing energy consumption
It is only a logical consequence of the choice of technology that the environment is kept in mind. When designing our infrastructure, we always think about how often and how powerful our servers need to be and whether we can save electricity by running them, of course without reducing the quality of our services.
Team SonataSW
The residual heat generated by the data centre equipment is used to heat the surrounding buildings and greenhouses.
That is why we use the services of a company that have had the first ecological data centre in Slovakia.
Data centre
As we are a software company, it is significant for us who we cooperate with regard to the location of our servers, so when selecting a company that operates data centres, we take into account the company’s respect for the environment and the surroundings in which it is active.
We have chosen to use the services of a company that had the first eco-friendly green data centre in Slovakia. They use modern ecological technologies in the operation of the data centres, thus saving electricity, preventing waste production, and extending the life of the equipment used. They further use the residual heat generated by the data centre equipment to heat buildings and greenhouses. The use of housing services and cooperation with this environmentally responsible Slovak company is beneficial and gratifying for SonataSW.
The data centre that we use for our customers’ data storage stands out for its high operational efficiency and reliability, as well as being environmentally friendly.
Team SonataSW
We pass on the lasting values of our work to the younger generation, which is interested in learning new business methods.
That is why we selflessly provide our product to university students of economics, not only as an application itself, but also in the form of lectures and consultations.
We are aware that health is irreplaceable and if we want to support our business partners, we have to be healthy and satisfied ourselves.
That is why we at SonataSW prefer a healthy lifestyle and the work-life balance.