The News: As part of Intel’s 2019-2020 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report, the company outlined its current and future roadmap and its highlights included a glimpse 10 years into the future where the company shared its Rise 2030 plan which focused on Responsibility, Inclusion and Sustainability. Read the full report here.
Analyst Take: To try to look a decade out takes guts. Given the recent turbulence, it would be easy to want to pause and wait to get a better sense of what is happening and when the new/next normal may become more clear. This week, Intel, plowed ahead by releasing its 2019-2020 CSR Report. The report is a lengthy one, which encompasses more than 75 pages and includes a look at the past decade, the company’s recent COVID-19 response, its 2020 goals and results and much more. One part of the report that I found an interest in was the company’s outlook for 2030 and some key targets the company has to be more responsible, inclusive and sustainable.
In the link above to the full report, you can quickly find the company’s specific targets for each category. I wanted to take a moment to provide some analysis on the various areas and point out some of the particularly noteworthy commitments being made by the company.
Intel’s 2030 Responsibility Plan
In the wake of this year’s challenging situation with the COVID-19 pandemic, the desire to be more responsible should be at the top of the list, particularly as it pertains to employee safety. For a company like Intel, where people are employed around the world in offices, remote, factories and the field, having a sound plan to keep the workforce safe is important. The company is targeting a 90%+ rating in employee satisfaction as it pertains to worker safety by 2030 while also having more than 50% participate in the company’s global corporate wellness program.
While the current situation with the pandemic is more of an outlier, it is a reminder of the importance of keeping your workforce safe in situations of an outbreak, but also other types of measures such as mental and physical health. This can include providing support for stress, access to nutritional counseling or fitness for weight management. We’ve seen how COVID-19 has been particularly unforgiving to individuals with underlying health conditions. A more responsible workforce that focuses on its people’s health can mean greater safety.
Other areas of the responsibility plan included investment across the company’s entire supply chain to ensure human rights. With manufacturing contracted around the world, I believe this is an important goal.
The final target is increasing volunteering of employees to more than 10-million hours over the course of the decade–especially in the local communities. Another important and ambitious target that I would expect from a company like Intel.
Intel’s 2030 Inclusion Plan
Another big ambition, especially in technology, is to improve inclusion and diversity. Intel is looking to take a three prong approach to increase employment of women and underrepresented minorities in senior leadership roles and across the company, to advance accessibility to hire a greater number of those that self-identify as having a disability, and to increase spending with diverse suppliers.
All of the three prongs are important and I was pleased to see the specificity delivered here by Intel. For example, 40% of technical roles to be filled by women is an encouraging target as technology is often male dominated.
Intel’s 2030 Sustainability Plan
Recently, I highlighted commentary from Satya Nadella of Microsoft on the company’s plan to be Carbon Neutral and then Carbon Negative over the next several years. As the topic of sustainability has grown in importance, it is good to see other highly influential companies like Intel increasing ambition in this area. Intel’s once again specific targets, which included 100% renewable energy use across global operations, the conservation of 4 bkillion kWh of energy and the goal of increasing product energy efficiency by 10x for client and server microprocessors are a selection of the 2030 targets. Areas like decreasing waste and increasing the expectation of its supply chain to follow suit will also be part of the company’s ambitions in this space.
Overall Impressions of Intel’s 10 Year Roadmap (RISE)
On the surface, these are all good goals. Continued measurement will be important. I genuinely believe at this point, companies with the size and stature of Intel must have a clear strategy to address broader initiative s than just profits and returns to shareholders. In essence, these types of initiatives to some extent are table stakes. Having said that, I believe that Intel did a nice job laying out very measurable and specific goals to achieve its multi-prong plan to be more responsible, inclusive and carbon neutral. With 2030 being a ways away, I envision Intel will aggressively work to achieve these goals and even push the envelop to do better as objectives are achieved. A sound overall start to the next decade–I always welcome greater investment and commitment to people, communities and the earth.
Futurum Research provides industry research and analysis. These columns are for educational purposes only and should not be considered in any way investment advice.
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Image: Intel
The original version of this article was first published on Futurum Research.
Daniel Newman is the Principal Analyst of Futurum Research and the CEO of Broadsuite Media Group. Living his life at the intersection of people and technology, Daniel works with the world’s largest technology brands exploring Digital Transformation and how it is influencing the enterprise. From Big Data to IoT to Cloud Computing, Newman makes the connections between business, people and tech that are required for companies to benefit most from their technology projects, which leads to his ideas regularly being cited in CIO.Com, CIO Review and hundreds of other sites across the world. A 5x Best Selling Author including his most recent “Building Dragons: Digital Transformation in the Experience Economy,” Daniel is also a Forbes, Entrepreneur and Huffington Post Contributor. MBA and Graduate Adjunct Professor, Daniel Newman is a Chicago Native and his speaking takes him around the world each year as he shares his vision of the role technology will play in our future.