TECH FOR GOOD: Technology for the Common Good

Newsletter July - August 2019

This is the new term in vogue in the Tech industry. Whether you are a large company, a startup or a GAFA, you must be able to demonstrate that your business, beyond its economic performance, contributes positively to the common good. In the background, it is the redefinition of the company's place and role within our societies that is at stake.

If we hear so much about Tech for Good today, it is first and foremost because the incredible development of the sector in recent years has raised important issues for our companies:

• The environmental impact of the technology, whether through its huge rare earth needs or the CO2 emissions of its servers, is a concern.
• The deregulation of the labour market caused by the emergence on the market of platforms that exploit a low-paying workforce while taking maximum advantage of the data generated, is disrupting social and economic balances.
• The massive exploitation of personal data has created an ethical risk that the legislator is just beginning to address (Cf. DGMP).
• The manipulation of social networks and the development of Fake news jeopardizes our democratic practices.
• The overpower of the GAFAM (Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft) competes with the sovereignty of the States.

Awareness raising

The advent of the Tech for Good concept therefore sounds, in this context, like an awareness. If Tech has been an accelerator of the effects of globalization, can it be the lever to achieve the Sustainable Development Objectives (ODD) of the UN? "For some companies, it is a question of pivoting their model, for others of making it their core business or putting their tools at the service of social and environmental objectives," says Pierre-Marie Lehucher, President, TECH IN France, who participated in a PwC study on the phenomenon in France. Proof of its growing importance: on May 15, the second Tech for Good Summit was held at the Élysée. It brought together 80 leaders of major companies, start-ups, associations and actors in the global digital ecosystem to reflect on how technological innovation can work for the common good, on themes such as: access to education, diversity, work, social inclusion and environmental protection. In France, the sector is particularly dynamic and is structured around a convergence of technology and the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE), which already represents 10% of the national GDP.

Beware of social washing

In the same way that the wave of sustainable development has known greenwashing. Tech for Good is not immune to a form of social washing, from companies that have understood the importance of appearing more virtuous but do not really give themselves the means. If the development of social and environmental rating agencies or the increased requirement for non-financial corporate transparency is a favourable ground, it will probably be necessary to go further by defining clear criteria and benchmarks. The UN SDSs appear, in this, as a draft framework.

Be Good or Die

But those who do not take the train on the move will be at risk of disappearing. As Pierre Marty, PwC Partner in charge of the Technology sector, points out: "Today, questioning its raison d'être, assessing its social or environmental impact is no longer an option and goes beyond the realm of morality: it has become a necessary condition for the sustainability of the business and the creation of value. »

Isahit for Good!

Nearly 2 billion people still live today on less than $2 a day. 70% of them are women. Isahit has developed a platform for socially responsible outsourcing of digital tasks in order to make digital a lever for their emancipation and social advancement. Member of the Global Impact Sourcing Coalitionwe are committed every day:

- so that our hairy can finance their various life projects: continue their studies, launch an entrepreneurial activity, get training, buy equipment...

- but also to offer a competitive service And innovative to our corporate clients, which is perfectly in line with their CSR policy.

In short, a win-win solution that helps to reduce poverty and provide decent work for people in developing countries, which are objectives 1 and 8 of the United Nations' MDGs.

Key figures

- isahit's objective within 5 years: to provide employment opportunities to more than 10,000 people in Africa

- Make 2,000 people work at the end of the year to impact 8,000 people

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