ECS - IT leasing: Optimizing the use of IT resources and equipment.

Objectives:
  • improve the way in which electronic and electrical waste is managed,
  • improve on quality of service thanks to well-trained personnel.
Highlights in 2008:
  • 2,000th student to enter the ECS Academy,
  • ISO 9001 certification is renewed.
Electronic and electrical waste management
ECS finances and manages Société Générale's IT equipment and resources in a dozen or so European countries. This equipment is made up of numerous components which can be a major source of pollutant waste if they are not recycled at the end of their lives. In line with the EU Directive governing electronic and electricity waste, all ECS subsidiaries recover all of the equipment and resources that have reached the end of their lives from their customers' premises and transfer them to centres that where they are classed and tested. After testing, equipment is either reused (sold on to a broker or used elsewhere) or sent on to a registered centre to be processed.
In France, ECS is able to find a second use for around 80% of the equipment it retrieves. The remaining 20% is dismantled and the components that have any market value are resold.
Barcode labelling ensures the traceability of equipment, including downstream if it is transferred to a service provider for recycling. ECS goes beyond its legal obligations, using waste follow-up slips and serial numbers which are optional. Moreover, the recovery and recycling of equipment is always carried out in the country in question (in this case in the EU member states), which avoids any dispatching to countries with lower environmental standards. Lastly, ECS regularly inspects the premises of its different service providers.
Training staff in the high quality standards imposed by ECS
Set up eight years ago to accompany the company's development, the ECS Academy trains ECS personnel in the company's different business activities. This internal training centre provides company employees with ongoing training, both in the latest technologies and in the different activities and services of the Group.
In 2008, the AFAQ (the French Quality Assurance Association) renewed ECS' ISO 9001 certification for its Services business. The geographic scope of this certification covers France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and Spain. This renewal once again comes in recognition of the company's compliance with the standard's requirements and their concrete application in the quality policy developed by ECS over several years now.
ECS' quality of service is also recognised by its clients. In July 2008, a customer survey showed that 93.8% of ECS customers were satisfied with the services provided by ECS (average satisfaction rating of 16.2/20 for the projects carried out for its customers).