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In recent years, the use of the term sustainability has exploded: companies are in a race to present themselves as "sustainable." In many cases, substance is replaced by marketing: sustainability as a PR objective.
In the FORUM family, we define sustainability as a way of working that ensures that any resources used are not depleted or exhausted (“exploitation”), but have the opportunity to regenerate and even grow. We, therefore, want to "give something back" for what we have received/consumed. We have a time perspective of two to three generations, which is natural for us as a family office.
When it comes to sustainable management, we focus on CO2 sustainability, the sustainability of our customer relationships and the sustainability in the area of employees. And, of course, also the sustainability of succession in family businesses.
All FORUM affiliates are working on projects to reduce their carbon footprint. The starting point is always the inventory, on the basis of which we derive goals and action plans. These points are on the agenda of almost all review meetings, and in the meantime the exchange between the holdings is also increasing significantly.
Our principle of decentralisation leaves the local entrepreneurs free to decide on the pace of CO2 reduction themselves. From our point of view as shareholders, complete CO2 neutrality by 2030 (including offsets) would be desirable.
One of FORUM's central credos is the principle that sales should be generated with products or services that create a benefit for our customers that is as comprehensible as possible. For example, our corporate customers spend money on software because digitization measurably reduces the effort required for processes, or because it enables them to achieve their own goals better.
Our goal is that all sales in our group are based on such “win: win” situations: our customers benefit from the use of our products, and in return they give us a portion of their productivity gains as sales. The resulting profits are therefore good, sustainable profits for us.
With our emphasis on sustainable sales based on comprehensible customer benefits, we give our employees the feeling that their company is doing something meaningful – it is making its customers more successful. In our view, this is a central foundation of “purpose” – the search by many employees for an employer where they can give something back to society. However, “purpose” at FORUM includes more, such as the training of many young people with a successful degree, the integration of refugees or the aid projects that we will discuss in the next paragraph.
"We see our customers as investors. We work hard to ensure they receive a good return on their investment in us."