What our stakeholders say: 8 insights shaping Barco’s sustainability journey
2024 stories · Corporate · Strategy · People · 9 min read
What do our stakeholders really think of Barco’s sustainability approach? What are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and risks? To uncover their views, we engaged with them directly through a double materiality assessment. Here’s a summary of their diverse perspectives: 18 quotes, bundled in 8 insights – plus a short description of how we take action to enhance our approach.
INSIGHT 1
Sustainable business is good – and smart – business: we are on the right track
"Barco is ahead of the curve. Building quality products, includes making more sustainable products. We are excited that Barco is talking about sustainability with us. You are the first supplier to do so. Let’s continue the conversation."
- Leading entertainment technology company (cinema)
"Barco products have low negative impact as they last for many years."
- Healthcare expert, member of Barco’s Surgical Advisory Board
★ Action: We continue to build on our strong sustainability foundation, while expanding and deepening the scope of our activities.
INSIGHT 2
Put theory to practice: share concrete action plans and data
"If a customer does not have sustainability reduction targets coupled with concrete action plans, it will become difficult to trade, to the point whereby they will fail to do business."
- Distributor of Barco Healthcare solutions
"The first action for Barco should be to make an LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) of all products in their product portfolio. Then start making action plans for the most important impacts."
- Distributor of Barco Healthcare solutions
"Environmental requirements are entering public tenders in Malaysia and Singapore. Indonesia and Thailand will catch up. A sustainability focus helps get a competitive advantage over Chinese competitors."
- Large distributor of Barco Enterprise solutions
★ Action: Barco is investing in the capabilities to conduct Life Cycle Assessments of its products and tailor actions accordingly.
INSIGHT 3
Explore the opportunities of a more circular economy
"The circular economy is a way to have a positive impact combined with a financial opportunity. It can allow Barco to get closer to our (end) customer and have recurring revenue."
- Member of Barco’s Board of Directors
"We focus on the circular economy part of the products. Barco should focus more on the end-of-the-life of the products. What happens to ClickShare buttons? Can we investigate take back programs or other solutions?"
- Customer, renowned AV distributor
★ Action: We’re stepping up our efforts to offer more circular solutions.
INSIGHT 4
Help customers to be more sustainable
"As monitors become brighter and brighter, the first step is to look at the energy efficiency of the product. The second step is to build a software solution to make it easy or the user to assess his energy intake (Energy fleet management). This will enable our customers to steer their own usage."
- Distributor of Barco Healthcare solutions
"Invest in modular technology. Put additional focus on software updates containing new features, that can run on older hardware. This not only leads to an extension of the product's life, but also lowers the TCO for the customer."
- Customer, renowned AV distributor
★ Action: Our ecodesign program helps lower our customers’ environmental footprint.
INSIGHT 5
Keep up the investments in Diversity & Inclusion
"How do we position ourselves as Barco: as a B2B/engineering company or do we think broader about our impact and purpose on society, certainly towards the younger generation? How do we include different people that look from different angles towards society? What you are good at today might not be relevant tomorrow, a diverse population can rebound this."
- Member of Barco’s Board of Directors
"Barco measures the pay gap, but doesn’t disclose it. We’d be interested to know more about it. What are Barco's ambitions to increase the share of women in management levels? Take action to balance gender at every level."
- Investor
★ Action: We aim to accelerate our Diversity & Inclusion program.
INSIGHT 6
Keep investing in talent
"Since Barco thrives on innovation, having smart, knowledgeable and ambitious people is key. Without them, Barco’s success can quickly fade. Therefore, talent and career development is absolutely essential."
- Academic institution
"People are the drivers of innovation. Talent and career development is not sufficiently embedded within the organization, we lack tools to keep talents motivated and let high potentials grow. This is a serious risk towards the future."
- Barco employee
★ Action: In 2024, we raised our learning KPI, setting a goal to increase formal external learning hours from 15.8 to 20 hours per employee per year.
INSIGHT 7
Keep up the innovation efforts – and don’t forget business models
"Review your business models. Hospitals increasingly choose OpEx instead of CapEx investments."
- Radiologist
"I’m impressed by Barco’s current strategy and ambition to go forward. Make sure to spend sufficient innovation efforts on sustainable projects as this will be a main differentiator towards customers. Develop a sustainability uniqueness that materializes in the relation with your customers. Think about the transition towards as-a-service business models."
- Leading sustainability expert
★ Action: We aim to drive sustainable change through innovation and technology. This includes exploring new business models.
INSIGHT 8
Be louder about your sustainability efforts
"Barco should invest in the marketing of their ESG efforts. Marketing will help improve the perception of the Barco products and the way clients value ESG and quality. This can serve a justification of the price premium"
- Large distributor of Barco Enterprise solutions
"Barco’s ClickShare products range help avoid travel while improving the experience for the participants but you do not communicate about this sustainability aspect – this is a missed opportunity."
- Distributor of our ClickShare range
"Barco invests in sustainable product lifecycle management. But we can do a better job at promoting it to the employees. Share the goals and how we can reach them."
- Barco employee
★ Action: The new sustainability strategy that we launched in 2024 serves as a compass for our sustainability actions in the coming years.
Read more on how we're stepping up our sustainabilty efforts
