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SHIFTING MINDSETS
IN NORWAY
Norway country manager Peer Velde explains
how 3 Step IT grew 25% in 2017, in a static
market, where attitudes towards leasing and
the circular economy are starting to change.
Today this no longer happens: companies need to
see data securely erased from both smartphones
and PCs. This is a particularly acute requirement
for Norway’s oil companies, concerned to protect
their patents and other sensitive information.
It’s important to understand that Norway has not
always been a leasing country. People tend to
own their houses and cars, and companies have
tended to buy rather than lease IT equipment.
Attitudes are changing, with IT using subscription
based cloud services and shifting towards more
sustainable thinking.
Hospitals, schools and more
We manage some 60,000 assets, including PCs,
screens and docking stations for hospitals in the
south east of Norway. In addition to financing the
initial investment, we help these hospitals keep
track of their equipment through our asset management tool.
The circular economy concept is starting to take
off. People are moving from a use and dispose
mentality to a re-cycle and re-use mind-set. Public and private sector businesses are increasingly
concerned with being more sustainable, and that
is starting to change behaviour. The environmental impact of IT equipment had been neglected in
Norway and that too is changing. Now we have
momentum, this trend is a tail wind for our business: with 20 years of delivering more sustainable IT, we have a uniquely powerful perspective
to offer our customers.
Hospitals in the south east are the first to use our
leasing and life cycle services widely. An important region for us today, it offers a potential entry
point to the health sector in other regions as they
consider their policies for IT acquisition and sustainability.
Schools form another big public-sector customer segment for us. While e-learning has been
relatively slow to take off in Norway, schools
are beginning to turn to iPads as their device of
choice. We have financed tens of thousands of iPads to schools around the country, with contracts
agreed for tens of thousands more.
Beating the market
We have grown consistently for the past four
years, and grew our business 25% in 2017. I’m
really proud of this record, achieved in a static IT
leasing market.
Retaining key employees
Finally, I would like to pay tribute the team that
delivered exceptional results in 2017. Our business requires a scarce skill combination: professionals who combine an understanding of finance
with the ability to sell and support clients. We put
a lot of effort into finding the right people, and we
take good care of them. Sustainability fuels our
HR policies: an 11 year average employment period reveals employees who find motivation and
fulfilment at 3 Step IT. We want use our growth
to enrich their career opportunities: to help them
develop and keep them engaged in rewarding
careers.
At the same time our capabilities have evolved.
We have moved beyond the limited horizon of the
financing specialists we used to be. Today we act
as a service partner for our clients: helping them
with environmental issues, keeping track of their
equipment, and disposing of data securely. IT
security is becoming an ever more critical issue.
It used to be common for companies to donate
their used IT equipment to schools, kindergartens and their employees.
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