So we thought for Earth Day we would post a little bit about our little part here at Otis Technologies. As a spiritual person I personally feel that we have been given this earth by God and that we as humans have a responsibility to take care of it in the highest of ways.
In June of ‘07 our parent company, The Chandler Group, made a decision to leave the nice plush corporate offices, the 2 WONDERFUL $5000 leather couches and the 16 person table in the conference room, The floor to ceiling windows, The $40k Cisco IP phone system, and the amazing 3rd floor view overlooking Cool Springs area in Franklin, behind us. We made the conscience decision to have everyone go mobile. The logistics were somewhat of a nightmare and it took us 2 months and 2 phone systems, and countless VPN’s to figure that part out but it all ironed itself out. We now use Gtalk and Packet8 as our virtual office and we couldn’t be happier. We rent out meeting space at a local shared facilities office whenever we need it and utilize Panera for any side face-to-face meetings we need. We found that at first we did weekly face-to-face meetings… then that moved to every 2 weeks… now it is once a month with a phone call every other week to regroup.
It has made working for this company a dream. I have 3 kids and the ability to leave work and be home in 2.5 seconds is great! I can’t remember the last time I put gas in my car and I can’t tell you how much I have saved on lunches and dress clothes! My work attire is Shorts and a nice shirt (and yes I do shower every day unlike the stereotype).
The environmental impact for our small company may not be large but just getting our guys off the road on a daily basis makes them more productive and happier. It also allows them freedom to work and feel invested in the company instead of just a slop who is just doing a J O B.
The next thing we have done is to make sure that our production server environment is in a clean energy facility. Our co-location facility is based in a a TVA city that generates most of its power from hydroelectric and nuclear energy. They have energy efficient cooling systems and we use low powered servers to reduce the overall power consumption. It is in a modern building in a downtown area that allows for less energy and keeps the cooling to a minimum.
All this to say that, like the theme from this years Nashville Earth Day Festival, It all starts with me!. We may not be saving the world in total but it takes us all to be self-aware about what I am doing and how that little part can make a difference.
Happy Earth Day!
