Document management company pledges to plant a forest of trees in Africa

Blisworth, 27th May 2009 – Document management company, Invu has introduced a customer referral scheme that will reward its customers for recommending Invu to others.  Building on the green focus of Invu’s products, the scheme will see Invu purchase 25 trees in Africa, via Oxfam, for every customer recommendation made.   By investing in the environment in this way, Invu can encourage endorsements, whilst at the same time helping restore deforested land in Africa to generate new income for farmers.  The scheme, which was launched in March, has already been very popular with customers, enabling Invu to order its first 150 trees at the end of the first month, and is on target to order an additional 150 trees in May.

Taking part in the customer referral scheme means that customers can build on the green credentials already afforded by using Invu’s digital document management (DDM), such as:
•   Using less paper - Reducing the amount of printing paper documents and emails. This not only helps the environment, but can also help to reduce paper-related costs by up to 88%
•   Helping the environment - Reducing faxing and photocopying - scanned documents can be sent electronically
•   Reducing carbon footprint - With Invu’s web client solution, staff can work from home or other business locations, reducing the need to travel.

Nick Jones, Head of Marketing at Invu, comments: “The customer referral scheme makes a positive contribution to our business in many ways.  Not only can we generate leads, but also we can also reinforce Invu’s green focus.  Invu’s software helps businesses move toward becoming a paperless office, and taking part in the scheme means that - together - we can help with reforestation, both of which can form a significant part of customers’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy.”

Invu selected this particular method of rewarding loyal customers because buying trees can help spread the environmental benefits further than just within the UK.  In Africa, countries such as Ethiopia suffer from 95% deforestation, and by purchasing trees via Oxfam which founded the Harur Tree Nursery to grow seedlings which are then given to farmers, Invu can spread green benefits further.  These seedlings ultimately provide income for farmers in multiple ways:

•   Grown trees can provide fruit or nuts to help communities become self sufficient
•   Trees provide shade and shelter
•   The trees can help stabilise soil conditions, so that problems such as soil erosion are prevented
Invu is a member of the BASDA (British Application Software Developers Association) Green Charter, which shows that the company has been recognised as a business that is driving the switch to a carbon efficient economy, both within its own organisation and through its software solution.