Nasdaq

In this episode of Nasdaq ESG Trendsetters, we hear from Nick Cerise, Chief Marketing Officer at TTEC, a leading customer experience technology and services organization focused on the design, implementation, and delivery of transformative customer experience for brands around the world.

ESG is at the core of TTEC’s operations and has always been integral to its business practices. Cerise highlights why ESG is important to TTEC, sharing insights into the organization’s impact strategy and the team behind its execution.

TTEC’s Impact Strategy

While many organizations get the environmental and governance components right, they often struggle with the social component, according to Cerise. He shares, “The S is at the core of what we can drive real, impactful and sustainable change within. And that's what we've built an entire practice around and how we go to market and what we deliver to businesses all over the world.” And the social component of ESG is where TTEC focuses most of its impact strategy.

TTEC’s impact strategy is grounded in a seven-pillar framework designed to drive impact for both clients and the organization. These pillars include:

1. Impact Locations: Identifying the communities where TTEC wants to drive change.
2. Impact Education: Creating development programs in partnership with local educational facilities to help individuals progress and develop their skills.
3. Impact Sourcing: Building partnerships with local communities to identify and bring marginalized individuals into TTEC’s ecosystem.
4. Impact Careers: Designing career paths and digital work readiness programs to help individuals build professional careers.
5. Impact Community: Developing strategies to maximize the impact on the community, such as hiring local service providers.
6. Impact Measurement: Measuring the social impact of TTEC’s programs and providing this data to clients for their ESG reports.
7. Impact Investing: Identifying organizations that want to invest in the community and support impact entrepreneurs.

ESG Strategy Execution Is a Team Effort

While the impact practice is led by Cerise, he explained that TTEC’s ESG strategy execution is a team effort. In addition to Cerise, TTEC’s ESG council is made up of leaders across the organization. The environmental side is led by the Global VP of Real Estate, the social side is led by the Chief People Officer, and the governance side is led by the Chief Risk and Legal Officer. Together, this council is responsible for tracking ESG commitments and ensuring alignment across the organization to deliver the best outcomes.

Beyond the internal team, TTEC has partnered with Nasdaq ESG Solutions to support the organization’s ESG progress. From engaging the Nasdaq ESG Advisory team for a materiality assessment to implementing Nasdaq Metrio for streamlined reporting, Cerise explains the value in Nasdaq’s support and alignment with TTEC’s strategy.

Advice for Other Companies

Cerise poses an important question, “How do you align, authentically, the change that you want to drive to the brand that you want?” He emphasizes the importance of being authentic to the brand and identifying the most important areas to drive impact. TTEC helps brands develop programs that align with their core impact objectives through "zones of impact opportunity" workshop sessions, utilizing the seven-pillar approach outlined above. This process helps brands create meaningful social change that is aligned with their values and the communities they serve.

Cerise’s insights provide a comprehensive overview of TTEC’s approach to ESG, highlighting the importance of social impact and the strategies employed to drive meaningful change. TTEC’s commitment to ESG serves as a valuable example for other organizations looking to tell their own ESG story.