Source: EMT n. 4/2009. Author: Antonio Biasi

The series of visits to companies operating in compliance with CSR took another step forward on 28 May 2009 in getting in touch with CSR policies in the area of Treviso. As usual, the visit began at 3 p.m., when the group gathered at Aton S.p.A. headquarters in Villorba (province of Treviso). Aton S.p.A. was born in 1988 as leader in Italy in the field of Mobile & Wireless Computing, operating through its branches in Treviso, Rome, Turin, Bologna and Milan. Above all, its success is due to twenty-year long cross-vertical experience and technological innovation in the industry, food retail, consumer durables and fast-moving consumer goods sectors. Aton is committed to applying mobile computing to the above areas with a view to helping outdoor professionals make their activities more effective. As a matter of fact, the company is specifically oriented towards the world of dynamic people and technologies characterizing a current global competitive environment with no barriers: to pursue this objective, it cooperates with international operators in order to ensure enterprise mobility by means of dedicated services and standard global solutions. Staff skills and experience in mobile digital technologies represent the company's strategic lever contributing to its customers' success as well. Aton's mission, on the other hand, is to foster growing, sustainable profits while focusing on people, culture, environment, work and life quality. Aton's guiding principles:

With this view in mind, Aton obtained the ISO 9001certification in 2000, applying to all its five branches. These steps can be traced back to the company's main objective, that is, customer satisfaction. Customers receive practical support on the theme of efficiency of the services offered, such as infrastructures and third party relations. Practically speaking, these actions are possible thanks to:

• the company's core business;
• Aton's monitoring over the whole project phases, which provides customers with a guarantee of system efficiency along with the maximum yield and resulting TCO* reduction;
• a strong policy of partnership with the main mobile computing groups worldwide (e.g. Motorola, Siemens, Toshiba) and internationally-oriented approach which led to acquiring foreign firms operating in the same field: 51% stock of Altec S.L. in Madrid (Spain) and Sofni in Portugal;
• constant commitment to CSR by means of respecting: ISO 9001 standards; the guiding values expressed in the company's CSR Charter; the 10 principles suggested by Global Compact; OECD guidelines.

Giorgio De Nardi, president of Aton S.p.A., personally presented the company with a contribution on the importance of CSR resulting from the personal, deep-rooted belief that companies have a close relation with the area and community they are located in. Many participants took part in the discussion, also asking for more information on some outstanding activities carried out during these years, such as the outsourcing of maintenance activities to a local prison community. The project "Carcere di S. Bona di Treviso", launched with the non-profit association Informatici senza frontiere has been operating since 2007. In this project, prisoners are first taught by Aton employees how to repair computing components. Afterwards, they are actively involved in ordinary maintenance activities, which help them reinforce their economic and social role as part of their rehabilitation. Interest aroused on the recent "ISF for Abruzzo" action, thanks to which two workstations with Internet access were provided for free in a small town called Ocre near L'Aquila, for the benefit of young people hit by the terrible heartquake in Abruzzo in April 2009.

More examples of CSR best practices: energy saving solutions, recycling and reusing scrap materials, cutting company car fleet emissions, being an example for awareness-raising (e.g. cleaning the Laguna del Mort in Venice along with some employees), giving due value to human resources by means of lifelong learning, fringe benefit, guided visits focused on culture and nature, supporting the introduction of computers into schools.

Stakeholders were informed of these actions in different ways:
• employees through meetings and society dinners;
• customers and suppliers through periodical meetings to analyze and monitor stakeholders satisfaction on a one-to-one basis with surveys and presenting case histories;
• local community through articles on local and national newspapers, economic journals and specialised magazines.

As a whole, CSR commitment and communication at Aton brought about enhanced competitiveness thanks to:
• an excellent corporate image and recognition by suppliers and the public;
• more cooperation and participation by collaborators;
• customer loyalty.

Aton's core business, in compliance with its mission, is made up of specialised software, hardware and services for sales management and warehouse logistics. Its activities are mainly targeted at specific companies and professionals, aimed at supporting them through the following services:
• initial strategic consultancy in working with customised business software and subsequent maintenance and management;
• high value added software for the whole supply chain (manufacturing, logistics, distribution, sales) thanks to combined products and services in: 
  a. solutions with industrial approach to huge economies of scale:
      i. distribution logistics, sales management and monitoring
      ii. warehouse logistics
  b. solutions with project-oriented approach to huge economies of experience and customisation level:
      i. field automation
      ii. production control
      iii. subscriptions management
  c. help desk throughout the whole lifecycle of solutions and products supplied.

The visit concluded and some participants' remarks were shot to be published on the website. Watch the video on YouTube

This interesting experience also allowed to note down some operational hints which might not have been evident to everyone before.

Watch the video on YouTube

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*Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is an approach developed in 1987 by Gartner to measure the total costs in the lifecycle of an IT component, including its purchase, installation, management, maintenance and disposal.