A Sustainable Business Model is Essential in the Modern Age

When the creator of Dodecoin, ‘Shibetoshi Nakamato’, tweeted a meme of an elderly lady calling a customer helpline inquiring whether she could have an offer faxed to her, the irreverent service provider responded with: “Sorry, I can’t fax from where I live.” “Oh, where is that?” the lady asked. “2021. I live in 2021, Susan,” he said.

In response to the humorous quip, Tesla co-founder and environmental activist Elon Musk tweeted a question that should be on the back of the minds of every business both established and burgeoning: “Why do we still have so many paper documents in 2022!?”

Industries reliance on paper is having real world consequences both from a micro and macro perspective. Notwithstanding the environmental impact paper usage generates each year, consumers and in turn shareholders desire business models that put environmental sustainability at the core of their ethos. This is proven in the data: In 2015 millennials – those born between 1996 and the early 21st?century – became the largest generation. This generation is also the most environmentally aware of any generation preceding it as are Generation Z – those born after millennials. According to the consultancy firm Ernst and Young (EY), ‘53% of Gen Z and Millennials say that sustainability is important when making purchase decisions.’

This large cohort are longing for a move away from outdated business models that negate sustainability.

The prevalence of cheques in the MENA region spells trouble for businesses hoping to tap into this modern environmentally conscious consumer market.

Last year in the United Arab Emirates alone over 21m cheques were presented and cleared with a total value of over 272b.?

According to bank BNY Mellon over 400,000 trees are sacrificed for the disbursement of 2.3b cheques collected per annum in the United States.

The fact of the matter is: cheques are bad for the environment, and customers are cognisant of this impact when making decisions about who they trust.

The digital age presents an opportunity for businesses to put sustainability at the core of their practices.

Zink Pay is aware of these challenges and has responded in part with an evolutionary way to process payments: through their biller-initiated direct debit.

This method offers businesses a digital platform to collect and monitor, recurring payments via direct debits from their customer’s bank account.

The business is in complete control of the payment cycle as Zink Pay pulls the payment directly from the customer’s bank account and reconciles the payments back into the businesses’ account software.

According to the above-mentioned EY report Millennials and Gen Z have also expressed concerns regarding the financial strain choosing sustainable products could have on their income.

Zink Pay’s API capabilities are in essence cheaper and faster all the while maintaining sustainability in payment reconciliation. Businesses can eliminate the inadequacies in their existing payment processes while retaining existing customers and acquiring new ones. Not only that, they can make payments their competitive advantage by incorporating a post-paper environmentally aware model at their core.