When Comerica wanted to undergo a major sustainability initiative last year, the Dallas-based bank turned to Deloitte & Touche. Deloitte came up with a plan that included, among other things, an environmentally sustainable prototype of a branch location that could be duplicated elsewhere. This is exactly the type of ambitious plan Deloitte leaders had in mind when the firm launched it Enterprise Sustainability Group in December of 2006.
"There's been a significant increase in the awareness and sensitivity of the professionals in our firm, as well a real strong sense on the part of our leadership group that, as a leading professional services organization, we had much to contribute in the area of sustainability," says Chris Park, a principal with Deloitte Consulting and one of the firm's co-leaders of the Enterprise Sustainability Group.
Park says Deloitte leadership decided early on that any one of the firm's core businesses wasn't sufficient to offer client solutions around sustainability. Instead, all four Deloitte businesses—Consulting, Tax, Financial Advisory Services and Audit & Enterprise Risk Services—work together on sustainability engagements.
"The issues are so complex and so broad that if we wanted to put a consulting offering in the marketplace, it wouldn't be a complete solution unless we included those groups as well," Park says. "The collaboration between the four is essential to offering a complete, end-to-end client solution. And we're still trying to get clients thinking that way; many still aren't thinking about a wholly sustainable enterprise yet."
The multi-pronged approach also allows Deloitte to look at clients' sustainability needs as they relate to a specific industry and sector. "I think this is another differentiator for the firm, not only that we have the four businesses that will enable companies to think about sustainability from beginning to end, but we're taking an industry and sector approach," says Kathryn Pavlovsky, a principal with Deloitte FAS and part of the sustainability group. "Taking a sector-specific ap-proach allows us to go beyond the four walls and really look at the opportunities as they present themselves across a company's entire value chain."
And Jenny Bravo, a director with Deloitte Tax LLP, says the opportunity to work with the other business units gives her and her team the opportunity to invite her clients—usually the VP of tax—into a more strategic discussion, "something we hardly ever get the opportunity to do. Plus, it gives tax people the ability to add value within their own organizations," she says.
Much of the work in the pipeline is fueled by regulatory work around sustainability, says Eric Hespenheide, a partner in Deloitte's Audit & Enterprise Risk Services group. "Companies are looking at potential regulatory changes specifically as they relate to greenhouse gases and carbon emissions," he says. "What are those regulatory changes going to mean to clients? And again, all of [Deloitte's] broad competencies come into play—you have systems needs in regard to capturing information and strategy considerations in terms of how do we incorporate this into our overall business model?"
—Joe Kornik
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