With several renewable energy projects underway, Devon-based Dial Green's mission is to be the partner of choice for green environmentally aware organisations. According to Bob Boothby, Managing Director, Dial Green is ‘probably the greenest telecoms company in the UK'.

Boothby has been in the telecoms industry for 15 years and during that time successfully developed a telecoms reseller business that he sold to Opal Telecom in 2005, with the intention of pursuing other interests. Moving to North Devon, Boothby and business partner Kate Jones purchased a failing accommodation business, and within two years made it a success, achieving many environmental awards including Gold from the Green Tourism Business scheme. "It was great getting back to our countryside roots, said Boothby. "It made us acutely aware of the environment we live in. The success of Millbrook Cottages as an eco estate has been fantastic."

While in the pursuit of establishing Millbrook, Boothby could not resist the lure of the telecoms industry. Knowledge gained from past businesses enabled him to offer an ethical and efficient telecoms service to businesses and organisations - so Dial Green was born. Its main office is located in the renovated corn store at Millbrook in rural Devon.

"An essential part of the new business was to ensure that the environmental credentials were bullet proof with an aim to continuously improve our green vision," said Boothby. "Dial Green first looked at its office procedures to ensure they were environmentally aware, starting with supply chain and recycling policies. If a supplier does not reach our environmental requirements we have no hesitation in implementing a new environmental partner. Our offices even have a recycling centre where we recycle everything possible from batteries to light bulbs. In fact 98 per cent of our waste is recycled."

Dial Green is working towards EMS and ISO 14001 with the help of Envision, the green business mentors. In pursuit of Dial Green's objectives, being self-sufficient in energy, several renewable energy projects have been instigated and completed including the installation of PV and solar panels, a 5kw wind turbine, a water turbine and a bio mass boiler to heat the offices. "We have even installed an air-to-air heat pump for the not so warm English summers," added Boothby. "This now means that the Dial Green offices and the estate are self-sufficient in electricity usage."

To complement Dial Green's impressive green credentials, Boothby runs a lean and efficient business with a number of home workers, negating the use of cars or public transport, enabling the business to compete effectively in the marketplace. Customers' visits are kept to a minimum as the company uses web and videoconferencing, as well as using the train system where possible.

"We are dedicated to our customer service and believe we have one of the lowest churn rates in the industry. Over the last two years our churn rate has been less than one per cent. We achieved this by selling green products to green businesses, providing competitive solutions, and not profiteering from customers at any stage of their contract. Our customer service staff are on first name terms with 98 per cent of our customers, which really does help in resolving issues, faults and competitive offerings."

Boothby has also found that cross selling has been a major benefit in its customer satisfaction statistics. "Due to the fact that we have a green ethos it is easy to expect payment by direct debit, and 98 per cent of our customers are on electronic billing. These green factors allow us to keep our cost base low, enabling us to invest in efficient back office systems. Kingston Communications is our main provider of minutes and we use Eclipse, which is a carbon neutral company, for our business broadband offerings."

Boothby enjoys being challenged by his customers to prove his environmental credentials. "Challenges make us feel real," he commented. "Some customers even visit to ensure we are what we profess - dark green, not green wash. And our growth has been excellent with an increase in turnover for 2009 set to be over 50 per cent."