As the summer approaches, Bunzl Canada employees, customers and supplier partners may share “pandemic fatigue,” but we’re proud to continue to work together to keep our essential businesses running. Like you, we’re looking ahead to better days – and they’re in sight, as vaccination rollouts accelerate across the country.
The pandemic has changed many things about the way we all do business. The need for quick, easy access to information, e-commerce tools, and data that informs decision-making has never been greater – and neither has our investment in the tools, platforms, technology innovations and content critical to helping businesses like yours continuously improve performance.
One such investment is our new Cleaning & Hygiene and Safety websites, launched in the first quarter of the year. These online destinations for information, product sourcing and value-added content have been designed to create a go-to resource you’ll refer to again and again. Another is our new e-commerce platforms that will deliver an enhanced buying experience, improve efficiency and provide greater visibility to your purchasing and budget management. And it doesn’t stop there.
We’ve also invested further in the Internet of Things. Advanced feature development for our exclusive wandaNEXT™ digital cleaning management system includes cleaning program compliance reporting, touchless end-user satisfaction feedback and occupancy sensing. Most recently, the system’s connection to Tork smart dispensing units provides real-time data that enables predictive servicing. It’s all part of our ConfidentClean® ecosystem, designed to optimize labour and consumable use, improve quality and efficiency, reduce waste and, most importantly, provide confidence that you have a healthy and compliant facility.
During the height of the pandemic, the eyes of the public were temporarily less focused on concern for the environment, but sustainability still maintained its high priority ranking for Bunzl Canada. We’ve been busy developing new digital tools to help you identify problem packaging substrates, map them to more sustainable alternatives and rank them by environmental preferability, material composition, unit cost and more. You’ll hear more about this exciting sustainability initiative in the upcoming quarter.
It’s been a busy start to the year, and there’s much more ahead. I look forward to telling you all about it in the Fall edition of the Business Insider. In the meantime, I encourage you to join us in staying the course, redoubling our efforts to keep our teams healthy and safe, and maintaining those measures until the pandemic is finally brought under control.
Thank you for your confidence in us, and for your business – we’re working hard every day to ensure we earn both.
Please stay safe and well,
John Howlett
President, Bunzl Canada