Author
Shardai Williams | Director of People & Culture
Topic
Sustainability & Stewardship
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By Shardai Williams, Director of People & Culture
Sustainability is increasingly part of how organizations evaluate the companies they work with. At Tru Consulting, we think about it in two ways: how we operate our own business responsibly and how we help mission-driven organizations make smarter, more sustainable decisions about the resources entrusted to them.
Our approach starts with how Tru itself operates. Since our founding in 2019, we have run as a remote professional services company with no traditional corporate office and no on-premise technology infrastructure. Virtual collaboration, cloud-based technology, and digital-first processes are not a recent adjustment. They are how Tru has worked from day one.
But our opportunity for impact also extends to the work we do with clients. Tru works exclusively with public-sector and mission-driven organizations, including higher education institutions, academic medical centers, and state and local government agencies. Helping these organizations make better use of their financial, physical, technological, and human resources can help them sustain the missions their communities depend on.
Sustainability at a glance
Tru is a fully remote company, with team members across the globe. Our day-to-day operations are fully cloud-based, and we do not maintain a traditional corporate office. Most internal meetings, onboarding, training, and company-wide activities take place virtually.
Tru also operates as an effectively paperless organization, relying extensively on digital platforms for communication, document management, and other business processes.
A remote, cloud-based business is not a business without an environmental footprint. Home energy use, technology infrastructure, equipment, shipping, and business travel all carry real impact. Our goal is not to claim otherwise. It is to reduce unnecessary resource use where we reasonably can, and to be honest about where impact remains.
How does Tru’s remote model support sustainability?
For Tru, remote work is more than an employee benefit. It is how our company operates.
Because our employees work remotely, they do not make a daily commute to a Tru office. Our model also reduces the need for the physical resources associated with maintaining a traditional corporate workplace, including dedicated office space and on-site technology infrastructure.
Remote work shapes how our teams interact, too. Internal meetings, employee onboarding, training, performance conversations, and most company-wide activities are conducted virtually.
In-person gatherings are generally reserved for times when bringing people together adds value, including company retreats, conferences, and certain client engagements.
How does Tru reduce paper and physical resource use?
Tru takes a digital-first approach to communication, information sharing, and document management.
Most business processes are handled through digital platforms, reducing the need for routine printing and physical document handling. Physical mail, shipping, and printed materials are generally limited to specific needs, such as sending company equipment or supporting conferences and company events.
Our fully cloud-based technology model also allows employees to collaborate, manage documents, participate in meetings and training, and serve clients without relying on a centralized workplace or traditional on-premise technology infrastructure.
Together, these practices support both our distributed workforce and a more efficient way of operating across locations.
How does Tru approach business travel and virtual collaboration?
Virtual collaboration is a standard part of how Tru operates, both internally and in our work with clients.
Our teams are equipped to collaborate across locations, allowing many meetings and project activities to happen without requiring travel. When an engagement benefits from an in-person presence, such as on-site work, training, or a conference, our teams can meet that need as well.
Business travel, including airfare, mileage, and lodging, is managed and tracked through Tru’s expense and reimbursement processes.
How does Tru help clients operate more sustainably?
Our approach to sustainability extends beyond our own operations to the work we do with mission-driven organizations.
Higher education institutions, academic medical centers, and state and local government agencies are responsible for managing finite resources while continuing to serve students, patients, employees, and communities. Stronger planning can help those organizations understand their options, evaluate tradeoffs, and make more informed decisions about where their resources go.
Through Connected Planning, Enterprise Transformation, Data & AI Enablement, and ongoing advisory services, Tru helps organizations modernize planning, connect data, strengthen governance, improve processes, and make more informed decisions about how resources are used.
That can mean helping a university evaluate the long-term sustainability of an academic program. It can mean helping an institution better utilize existing classrooms, offices, laboratories, and facilities before investing in new space. Or it can mean giving a public agency greater visibility into workforce, capital, and long-range financial scenarios.
These improvements show up in measurable ways. Working with Tru, institutions have cut budget cycle times by an average of 50 percent, and some have reduced them by as much as 90 percent. Budgeting that once took months can happen in a fraction of the time. That frees finance teams to spend less effort on manual work and more on the decisions that shape their institutions.
Faster, clearer planning is its own kind of stewardship. It helps institutions make better use of the staff time, data, and resources they already have.
In each case, the goal is to help leaders make better-informed decisions with the resources they have so their organizations are better positioned to sustain and expand their impact.
Responsible operations. Sustainable impact.
For Tru, sustainability is closely connected to stewardship.
Within our own business, that means operating remotely, collaborating virtually, using cloud-based technology, limiting routine paper use, and using physical resources thoughtfully.
For our clients, it means helping leaders better understand their resources, anticipate future needs, evaluate tradeoffs, and make decisions that support the long-term health of their organizations.
The institutions we serve are doing work that matters to their students, patients, residents, employees, and communities. Helping those organizations build stronger, more sustainable ways of working is one more way Tru Serves Those Who Serve.
About Tru Consulting
Tru Consulting is a strategic planning modernization partner focused exclusively on higher education, academic medical centers, and public sector organizations. Our team helps institutions build connected planning environments that improve visibility, reduce manual effort, and support better decisions.
