N-SIDE renews B Corp certification

N-SIDE proudly achieves its first B Corp recertification with an outstanding performance

N-SIDE proudly announces its successful B Corp recertification highlighting remarkable progress in its overall B Corp score. This achievement exemplifies N-SIDE's unwavering dedication to being part of a global community of businesses committed to high standards of social, governance, and environmental performance, as well as transparency and accountability.

A B Corp is a for-profit corporation certified by B Lab, a non-profit company. Its role is to measure a company's social and environmental performance against the standards in the online B Impact Assessment. These standards are developed independently and cover a company’s impact in key areas, including Governance, Workers, Community, Environment, and Customers. Nowadays, companies' stakeholders are increasingly concerned with sustainability and social impact, and the B Corp certification validates a company’s commitment to these principles.

In early 2020, N-SIDE earned its first certification and became the first B Corp company in the French-speaking part of Belgium (Wallonia). For N-SIDE, this achievement demonstrates N-SIDE's commitment to using business as a force for good, aligning with its vision of building a healthy and sustainable world. “The B Corp certification validates our commitment as a purpose-driven company, aligns the business with our values, and strengthens our reputation for sustainability among our internal and external stakeholders”, emphasizes Thomas Peignois, Head of Business Sustainability at N-SIDE.

Today, N-SIDE is proud to stand among the 90 B Corp certified organizations in Belgium (19 in Wallonia) and is part of the global B Corp community consisting of more than 8,600+ certified companies from close to 100 different countries across the world. Together, they share the vision to use their business as a force for good.

A thorough assessment resulting in an above-average B Corp rating

A B Corp certification is never acquired indefinitely. B Corp certified organizations are required to recertify every three years. "The journey to recertification required the extensive participation of many N-SIDErs across different teams and departments. During nine months, they actively contributed to providing insights on the company’s business model and information about its operations, structure, and various work processes", outlines Divya Sreedhar, Compliance and Finance Manager, in charge of coordinating the B Corp recertification at N-SIDE. 

Following the B Impact Assessment, N-SIDE improved its score in all categories (Workers, Governance, Community, Environment, Customers). This resulted in outstanding performances:

Global B Corp score

N-SIDE achieved a score of 116.4, up from the first score of 90.6 obtained in 2020, marking a 28% increase.

Benchmark comparison

• European B Corps (first recertification): N-SIDE’s score increase is more than twice the average increase of 13.3%.
• European B Corps (most recent recertification): N-SIDE’s score increase is over three times the average increase of 8.41%.

Category rankings

• Belgium: N-SIDE ranks as the second highest scoring company within the 50-249 employees category.
• Benelux: N-SIDE ranks as the third highest scoring company within the tech category.

Major achievements and commitment to continuous improvement

The categories that showed significant increases are governance and environment. The environmental category, in particular, reflects N-SIDE's substantial impact on customers' environmental footprint and encourages the need to quantify it. Indeed, N-SIDE’s software solutions can reduce environmental impact by minimizing waste in clinical trials through optimized production and distribution of investigation kits, and by facilitating the integration of renewable energy into power systems to lower CO2 emissions and enhance grid efficiency. On top of this positive impact, N-SIDE is also committed to reduce its own scope 1 and scope 2 emissions, leading to a significant increase of its score in the environment category. 

Overall, the progress remains tangible in all other categories. In particular, the "Workers"category is supported by a strong well-being program recently established by N-SIDE’s people and culture team. This program includes initiatives such as flexible working hours, mental health support, professional development opportunities, and team-building activities, all aimed at enhancing employee satisfaction, productivity, and overall well-being.

"The B Impact Assessment not only enlightens us where we performed well but also where we can do better as it is a requirement to improve our score for the next BCorp recertification. However, we can be immensely proud of the achievements made so far but we are already on the ball to work on the areas where there is a clear opportunity to progress" concludes Thomas Peignois.  

N-SIDE strongly believes that profit and purpose go hand in hand, and it doesn’t stop now.  This recertification is not just a testament to past achievements but a motivation to continue pushing boundaries and setting new benchmarks. N-SIDE therefore invites its stakeholders and the broader community to join this journey, leveraging their business to go beyond profit and create a positive impact on both the planet and its people.