When Fonterra's legacy fleet of mobile phones reached the end of its life, the company faced a choice every large organisation knows well. Replace the devices, and then work out what to do with the old ones.
Too often, those old devices end up in a drawer, a storeroom or landfill. Fonterra wanted a better answer: one that refreshed its fleet, reduced e-waste and put the leftover value to good use.
That's where Quadrent came in.
Fonterra knew its mobile phones were nearing end of life. Rather than default to a standard swap-out, the team reached out to Quadrent and its telco provider to explore the options.
The first priority was sustainability.
"First priority was to figure out how we could dispose of our legacy phones sustainably, reducing our e-waste, and possibly explore an option of whether some of those phones could be recycled."
Fonterra also needed to fund a fleet of new phones for its staff, without the administrative burden of managing collection, data security and disposal in-house.
Quadrent's Digital Mobile Exchange programme turns a routine technology refresh into both a commercial and a community outcome. It works in two parts.
Quadrent managed the whole end-to-end lifecycle refresh. The team collected every old phone, then recycled or responsibly disposed of each one, with secure data cleansing and full security management throughout.
"Quadrent were very helpful in managing the whole end-to-end life cycle refresh. They took responsibility for collecting all our old phones and either disposing of those phones or recycling of the phones, including cleansing of the data and managing the security."
Through its partnership with Quadrent, Fonterra has donated 150 laptops to schools across Auckland and the Waikato. For many of these schools, it's equipment they wouldn't otherwise have been able to get.
"We've been able to donate 150 laptops, which I'm really, really proud that we've been able to contribute to."
At the same time, Fonterra:
For Fonterra, the partnership was about more than a smooth refresh. It was about working with a partner whose values matched its own.
"What was really valuable to us is Quadrent's values that they share around manaakitanga, caring for communities. They take away some of that administrative burden to make sure that our schools and communities benefit."
Fonterra already supports schools through its Kickstart Breakfast programme, making sure kids start the day nourished and ready to learn. The Digital Mobile Exchange was a natural extension of that work.
"Working with Quadrent felt like a really nice extension around how we could do more with schools across New Zealand."
Together, the two programmes complement each other. Kickstart Breakfast helps kids arrive ready to learn, and donated devices give them access to the digital technology that improves outcomes for them and their communities.
Fonterra hopes this is just the beginning, and that more companies will make it standard practice at the end of every technology refresh cycle.
"I feel like it's a win for all. It's making sure that these tools don't end up in landfill, that we're minimising that waste across New Zealand, but also it gives back to the communities and to children who really need it the most."
By partnering with Quadrent, Fonterra turned a routine mobile upgrade into a sustainable, secure and purpose-driven programme, with lasting benefits for its people, the environment and New Zealand schools.