Anthropy 2025: conversations, community and a shared vision for business

At Krystal, we’ve always believed business can do better. Not just by performing well, but by acting with purpose. So when the opportunity came to join Anthropy, the UK’s largest gathering of leaders committed to building a fairer, more sustainable future, we knew it was the right place to be.

Held at the Eden Project, Anthropy isn’t a conference in the traditional sense. It’s a space for conversation, collaboration and open thinking. For three days, more than 2,000 attendees from across business, government, media and education came together to imagine the future and challenge the present.

We’re always looking for better ways to make a positive change, so we went to Anthropy 2025 with open minds, ready to listen, learn and bring back ideas to help us grow our impact.

(We also did something a little different while we were there. As sponsors of the pub, we ran a little game that not only proved to be VERY popular, but also led to a big impact and a lasting legacy. You can read the full story here).

Here’s what stood out and why it matters to us.

Purpose isn’t a tagline. It’s a framework.

One session that really made an impact on us was ‘Purpose in Practice – Putting People and the Planet at the Heart of Business Success’. It cut through the buzzwords and focused on the stuff that actually matters - not mission statements, but the systems and decisions that define a business.

As a certified B Corp, that really landed. Purpose isn’t something we save for the About page. It shows up in how we treat people, the way we design our products and the future we’re building towards.

This session was a timely reminder that embedding purpose is a continuous process - and we’re building it into our sustainability planning, partnerships and decision-making from the inside out.

Tech is only as good as its values

Another standout was Our Innovation and Technology, one of the key opening discussions at Anthropy 2025. This session brought together leading voices from Google, Salesforce and Ploughshare to explore how the UK can lead responsibly on tech.

Matt Brittin, President of EMEA Business & Operations for Google, spoke about the energy impact of data centres (we’ve been acting on this since 2017) and the need for diverse AI training data. Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, CEO at Ploughshare and Chair of the Board at Refuge, urged businesses to rethink their rush into AI, comparing it to the early website boom that ignored the value of ensuring a quality customer experience.

The key message we took from this session was that tech alone isn’t progress, it’s how we use it that counts. New developments, including AI, are only as strong as the people behind it; we need to keep our focus on quality and value, and continually invest in better digital skills to fully support and unlock the potential of new technologies.

Sustainability and digital transformation must evolve together

We also joined The Intersections Between Sustainability and Digital Transformation, a panel hosted by the Environment Agency. One of the speakers opened by reminding the room that digital isn’t just about infrastructure - it’s the people, the processes and the tools behind it. The session explored how digital transformation can be a force for good, but only if it’s built around real-world needs and rooted in clear values from the start.

There was a strong focus on accessibility too. Replacing things like call centres might cut costs, but it can also leave some users behind. Instead, technologies like AI should be used to triage and streamline, helping people reach human support faster, not remove it entirely.

This definitely hit home, because at Krystal we use AI to help streamline our Live Chat solution. It’s not there to cut costs, but to help clients who need a quick and simple answer to help them self serve. This technology has reduced the support volume of chats by over 50% and significantly cut average waiting times on phone and support tickets for those unable to self serve due to more complex issues. It’s a smart use of AI that’s integrated into a personal, high-quality service and makes for a smoother client experience.

The panel also touched on the skills needed to make that kind of thoughtful digital progress possible. While green and digital training is important, they argued that broader life skills still matter. According to recent research, most young people are motivated by purpose, not just pay. That’s good news for value-led businesses and a wake-up call for those who aren’t.

Charity starts with action, not intention

Can you be a responsible business without giving?

That was the opening question from the Charities Aid Foundation, and we’ll be honest, it caught us off guard.

We’ve always believed that values are something you live. In how you treat people. In how you build. In the everyday decisions you make. But this talk pushed us to look closer. It highlighted the gap that can exist between what a business stands for and what it’s actually doing to make a difference.

Then came a statistic that really made us think: 75% of UK businesses gave nothing to charity in 2023.

As one of our team put it, “I walked in thinking you can be responsible without giving. I walked out thinking differently.”

At Krystal, we’re proud to give at least 1% of our revenue to verified environmental causes through 1% for the Planet. And we’re looking at how we can build on that, not as a side note, but as part of how we operate day to day.

Because being responsible isn’t about having the right language. It’s about backing it up with action.

Creativity isn’t soft, it’s essential

Is Creativity the Key That Unlocks Growth? was a bold, inspiring session that argued for the creative industries to take their rightful place in the growth conversation. Leaders from Brainlabs, EY and others made the case for investing in imagination - in education, leadership and policymaking.

For us, it was a reminder to stay connected to the creative spark that got Krystal off the ground. Whether it’s rethinking pricing models, designing infrastructure, or turning tree-planting into a game (more on that here!), creativity powers change.

Infrastructure builds trust as well as systems

We wrapped up the week with The Future of UK Infrastructure, a wide-ranging conversation spanning energy, water, land and the role of trust in what’s to come. It wasn’t just a talk about supply chains and systems. It was a reminder that the foundations we build today will shape the next 30 years.

In tech, it’s easy to focus on speed, scale and performance. But this session reframed the conversation. It called for infrastructure that’s resilient, transparent and built to last - even if you can’t always see it.

As a company that provides digital infrastructure, that resonated with us. The services we offer might not be visible, but their impact is. Our clients trust us to handle their data responsibly, to power their sites using renewables, and to provide support that actually supports. That trust is built into everything we do. And like good infrastructure, it needs to be solid, even when it’s behind the scenes.

A challenge to do better

Anthropy 2025 reminded us that business isn’t separate from the rest of society. It builds the foundations we all stand on. The future belongs to companies that:

• lead with clarity and purpose
• act with courage, not convenience
• use their platforms to support real progress

That’s the path Krystal has been on since day one. From cloud-as-standard hosting and award-winning support to our renewably powered infrastructure, we’re showing that speed, service and sustainability can work together.

It was inspiring to be part of an event that brings together people and organisations who want to do more than maintain the status quo. The conversations we had in sessions, over coffee and at the official Krystal-sponsored Anthropy pub all pointed to the same idea: we can build something better. And not just for the economy, but for people and the planet too.

We left Anthropy feeling energised and optimistic. There's real momentum behind the push for purpose-led business, and we're proud to be part of that movement. Whether it's lowering digital emissions, building ethical infrastructure or supporting our clients to grow sustainably, we're excited to keep doing our bit and to keep getting better at it.