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How can tech help businesses become more sustainable?

The environment and sustainability are hot topics; after last year’s COP26, these issues have been supercharged to the front of government and almost every business agenda. Employees, customers and the supply chain now expect companies they work for and with to consider their impact on the environment.  So, can the way we use IT and technology in general help businesses become more environmentally friendly? The answer is a resounding ‘yes’.

Here are five ways IT and technology can help a business be kinder to the environment.

Video Conferencing

Pre-Covid, video conferencing, for most companies, was not even on the radar, and was certainly not considered a key way of conducting business. Now it has become the norm. Some employees may love holding a virtual meeting via Teams, Zoom or Google Hangout, while others may hate it. However, the reality is that many meetings can be effectively and efficiently carried out online, which greatly reduces the need for travel and therefore reduces emissions and the impact on the environment.  

Arguably, the video call has had the most impact on businesses trying to reduce their emissions and impact on the environment.

Adopt the Cloud

The more a company can use the Cloud for its business operations the better for the environment. Using applications such as Windows Virtual Desktop will significantly reduce the impact on your company computer hardware as staff will be working online rather than on the computer’s system. Long term, this will extend the life cycle of your company computers, and will enable them to work more effectively, ultimately, reducing the need for expensive upgrades or replacements.

Recycle your IT

When those replacements or upgrades are required, consider eco-friendly ways of disposing of your computers. There are great initiatives that send used but still usable computers to communities and people with a need for them, ensuring an extended life span for the device.

This is especially important when you consider Capgemini’s recent research, which found that 89% of organisations recycled less than 10% of their IT hardware, and only 17.4% of global e-waste generated in 2019 was recycled. The research also highlighted the volume of e-waste is expected to grow to 74 million tons by 2030, making disposal of e-waste critical.

Move away from large Servers

On-site servers are not very environmentally friendly. If your business is still using big servers to house all company information, the chances are you will be using more power and generating more heat than if you switched to the Cloud.   Which makes the findings of recent research all the more important as we look to reduce our environmental impact – the research found that 61% of businesses migrated their workloads to the Cloud in 2020.

Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability

In a bid to help its customers build sustainable solutions,  Microsoft has developed Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability. This aims to help businesses to measure, understand and take charge of their carbon emissions. It also helps companies to set sustainability goals to achieve any targets that have been set, making it easy to report on and reduce emissions.