Technology is critical in aiding businesses to achieve sustainability, with more than 60% of organisations considering how IT can help them realise their sustainability targets, new research by IT provider Digital Space reveals.
The research features responses from over 1,000 businesses, 57% of whom had already considered the related links of sustainable IT and its impact on facilitating scalable business growth, while 64% considered how IT providers can help their organisation become more sustainable.
It found that the public cloud achieves 80% more carbon and energy efficiency when compared to running infrastructure in a data centre. Meanwhile, SD-WAN promotes re-use and remanufactured laptops, helping provide cheaper and greener options for users.
Despite the benefits of sustainable IT, firms are hesitant to act. Fifty-nine percent of respondents stated that sustainable changes around their IT infrastructure would not be enacted for at least another year while 36% stated that a 5% rise in cost would be enough to deter them.
“While our sustainability report has shown that IT professionals want to be more sustainable and believe that IT can reduce carbon emissions, it has also demonstrated some reluctance to take sustainable action,” said Tim Lancaster (pictured), MD of cloud at Digital Space. “Our advice here would be to look at the long-term savings and goals. When considering pay-as-you-go tariffs, re-use and employee productivity, especially from cloud technologies, organisations will benefit from cost savings as well as increased sustainability.”
