Sustainable IT solutions
Organisations across industries are recognising the urgent need to align their operations with sustainability goals, and adopting sustainable IT solutions is a highly effective way to do so.
What is the importance of acquiring sustainable IT solutions?
Sustainable IT solutions offer a path towards reducing carbon emissions, minimising waste, and creating a more environmentally responsible approach to technology. From user devices to data centres and networks, the impact of IT on the environment is significant. For example, it’s estimated that 3% of the entire world’s energy consumption is from data centres, which not only has an impact on our environment but also for your organisation.
This number is only expected to grow over the coming years as organisations increase their data and AI usage and it’s imperative that you consider the environmental factors when implementing new technologies to keep your environmental impact to a minimum.
Discover our top tips for designing a sustainable, future ready IT infrastructure now.
How to adopt sustainable technology
Now when organisations are procuring and implementing new technologies, it’s effectiveness and efficiency aren’t the only aspects they’re focusing on. Sustainability is becoming a major factor in IT acquisition and implementation across the board, with more than just sustainability leads making it a priority.
The process of adopting sustainable technology has six key points:
Understand your organisation’s sustainability goals:
explore and understand the environmental impact of new technologies on your organisation’s overall objectives to make informed decisions
Assess your current IT infrastructure
begin by conducting a thorough evaluation of your existing IT infrastructure. Pinpoint areas that can be enhanced and identify opportunities to incorporate sustainability measures
Set clear sustainability goals:
establish clear and measurable sustainability goals that align with your organisations’ overall objectives. These goals should be specific, achievable, and time-bound
Implement energy-efficient technologies:
invest in energy-efficient technologies that’ll reduce energy consumption and minimise environmental impact. Consolidate your technologies and implement right-sized solutions to minimise electronic waste
Promote responsible IT policies:
develop and promote responsible IT policies that encourage sustainable practices among employees. This may involve initiatives such as remote working, electronic waste recycling programmes, and responsible procurement practices
Measure and monitor progress:
consistently assess and oversee the advancement towards sustainability objectives and establish strong monitoring and reporting mechanisms to guarantee openness and responsibility
Managing your IT waste
It’s not just about the IT solutions that you’re installing, it’s also about the hardware and infrastructure that you no longer need. Managing IT waste is a critical aspect of sustainability in IT. Electronic waste, or e-waste, is a growing concern due to the rapid obsolescence of technology and the improper disposal of electronic devices.
To effectively manage IT waste, organisations should follow these strategies:
- Extended product lifecycles: promote the concept of extended lifecycles by encouraging repairs, upgrades, and refurbishments instead of outright replacements
- Donation and reuse programmes: to give IT equipment a second life, consider donating functional devices to schools, non-profit organisations, or someone else who can benefit from them
- Right device for the right user: ensure your organisation is only deploying the right number of devices to its users and reduce the number of obsolete devices
- Responsible disposal and recycling: ensure electronic devices are properly disposed of and recycled at the end of their lifecycle with certified e-waste recyclers
Phoenix’s options for sustainable technology
In order to assist you in adopting more sustainable and energy-efficient technology, we’ve got numerous solutions that’ll allow you to align with your sustainability objectives. This includes options for migrating from on-premises to hybrid or full cloud, optimising your current data centres, acquiring energy-efficient technology, or utilising AI to drive well-informed decisions.
Cloud and infrastructure
Transitioning to the cloud from an on-premises infrastructure will give you greater visibility of your emissions and simplifies the process of managing them. Phoenix supports organisations with successfully transitioning to the cloud and taking advantage of the benefits it brings.
Using Microsoft’s Well Architectured Framework (WAF) we’re able to provide you with pragmatic recommendations and insights into how to create more sustainable IT infrastructure.
Discover more now
Hardware and end-user devices
Understanding the carbon emissions around your organisation’s existing hardware and end-user devices is key for discovering where you can make improvement with your sustainability
Our ICT carbon footprint report uncovers the carbon emissions across all of your end-user devices, including the energy they’re using, carbon emissions due to manufacturing, and carbon emissions from e-waste.
Enquire about our ICT carbon footprint assessment
Digital workplace
Adopting new technologies and replacing legacy equipment will enable your organisation to improve its carbon footprint and reduce energy consumption.
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AI and innovation
AI and innovation tools and techniques are enabling organisations to reduce energy consumption, optimise resources and processes, and monitor environmental impacts. It’ll allow you to make well-informed decisions that are aligned with your organisation’s sustainability goals.
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E-waste management
Phoenix work with partners such as Greensafe to support organisations with effective and responsible management of their electronic waste.
Get in touch with our specialists today to discover how to responsibly manage your existing e-waste.
The Phoenix Sustainability App
Integrated into Microsoft Teams as a Power App, our acclaimed Sustainability App empowers your organisation to effortlessly gather and monitor its carbon emissions through a single tool. Employing our app provides you with the capability to monitor and track every aspect of your organisation, such as employee travel records, your IT infrastructure, electricity, gas, and water usage in all your facilities, as well as your waste management and recycling.
This is achieved using three simple steps:
Record:
our Sustainability App collects your carbon emissions data and highlights possibilities for you to convert it into tCO2e – this includes gas, waste, electricity, vehicle emissions, and water
Report:
Power BI enables you to analyse your data and get a deeper understanding of what it means. This can be the case for your organisation as whole, for different locations, or even for specific individuals
Reduce:
understand the impact of your actions by tracking reduction activities against key dates using the Low Carbon Action Plan
Sustainability IT solutions FAQs
Sustainability is no longer an optional add-on but a fundamental aspect of a successful and forward-thinking business strategy. By addressing environmental and social challenges, organisations will contribute to their long-term success, drive higher profitability, meet growing regulatory compliance.
Sustainability reporting provides transparency on your organisation’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. It enables you to demonstrate your commitment to responsible business practices and drive positive environmental and social outcomes while creating long-term value for all stakeholders.
Sustainable technology involves minimising environmental impacts and maximising social and economic benefits throughout the lifecycle of technology products and services. This includes the electricity, heating, and cooling consumed and created by your IT solutions, where and who you source your technology from, and how you dispose of your hardware when it becomes end of life.
Scope 1 emissions are direct emissions from owned or controlled sources. Scope 2 emissions are indirect emissions from purchased electricity, heating, or cooling. Scope 3 emissions are indirect emissions from activities outside of your organisation’s control, such as supply chain, business travel, and product use.
Talk to our specialists today
Arrange a free chat with one of our specialists today to discuss your organisation’s sustainability objectives and how we’re able to assist you in achieving them.
You can also email us at [email protected] or call 01904 562200 – whatever works best for you.