How Information Technology Helps Businesses Benefit from Sustainability
Sustainable businesses focus on minimizing their detrimental effects on their community, the economy, and the environment. Often presented as a moral responsibility, sustainability can also have financial and public relations benefits. This article focuses on the environmental aspect of sustainability, examines its benefits, and introduces some ways modern Information Technology (IT) makes it easier to achieve.
There are several advantages for businesses that adopt sustainable practices. These include:
Lower Operating Cost
A business can minimize its environmental impact by purchasing products that require less power and promoting energy-conserving practices. Since power is one of the operating expenses for every business, reducing the amount of power used also lowers the cost of doing business.
Customer Loyalty
Many markets today are saturated with similar companies vying for the same customers. Sustainability can be a way to differentiate your business and stand out among the crowd. Other companies may also have policies that favor working with sustainable businesses. As the public’s concern about climate change grows, becoming sustainable is an increasingly effective way to gain new customers and retain existing ones.
Compliance with Regulations
Governments (Local, State, and Federal) frequently limit a company’s negative impact on the environment while offering incentives to adopt more sustainable practices. Embracing sustainability is one means of avoiding penalties and taking advantage of the incentives.
There are many ways Information Technology can increase the sustainability of a business. The following section describes some of the more notable methods.
Energy-Efficient Data Centers
Server rooms and data centers are key components of most contemporary businesses. Many manufacturers focus on producing energy-efficient equipment, reducing the required power with innovations like liquid cooling, modular design, and AI power management.
Virtualization
Virtualization technology allows a single physical workstation or server to behave like multiple devices. It exploits the fact that most users don’t usually need the full processing power of their computers. Virtualization decreases the cost of hardware, the need for cooling systems, and power consumption by reducing the number of physical machines a company needs.
Reduced Demand for Paper and Physical Media
Technological advances have made today’s office more digital than ever. Employees can sign documents digitally with software like DocuSign. Collaboration tools allow documents and media to be stored in and exchanged via the cloud, reducing the need for physical media such as USB drives and compact discs. This shift to digital documents saves a company money, as less physical media must be purchased.
Renewable Energy
Large companies like Google, Apple, and Microsoft have invested in renewable energy systems to help power their data centers and offices. Smaller companies can benefit from this trend, too. Advances in solar technology have enabled the development of affordable solar panels for homes and small offices. Sparco, for example, installed solar panels on the roof of our main office. These provide some of the power our company needs to operate, and every watt Sparco generates on-site is power we don’t buy from the utility company.
Energy Monitoring
The development of Internet of Things (IoT) devices provides a convenient way for companies to monitor their systems. These devices integrate into existing network infrastructures and can monitor energy consumption, temperature, and other metrics in real-time. Artificial Intelligence (AI) software can gather the information generated by IoT to optimize energy use and detect hardware problems before a system fails.
Becoming a sustainable business has benefits beyond minimizing your negative environmental impact. Efficient devices reduce operating costs, green products stand out in overcrowded markets, and sustainable policies improve a company’s public image. Becoming a more sustainable business depends on many factors, but technology will always play a key role. While there is always an upfront cost when embracing new tech, the benefits for your business and the planet it depends on make sustainability a good investment.