Invest in a future of digital sustainability, with sustainable digitialization solutions, support, and guidance from SaaSCom.
Digital sustainability is an important topic in today’s world, but also one that’s frequently overlooked and misunderstood. For years, the concept of “digitialization” has evolved around the world, with virtually every company now investing in strategies for comprehensive “digital transformation”.
Technology has completely transformed the way we live, communicate, and work, altering our daily habits and experiences. The upside to this is that we’re now more efficient, productive, and connected than ever before. The downside, is that more technology, means more damage to the environment.
As we continue to process and use more data than ever before, we’re investing in ever-more advanced computing systems and solutions, leading to an increase in energy consumption among data centers. In fact, data centers alone account for up to 3.7% of global Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
So, what’s the solution? How do companies embrace the benefits of digitalization, without our planet paying the price? The answer is “sustainable digitalization.”
What is Sustainable Digitalization? Digital Sustainability Defined
Sustainable digitalization, sometimes referred to as “digital sustainability” is the process of using technology in a way that supports and improves sustainability. In other words, it brings the quest for digitalization in line with sustainability initiatives, encouraging companies to reconsider how they leverage technology to improve business operations, and protect the planet.
Now more than ever, this concept has become central to many business growth strategies, as ESG requirements evolve, and the threat to the planet grows. The digital age has already given companies a range of opportunities to improve productivity and workplace performance. However, investment in the right technology also gives businesses a way to reach their sustainability goals.
An excellent example of this is in the industrial landscape. Industry 4.0 technologies aren’t just making industrial environments safer and more efficient. They can also power new net-zero business models, allowing companies to operate more sustainably.
For instance, AI-driven analytical tools can offer organizations insights into methods for minimizing energy consumption, while reducing waste and emissions.
Additionally, IIoT devices can help organizations manage and monitor resources more effectively, leading to significant environmental benefits. Already, as Frost and Sullivan reports, the Energy, Oil, and Gas sectors are leveraging new opportunities here. Companies within this landscape have been digitizing their operations for more than a decade, leading to massive results in reductions of carbon dioxide, and methane emissions.
The integration of smart grids, digital twins, blockchain technology and more, has propelled the efficiency of energy distribution and consumption to new heights, and paved the way to the effective utilization of more renewable resources.
Key Steps in Implementing Digital Sustainability
Sustainable digitalization is the compass guiding companies towards a future where technology empowers and enhances society, while protecting the environment. Companies in all industries need to be able to adapt and evolve with access to new technologies. However, transformation doesn’t have to come at the cost of additional emissions and waste.
If your company wants to adopt the latest technology trends, while minimizing its carbon footprint, there are a few key strategies you can consider.
1. Commit to Renewable Energy Opportunities
Fossil fuels undoubtedly play a significant role in the massive environmental impact of the internet, and innovative technology. Digital products and services, and all the systems used to enable them require access to electricity 100% of the time. Some experts even suggest the internet uses around 6.2% of all of our electricity each year.
While there’s no way to eliminate the internet’s need for electricity, we can alter the energy sources we’re using. For instance, green cloud computing solutions and service providers can source energy from renewable solutions like solar, wind, and hydro power. Some providers even use renewable energy credits to offset their carbon footprints.
Cloud providers can also implement their own digital sustainability strategies, by leveraging intelligent tools to reduce waste. Through the use of certain software, these vendors can predict and calculate exactly how much energy is required to run data centers, improving energy efficiency.
At the same time, each individual business can explore their own options for leveraging renewable energy outside of the cloud. Using renewable energy sources to power your own business, such as corporate solar panels, can significantly reduce your carbon footprint.
2. Eliminating Paper Usage
This might sound like an old or outdated practice in today’s digital world, but reducing paper usage is still an important strategy for digital sustainability. Despite the number of digital tools we now have to reduce the need for paper, such as online file storage systems and word documents, the global consumption of pulp and paper is still expected to double by 2060.
Simply replacing paper-based processes with digital alternatives can make a huge difference to your sustainability strategy. Just look at the process of signing documents, for instance. Processes like invoicing, contract drafting, and contract signing were traditionally paper-based.
Not only did this use up a lot of paper, but there were often extra carbon emissions involved in shipping contacts to customers. Switching to document signing software eliminates this issue. As a bonus, documents that are produced digitally can be backed up, minimizing the risk of loss, and they can be sent to be customers instantly, with a click of a button.
3. Find Ways to Reduce Waste
Industrial waste is another massive contributor to environmental damage, and something companies can fight against with sustainable digitalization. Every year, companies are inundated with unrecyclable waste (such as electronic devices), that need to be transported to a specific location, processed, and broken down, consuming a great deal of energy.
Fortunately, there are numerous ways companies can reduce the amount of waste they produce – particularly electronic waste. For instance, implementing a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policy in your business gives employees a chance to use the tools they already have (smartphones, laptops and tablets) for business processes, rather than having to use separate solutions.
Manufacturers can minimize waste too, using process discovery, mapping, and optimization tools to determine where waste is building up. Not only does this reduce landfill and recycling energy usage, but it also cuts down on raw material costs, saving manufacturers money and time.
Manufacturing facilities can even use analytical tools and IIoT solutions to track the most problematic areas in their supply chain, and look for ways to reduce carbon emissions.
4. Proactively Monitor and Adapt
One of the biggest issues many companies have with the path to digital sustainability, is that they don’t have a clear view of their existing environmental footprint, or how it changes over time. This is likely to change in the years to come, as government initiatives encourage companies to be more proactive and transparent about how they report on their emissions.
However, in the meantime, businesses can already begin leveraging intelligent digital technologies that can help them monitor their ecosystem, and adapt over time. Intelligent and AI-driven tools capable of monitoring your emissions can offer insights into how to optimize your technology, and eliminate unnecessary waste or emissions.
There are even experts out there who can work hand-in-hand with companies to discover their sustainability issues, and create comprehensive strategies for a “greener” evolution. This could include implementing everything from server virtualization solutions, to dynamic cloud systems that help you allocate your resources more effectively.
5. Invest in Sustainability-Led Vendors
Finally, perhaps the most obvious way to unlock the benefits of sustainable digitization, is to find vendors and partners who share your eco-friendly mindset. For instance, studies show that technologies like the cloud can help to reduce emissions by enabling hybrid work, and reducing the number of cars on the road. However, not all cloud solutions are created equally.
Cloud solution providers need to leverage huge data centers to ensure processes and systems continue running worldwide. Some vendors take a green approach to leveraging data centers, specifically designed to support sustainable businesses. For instance, Google has a carbon-intelligent platform in the cloud that enables businesses to shift less urgent tasks to the time of day when there’s greater access to wind and solar energy.
When you’re searching for the ideal vendors for digital sustainability, you can also consider partnering with experts that focus on sustainable transformation. For instance, at SaaSCom, we partner with carbon offsetting companies to help organizations plant trees, and minimize their carbon emissions whenever they implement new technologies. You can learn more about our carbon offset programs and solutions here.
The Rising Importance of Digital Sustainability
Digital sustainability, and sustainable digitalization aren’t new concepts, but they are ideas that have grown more crucial in recent years. 2023 alone marked a pivotal year in terms of the growth of sustainability programs and ESG initiatives worldwide. The UAE launched its “Operation 300bn” strategy, with the aim of transforming the industrial sector and promoting sustainable practices through digital technologies.
Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 includes significant investments in leveraging digital infrastructure to foster a greener economic environment. America has launched its Climate Corps program, and the UK introduced a Ten Point plan for sustainability. Everywhere you look, there’s clear evidence of a growing awareness of the importance of sustainability.
For companies evolving in this unique new landscape, investing in the synergy between digitalization and sustainability is crucial. Success requires a careful approach, clear understanding of the impact that digital technologies have on our environment, and the right partnerships.
If you’re ready to invest in a future of sustainable digitalization, contact SaaSCom today to discover how we can help you implement your digital transformation program with an environment-first mindset.
