Over the past several years, organizations have had to adjust quickly to unprecedented, unpredictable pressures. Digital adoption has become imperative in every industry, and what business leaders have commonly referred to as “Digital transformation” has turned into a need for “digital acceleration.”
I learned a lot when I was working with Microsoft to engage in the sustainability journey that helped me to build a strong digital foundation that is best preparation for keeping pace with this rapid change. This is true for meeting new sustainability regulations and avoiding the worst impacts of climate change. And it’s equally true for other business priorities—for driving growth, adapting to industry shifts, and navigating energy consumption and economic conditions.
A strong digital foundation enables you to track and manage your data at scale, unifying data and improving visibility across your organization. This is necessary for reliably reporting your sustainability impact and driving meaningful progress, but it can also help you identify where sustainability efforts can make the biggest difference.
Your insights and perspective should guide your organization’s sustainability vision and, in turn, these sustainability investments can create opportunities to achieve your other overarching goals.
When I was working with #microsoft, I found Microsoft has been working to minimize their environmental impact for over a decade. And they are invested in empowering other organizations to do the same, in part by being transparent about their challenges and what they have learned.
Sustainability and IT
Track progress for environmental impact
The growing environmental footprint in IT has made sustainability integral to technology strategy and innovation planning.
Many IT leaders have taken a proactive, collective approach. For example, we’re working with the Green Software
Green Sofrware
Foundation to set new standards, tooling, and best practices that recognize that the environmental impact of software will grow exponentially with increasing adoption of AI and machine learning.
As an IT leader, you’re well-positioned for problem-solving at the organizational level, too. Digital technology can enable new business models and revenue streams that reach or surpass sustainability targets, and IT is essential to increasing visibility and unifying data intelligence to track and report progress.
Opportunities for IT leaders
Cloud for Sustainability
Improving compute efficiencies
Start by evaluating your compute resource utilization, storage, and networking efficiencies.
Adopt cloud-based platforms and services to cut energy consumption, costs, and the physical footprint of your datacenters.
Optimize deployment and configuring IT systems, processes, and tools within your current systems and infrastructure to help minimize impact.
The devices we use also contribute to our organization’s environmental impact.
Recyclable and repairable devices can help maximize sustainability and extend product life while minimizing carbon footprint.
Increasing data integration
Successful sustainability requires a strong data foundation and unified data intelligence.
Look for ways to streamline data collection and calculation to better measure and monitor emissions.
Unify data on a strong digital foundation to drive both sustainability and transformation goals from operational objectives (such as sustainable value chains and operational efficiencies) to broad business objectives (such as mitigating risk and managing compliance).
Ingredion is rethinking the way it gathers and analyzes data to achieve its sustainability goals
Ingredion provides plant-based ingredients to global industries ranging from food and beverages to pharmaceuticals.
The company’s ambitious All Life 2030 sustainability plan targets emissions, plastics, energy sources, biodiversity, human rights, and more.
To help achieve these goals, Ingredion chose to work with Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability as they sought a unified solution to replace varied and highly manual data collection protocols at dozens of global facilities.
I hope that some of the ideas here, specifically from the point of view of CEOs and leaders in finance, operations and IT, can inspire thought and conversation, no matter where your organization is on its Path toward Sustainability.
Reach out to me if you would like to discuss the sustainability aspect of your Digital transformation to your Organization
