The Importance of Sustainability in Modern Business
Though making sustainable choices in a business are often not the cheapest options, consumers and clients do reward businesses making a sustainable effort. According to this Forbes article, 88% of consumers want businesses to help them be more environmentally friendly and ethical.
Looking around, many large companies are not keeping up with the sustainable movement, however, According to the Telegraph, businesses are increasingly raising their priority and spend on eco-credentials. In the area of IT, this means taking steps towards sustainable transformation, looking at our energy consumption, unique green solutions and implementing responsible business practices.
Cloud Computing and Sustainability
One of the key areas you can look at for sustainable business practices and cutting down energy consumption is the cloud – the good news is that the trend of migrating to the cloud is also the sustainable route.
Microsoft conducted a joint study with Accenture and WSP Environment and Energy into cloud computing and sustainability and released the findings in a white paper. A thorough summary, this white paper takes you through the premise “Is the cloud a greener computing alternative?”, the research approach, summary findings, a case study, in-depth looks into relevant factors, and of course the conclusion.
It is well worth a read, but a key takeaway is, “For large deployments, Microsoft’s cloud solutions can reduce energy use and carbon emissions by more than 30 percent when compared to their corresponding Microsoft business applications installed on-premise. The benefits are even more impressive for small deployments: Energy use and emissions can be reduced by more than 90 percent with a shared cloud service.”
Not only are there impressive energy savings made by utilizing cloud resources there are also benefits closer to home. While of course, the current Covid-enforced home working has been the norm for the last year for many, with your organisation’s data and internal processes cloud-based, workers have less need to commute as travel opens up again, thereby cutting down on C02 emissions.
Sustainable Transformation
Digital transformation may be a current buzzword, and it is, but for good reason. Technology is in flux, and the leap from on-prem to the cloud can be a challenging one. When looking at enterprise-scale applications, databases and more, it is a large undertaking, for sure, but one that all organisations need to be making now.
If you need another reason on top of the cost benefits, better security and access to modern features, sustainability is it.
Sustainable transformation is a way that together, organisations can recover from the pandemic and build a resilient future. That is why Microsoft has launched its Sustainable Future programme. Isolating three key factors that are going to create that future:
- Sustainable Platform
Let’s lower emissions. Transforming data centres gains a competitive advantage with a more efficient, cloud-first approach that unlocks innovation and cuts organization’s carbon emissions.
- Sustainable Collaboration
By lessening travel, we lessen waste and environmental impact. Empower a modern, more sustainable workplace and enable seamless collaboration, increased productivity and attract the next generation of workers.
- Sustainable Society
Together we can create a cleaner, safer and more prosperous society. Technology can unlock innovation and amplify human ingenuity to create new solutions with a long-lasting, positive impact on society.
This programme provides a comprehensive playbook with guides for six positions across C-Suite, looking at sustainability priorities, best practices, latest insights, and actionable guides for roles in finance, commercial, operations, HR and technology. It also covers the most significant sustainability topics and key carbon emission contributing activities per industry – Manufacturing, Finance, Retail, Energy and Public Sector. Lastly, there are inspiring case studies that showcase how businesses across a range of industries are using technology to introduce more sustainable ways of working.
How Ballard Chalmers Can Help You with Sustainable Transformation and Cloud Migration
Developing directly in the Azure cloud is now normal practice for new application development at Ballard Chalmers. This way, projects immediately get to make use of the advanced features, cost-benefits, green credentials, and built-in security and disaster recovery features.
Additionally, we have a long history of successfully helping organisations with application cloud migration. As a Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) and Microsoft Gold Partner in the Cloud Platform we are primed to help you modernise and move your legacy on-premises systems to the cloud.
Follow the links to see testimonials and case studies of our work.
We try to always practice what we preach and that is why we worked on our sustainable transformation and are 100% in the cloud. You can read about our journey to the cloud, the steps it took and the benefits it brought to the company.
A key sector for us at Ballard Chalmers is Energy and Utilities. Though the energy industry is often not a source of sustainability, there are many organisations out there working at improving the scene. That is why we are proud to have worked with The Energy Saving Trust and energy companies working on green energy such as OVO Energy and Good Energy.
In Closing
Some decisions are easier than others but when all signs point the same way, a lot of doubt is removed. When looking at IT and sustainability, the choice to move to the cloud and implement thorough sustainable strategies is clearly the right one.
With customers looking at businesses to make these climate-forward decisions, with shareholders and managers looking at budget and corporate branding, you can provide an answer to both. Microsoft has provided some tools; we can partner with you to figure out the rest.
Get in touch to discuss your green initiative, or how we can help you with your journey to the cloud. Reach us on 01342 410223 or contact us.
