A Path to Sustainable IT
Start Your JourneyIT is responsible for 3.7% of all global greenhouse emissions.
As organizations around the world look to balance their growth objectives with the need to build sustainable businesses, it is important for them to ensure that this thinking extends beyond just using technology. While technology solutions can help solve environmental issues, IT as a whole has an even larger carbon footprint.
Digital Transformation is crucial not only for business transformation and survivability but also for economic and social development. Yet, the sheer speed and expansiveness of our digital transformation efforts are resulting in significant increases in environmental impact across energy and carbon footprint. Unfortunately, many of these direct environmental impacts are habitually underestimated while the rebound effects, or indirect environmental impacts, are rarely thought of.
Your IT strategy is one of the most common and fundamental ways to positively impact your company’s carbon footprint. Here are four steps to start your journey towards sustainable IT and a better world. Get started today.
Shift compute power to carbon-neutral cloud environments.
Using cloud computing is up to 93% more energy efficient than traditional data centers and 72-98% less carbon-intensive. 40% of data centers are inefficient, having a significant impact on IT’s total energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon-zero cloud computing allows for delivery from an energy-efficient data center.
For example, AWS customers need only 16% of the power of an on-premises infrastructure while Microsoft Azure, powered by 100% renewable energy, is 44% more efficient than the average on-premises data center.
When you first learned how to ride a bicycle, did you start on the top of an extremely steep hill? No. When you first learned how to skate on ice, was it with a stick and puck? Probably not. When you cooked your first meal, was it worthy of an Instagram post? Maybe (but likely not for Michelin stars). In life, we apply guardrails to make the learning experience enjoyable and less daunting. When taking those first steps on a journey, fear of the unknown hampers our judgement and creates apprehension about moving fast. Guardrails keep us on track toward mastering something new without getting too overwhelmed or discouraged by failure. With Cloud, the approach and experience should be no different. Move at a comfortable and controllable pace, only adjusting the guardrails once familiarity and apprehension ease. Start small with Cloud. Extend identity and authentication to Cloud. Augment IT administration with Cloud services. Replicate data and workloads to Cloud for continuity. Build non-production workloads in Cloud. We believe traditional data center architectures evolve to include public cloud capabilities, becoming an extension of your service delivery efforts, not a displacement approach. Our ability to evolve platforms involves a deep understanding of transitioning what makes sense and ensuring the benefits of public cloud remain advantageous for the business – not only to support agility for the future of work, but to keep costs under control. This is also why we believe platform evolution is an infinite journey – as initial transitions prove successful, abilities to continue modernization across services can begin. Our service offerings for Cloud include: Cloud Readiness Assessment. A 30-45 day technical and business exercise to identify workloads to rehost, replatform, refactor, or retire in a transition to Cloud; associated and ongoing consumption costs of Cloud computing; and a roadmap of readiness and timeline for Cloud transition. Cloud Transition Services. Scoped and project-based professional services to implement, orchestrate and transition services to Infrastructure- and Platform-as-a-Service across one, or more, hyperscale Cloud platforms. Collaborative Services for Cloud. Ongoing proactive and reactive Cloud managed services to augment existing skillsets and provide expert guidance and oversight on Cloud governance and supportability.Sustainability - Cloud
Deliver desktops, applications, and data from a Digital Workspace.
A Digital Workspace offers business efficiency by giving people the ability to work from anywhere, on any device and network. Centralizing desktop, application, and data delivery via a Digital Workspace hosted, fully or partially, on carbon-neutral cloud environments can dramatically decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Better, with a Digital Workspace platform in place, IT is able to refocus on addressing critical areas of sustainability impact… the endpoint.
Sustainability - Workspaces
The rise of hybrid work models, or strategic work flexibility, is a testament to the changing demands the modern workforce is placing on business leadership. We are being challenged to drive accommodation, flexibility, and to be innovative in defining how technology and process can match with people and their desired work styles. Yet in their quest to design a more accommodating platform, businesses and IT end up providing a fragmented experience by delivering services differently in-office versus out-of-office or by application and service. This not only creates a poor experience for our users but also increases the burden placed on IT to manage disparate approaches. That is not work-life balance.
Digital Workspaces address fragmentation in service delivery regardless of where workloads are hosted, how skilled IT is, or where our employees are located and focus on delivering the best possible employee experience at all times. Digital Workspaces bring together and manage all applications, desktops and data within a single interface and allow employees to access anything, from anywhere, and across any device.
The transition to digital workplaces has been gaining momentum in the past few years, yet some businesses continue to resist it. This is usually because they don’t know where or how start; but with these five steps you can set your organization off on an exciting new journey:
Develop a strategy and clear vision. Decide on specific objectives you want to accomplish and consider how digitalization aligns with wider company goals; how will the transformation benefit employees, stakeholders, and customers and create a roadmap with achievable goals.
Get buy-in from stakeholders. Meet with department leaders to discuss how the new platform will look while discussing roles and responsibilities, including governance of the platform, how existing technology will be integrated, and expected ROI.
Create a framework for governance. An effective governance model establishes clarity around rules and the roles of contributors at all levels, which should include policy, guidelines, and standards.
Prepare for implementation and measurement of success. Plan how services and applications will be rolled out for each department and the company-wide impact expected and measure goals to track success.
Communicate your digital transformation. Explain the purpose of the transformation to employees and develop a training program. Gather employee feedback for and against change and build a successful launch by sending out reminders and teasers about the new platform.
As experts in digital workspace solutions, our Workspace Craft practice defines the appropriate technology strategy and investments aligned to user personas and business needs for driving increases in positive employee experience. We thrive with initiatives across Citrix, Microsoft and AWS solutions as well as complimenting IGEL & Lenovo offerings while maintaining a holistic view of Digital Workspace success. Our service offerings include:
Conceptual Implementations. Demonstrating the viability of a technology solution is best addressed through well-defined success criteria and a controlled environment. Led by qualified engineers, technology solutions are implemented to prove out how potential strategy could meet technical and business requirements.
Workspace Assessments. Whether you have an existing Digital Workspace strategy in place or not, your existing infrastructure may not be fully prepared to unlock complete potential in a Digital Workspace approach. Our engineers and architects peel back the layers of your existing infrastructure to identify gaps and provide recommendations to revitalize current and future investments.
Cloud Readiness. As an on-premises Digital Workspace strategist, you have likely considered Cloud as the logical next step. Before you start, our team identifies the path of least resistance to incorporate Cloud into the existing Digital Workspace strategy.
Workspace Design and Deployment Services. We start with the user experience first. Our design efforts are holistic and meticulous, focusing not only on the immediate use case but use cases that remain uncovered, and mirror technology design to a people-first mentality. We keep it simple and drive positive experiences across all business units and build to exceed these requirements.
Workspace Collaborative Services. If your team is not quite ready to lead the charge on day-to-day management or, perhaps, you want the reassurance of expert support, we have your back. Our Collaborative Services extends your team to broad expertise covering multiple platforms with proactive and reactive support and guidance.
Transition to modern endpoints.
35% percent of total IT GHG emissions are tied to end-user computing devices. 20% percent of these emissions occur in the manufacturing stage; the other 80% are created from electricity usage in the use-phase energy (UPE). Having the flexibility to select low power, low emissions devices with a low Typical Electricity Consumption (TEC) is vital to lowering an organization’s carbon footprint and achieving sustainability goals.
Extending the useful life of PCs by converting them to IGEL OS unlocks more value from the same manufacturing footprint, minimizing emissions during the manufacturing stage (and overcoming chip shortage concerns). Even doing this at one medium-sized business makes a significant impact. When PCs do eventually need to be replaced, IGEL makes it possible to use endpoints with a much smaller environmental footprint.
Sustainability - Modern Endpoints
A Modern Endpoint is an endpoint that provides IT with a simple and common administrative experience; is cost-effective to both acquire and manage; smartly scales effectively and efficiently with business demand; seamlessly adapts to changing demands, both internally and externally; provides endless options for native and custom integrations; and, importantly, reduces the endpoint attack surface to minimize risk to both employees and the business. This is IGEL – a simple, smart, and secure edge operating system for today’s Digital Workspaces.
The best way to learn more about IGEL is to contact us and we can walk you through the who, what, and why IGEL. After a business and technical overview, we explore a proof of value (POV) to demonstrate how IGEL can benefit your organization, your employees, and compliment a Digital Workspace strategy. While you contemplate the reach out, you can also visit IGEL and our Modern Endpoints solutions to learn more.
Whether repurposing existing PCs or transitioning to energy-efficient form factors, a modern endpoint strategy with IGEL OS can provide significant savings immediately and over time. For example, according to the IGEL TCO Calculator, an organization reconsidering a 100 PC deployment with an average cost of $1,000 per new PC could save upwards of $477,000 over a five-year period using PCs repurposed with IGEL OS over new PC Workstations. Savings are factored across acquisition cost, IT deployment, ongoing administration, and desktop and security tools.
Enable and Promote Remote Work to Reduce Emissions.
Along with increasing employee satisfaction and productivity, working from home options reduce carbon emissions by decreasing the number of daily commuters on the road. By adopting technology that allows for a flexible work policy and giving employees two days to work from home, on the road, or at the café on the corner, a company might drop its commuting mileage and resulting emissions by 40%.
Sustainability - Remote Work
Remote work promotes work/life balance and personal productivity. Relieved of the stress and time spent commuting, workers are free to focus on creativity and innovation. At the same time, energy savings from
facilities and data centers compound the reduction of greenhouse gases. On average, a commuting employee travels 30 kilometres a day for 232 workdays a year. 68% drive to work, so a company with 1,000 employees will log a cumulative 4,620,799 kilometres. That’s 1,172 cubic tons of greenhouse gas emissions each year (of which 1,436 acres of forest would sequester that carbon over a period of one year, according to Natural Resources Canada). Considering Canadian commuting volumes coupled with increasing commute times and population density (especially in the GTA), these numbers can be grossly underestimated.
As a Digital Workspace that allows for productivity, security, and a consistent experience across any location of any device, a Citrix Workspace helps you create secure and flexible working options that expand local and work from home and dramatically decrease the environmental impact of commuting emissions.
Sustainability Creates Benefits. For Everyone.
Enhanced Reputation and Brand
Sustainable outcomes and environmental wins are good for business. Customers can see through “greenwashing,” where environmental claims don’t match results. Companies that lead by example with sustainable best practices garner loyalty from the workforce and customers alike.
Attracting and Retaining Talent
The battle for talent can be won, or lost, with a clear, demonstrable commitment to employee experience. And more than 70% of workers said they were more likely to work at a company with a strong environmental agenda. Driving positive work-life balance in an always-on world provides workers with the support they need to focus on creativity and innovation.
Reduced Carbon Footprint
Allowing workers to select efficient, low-energy devices and reducing supply chain churn by extending device lifecycles provide measurable results toward sustainability goals. Reducing commute time and data center energy expenditure by deploying cloud-based solutions are low-hanging fruit.
Cost Control and ROI
Maximizing cost efficiencies by lowering device acquisition costs while maximizing employees time to produce their best work yields bottom-line results. The GlobalCommission on the Economy and Climate reports that embracing sustainable development and business practices could save businesses $23 trillion by 2030.
Compliance
Corporate and Social Responsibility policies aren’t window dressing. Companies in the public sector must report greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and aligning business goals with regulatory requirements is the stuff of C-Suite meetings. The CFO who can report that goals have been met or exceeded is a hero to stakeholders.
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Work more securely from almost anywhere with a single, cost-effective solution that includes online meetings and your favourite Office applications. Begin your cloud journey with Microsoft 365.
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