By: Salman Ali, Senior Manager – Solution Engineering, META, Riverbed Technology
If it wasn’t for AI, sustainability would have undoubtedly been the key theme of the Middle East business community last year. COP28 shone a spotlight on the criticality of climate action and though this landmark event is in the rear-view mirror, it is now that its implications and impact will be truly felt. From new regulations and opportunities driven by government initiatives to more climate-conscious consumers and employees, the ripples will be far reaching and profound.
Regional enterprises that prioritise environmental sustainability are sure to have an edge in the year ahead. They will be the beneficiaries of favourable government policies, have the edge against their competitors in lucrative deals, and be far more attractive to top talent. And with last year’s introduction of the ESG reporting guidelines by the GCC Exchanges Commission, it’s time for businesses to take tangible action, and as has become the norm in recent decades, technology provides the answer!
However, raising environmental awareness about emissions, resource depletion, and e-waste – while trying to meet the needs of customers, employees, and potential business partners – can prove challenging. Here are three ways organisations can align their IT efforts with broader business sustainability goals and reap the rewards of thinking green.
Support a sustainable hybrid workforce
Post-pandemic, many firms have adopted a hybrid way of working, with a new trend for employees spending some time remotely and some in-office. These companies must extend the lifespan of laptops to achieve sustainable aims and cost-saving objectives alike, while meeting user performance expectations. They also need to collect, measure, and report accurate data on sustainability metrics, like energy consumption, to enable informed decision-making and continuous improvement.
This may seem difficult across a highly distributed modern IT network but using a comprehensive digital employee experience (DEX) platform, it becomes a simple task. Especially when that platform delivers actionable insights and intelligent automation, like those from unified observability specialists Riverbed.
Tools like these capture and correlate granular end-user performance data and environmental credentials from all applications and devices, including laptops, and centralise it in one unified dashboard. Monitored metrics could include device uptime, carbon emissions, electricity consumption, and running costs, allowing IT teams to identify energy-saving opportunities, cut costs, fulfil reporting requirements, and promote behavioural change.
Unified observability tools can use AI-driven automation capabilities to further streamline sustainable IT practices and operational efficiency – for example, by triggering a change in power plan settings, shutting down idle devices remotely, and informing users about their energy consumption and ways to limit it. Day-to-day management and support functions can cut resource consumption, too, minimising the footprint of human intervention to reduce failures.
Involve stakeholders from across the business
According to a Gartner CEO survey, sustainability is now one of the top 10 business priorities for CEOs. Companies with experience in promoting sustainable practices typically have executive-level sponsorship, but even then, getting started is often the hardest step. Organisations should consider creating a steering committee and working together to devise an environmental action plan. This should involve baselining sustainability metrics, incorporating sustainability goals into corporate values, prioritising projects, and assigning responsibility.
The most obvious members may include Sustainability or ESG Officers and other environmental leaders, who usually have a broad scope in managing and addressing environmental concerns and promoting organisation-wide sustainability. Additionally, businesses should consider inviting IT Operations Directors and VPs, who typically oversee and implement strategies. New options could be created, or existing strategies tailored, to meet sustainability goals – for example, by reducing energy consumption and carbon footprints, managing e-waste, and ensuring compliance with environmental regulations and standards.
Compliance Officers and Risk Managers can add value to such committees as well, as they have experience aligning business practices with IT operations and ensuring compliance with relevant regulations, industry standards, and internal policies. Their involvement can help define reporting requirements and streamline compliance processes.
Engage every employee
While top-level support is critical, every employee’s mindset and persona-based needs must be investigated and considered so companies can promote the adoption of useful, relevant, and welcomed sustainable practices. One way they can gather this information, and simultaneously enhance staff engagement, is through DEX solutions that offer sentiment surveys.
Moreover, platforms that adeptly translate environmental insight into tangible, real-world estimations have a greater ability to influence employee behaviour – for example, by converting carbon emissions into comparable units, like the number of mature trees required to offset them.
A boost to the bottom-line, and more
Far from being a significant instant in time, COP28 lives on as a concept – serving as a guiding light to shape the sustainable future of the Middle East. Embracing sustainability benefits both our planet and the financial performance of conscious companies. To deliver successful sustainable IT initiatives, organisations need a comprehensive DEX platform, executive-level sponsorship, employee backing, and – perhaps most critically – the deep understanding that their business’s future depends on prioritising their environmental responsibility alongside meeting customer and staff expectations.
