Sustainability has never been higher on the boardroom agenda, as both consumers and regulators alike keep a keen eye on how businesses are impacting the environment. Failing to recognize this could cost a business, both financially and reputationally, as individuals no longer want to interact with brands that are failing to become more sustainable. In fact, taking that even further, with recent research from PWC discovering that consumers are willing to pay 9.7% more on sustainable produced or sourced goods, despite ongoing inflationary pressures.
To add to this, regulatory pressures, especially when it comes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, are only set to increase. The Climate Change Act commits the UK to reach net zero by 2050. However, earlier this year, a high court ruled the UK government’s climate action plan ‘unlawful’, citing that there is currently not enough evidence of sufficient policies in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A revised plan will be created in the next 12 months which ensures that the UK will achieve its pledge to cut emissions by more than two-thirds by 2030. It’s likely that the majority of UK businesses will be expected to play some sort of role in this.
Transitioning away from fossil fuels or decarbonizing emissions-intensive industries are often identified are key pathways to net-zero emissions. Another key area that would have a positive impact on organizations' sustainability is efficient data storage. Today, redundant, obsolete or trivial (ROT) and dark data continues to plague organizations, with minimal or no effort made to address data storage issues. This presents a big opportunity for businesses operating in today’s increasingly sustainability-conscious landscape.
What a waste! Data hoarding and sustainability
With the proliferation of digital devices and online applications, individuals are more aware of their data than ever before. However, whilst the topic of data breaches and how to prevent them is often getting airtime, sustainability and the impact that certain data management practices could have on the environment is not.
For example, waste remains a major concern in data storage. The energy consumption of procured storage remains the same regardless of how much of it is used. Thus, using as much of the available capacity as possible, and procuring no more than is needed, must be a priority if businesses want to achieve both efficiency and sustainability.
Data hoarding is a catalyst for poor decision making. As a business's data pile grows, it becomes harder to keep track of everything and easier for cybercriminals to take advantage. Data breaches have devastating consequences and, whilst we’re all aware of the financial and reputational damage that can follow, many of us might not be so aware of the environmental cost of data hoarding, with data centers currently pumping out tons of emissions to manage global data storage, equivalent of almost 2 percent of the world’s emissions, which is the same as the airline industry.
The message is clear. Businesses need to assume responsibility when it comes to data storing, by turning away from poor data management practices, and considering solutions to lessen their carbon footprint.
Making a positive impact
As the pressure to be more sustainable increases, businesses need to get one step ahead. One way to ensure this is to proactively set up emission tracking systems and explore optimizing services that are both eco-friendly and cost-efficient. It is important to get the balance between ensuring that data is securely protected but also that any solutions are being deployed in a way that limits the environmental impact of long-term data storage and management.
Businesses should begin by taking stock of their current data management and storage practices and assessing how they line up with any wider environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals. Through this, areas for improvement can be identified and business leaders can seek advice from internal or external resources.
To minimize waste in data storage, IT leaders can embrace lean principles with techniques such as data compression, de-duplication and thin provisioning. It is beneficial for organizations to establish an official data lifecycle to understand the relevance of data, archive infrequently used data and purges data that is no longer required.
Of course, when it comes to adopting more sustainable data management practices, organizations can consider partnering with cloud service providers to assist in managing their carbon footprint efficiently. Specifically, by dynamically allocating resources across customers’ workloads, cloud data centers can achieve higher resource utilization and energy efficiency – translating into lower carbon footprint associated with the same workload.
A more sustainable future
Moving forward, business leaders will need to be more conscious about the environmental impact of their operations. Dark data should not be considered a natural consequence of digitalization and data waste and data hoarding are two issues that need to be tackled head on. By adopting cloud-based autonomous data management solutions that combine automation, artificial intelligence and elastic architecture, organizations can pave the way for a more cost-effective and sustainable business model.
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