Do managed service providers hold the answers to a sustainable future in IT?

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Global, Jun 2, 2023

With sustainability top of mind for everyone, organisations are demanding transparency and clarity from suppliers and partners around ESG goals today. It’s clear that businesses expect the organisations they engage with to do more to offset their environmental impact. For example, data from 2018 showed that 62 per cent of consumers wanted companies to take a stand on issues including sustainability, transparency, and fair employment; in 2022, that number has grown to 72%1

IDC reports that by 2025, 75 per cent of digital infrastructure requests for proposals (RFPs) will require vendors to prove their ESG and sustainability progress with data2. As ESG increasingly becomes a key measure on which businesses are assessed, there is a commercial imperative for organisations to do more in sustainability.

How managed service providers can help improve sustainability   

Many businesses today recognise the value that managed services providers (MSPs) can deliver, such as enabling scale and flexibility without increasing costs exponentially. However, partnering with an MSP can also help reduce environmental impact while driving greater business efficiency.   

For example, a sustainable MSP can help your business to:   

  • track the carbon impact of your technology stack to ensure IT services align with sustainability strategies and ESG goals   
  • centralise data across your digital fabric and provide recommendations on how to improve efficiency, user experience and sustainability   
  • transition your business to using more energy-efficient infrastructure by reducing your business’s need to own, host, and/or manage its own infrastructure 
  • ethically dispose of redundant assets and even help you extend the life of existing in-use assets where possible 

Engaging with a global MSP also lets your business access expertise from across many countries, industry sectors, and ecosystem partners to drive more sustainable business practices.    

Taking the first steps   

To meet the growing need for transparency around sustainability commitments, businesses must innovate and adapt their processes accordingly. However, many organisations may not know where to start.    

There are two significant steps you should take to start your business sustainability journey:   

Benchmark your business   

Moving towards more sustainable and responsible business practices is difficult if you don’t know where you currently stand. It’s critical to benchmark your business to understand your carbon footprint to see what adjustments you can make to reduce your environmental impact.   

Logicalis’ managed services help customers define their carbon score, enabling them to track CO2 emissions relating to technology, giving them a head start in reducing their carbon footprint.   

Establish a task force to address key initiatives   

Once the benchmark has been established, it’s important to consider how you can work with tools and other organisations to improve. It’s essential to establish an internal network of advocates to help you achieve this. Executive commitment and buy-in will help drive sustainable initiatives and promote them in a top-down way. 

The next step   

Organisations should also consider the impacts of their supply chains and align with partners and vendors, including MSPs, that hold similar sustainability commitments to ensure ESG goals are met from beginning to end.

Over the past 12 months, Logicalis has accelerated its sustainability commitments and established clear ESG goals, including being Scope 1 and Scope 2 carbon neutral by 2025. We are determined to reduce our footprint to zero in the first instance rather than relying on carbon offsets alone to achieve this goal.   

As Architects of Change, Logicalis is dedicated to helping our customers create sustainable outcomes through technology.   

 

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1 Accenture, World Economic Forum: Shaping the Sustainable Organization, https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/sustainability/sustainable-organization  
2 IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Future of Digital Infrastructure 2022 Predictions 

 

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