5 ways to reduce the carbon impact of your tech stack

By Carol McGrotty, head of transformation and operations

Climate change is a monstrosity of a topic, so naturally there’s a lot of work to be done to tackle it. But it feels like, sometimes, companies believe every sustainability initiative they roll out must be major, if it is to have an environmental impact. Yet really, what’s perhaps more powerful, is the collective effort of as many people as possible, and the continued achievement of even marginal gains.

In thinking about some simple steps to developing a stronger sustainability agenda, we gathered the thoughts of Vapour colleagues recently. And they had PLENTY of ideas, large and small.

1. For example, using secure public cloud services rather than on-premise server rooms or private data centres, where possible, can dramatically reduce carbon footprint.
2. The wider consolidation of hardware can further lower power consumption too. Audit the number of devices used throughout the business, and where possible remove those which are under-utilised. Workplace analytics can really help in assessing true usage rates if you’re not sure where to begin.
3. Dispose of seemingly redundant kit responsibly, ideally using compliant yet environmentally responsible recovery schemes that prioritise refurbishment and reuse, or recycling. Our Technology as a Service (TaaS) solution includes this as standard.
4. If new kit is required, evaluate energy efficiency to keep ongoing power consumption low, where possible.
5. Think about what application performance monitoring could uncover. Intuitive tools like Logic Monitor don’t just evaluate traffic for productivity and resilience purposes – they can identify underperforming processes that unnecessarily drain bandwidth and energy consumption too.

Remember that ‘every little helps’ so to speak, so a clearly communicated mission statement should encourage employees – everyone in the business – to also be considerate and responsible for their own behaviours at the workplace and at home. ‘Green thinking’ then stands a better chance of growing to become a mindset, rather than simply a fad.

This year, instead of sending Christmas presents to customers in celebration of the festive season, Vapour will plant a tree for future generations to enjoy. This small gesture forms part of our recent pledge to become net zero by 2040. Watch this space for more information.

If you’d like to discuss how powerful yet simple cloud technology can strengthen your environmental agenda, please contact us.