Focusing on Digital Sustainability Is More Cost-Effective for ITAM

2. How Can Institutions Select More Sustainable Devices?

Major IT hardware and software providers are very aware of the e-waste and lifecycle problem, and it’s easy to uncover lifecycle timelines, OS and security patch commitments, and other sustainability information. IT teams should bring that data to the table when considering hardware purchases, whether for infrastructure, the data center or end-user devices. Adding this additional axis of information to the decision-making process encourages more sustainable acquisitions. The traditional calculations for total cost of ownership don’t need to add sustainability as a metric, because long-term sustainability is almost always more economical.

3. How Should We Factor Energy Efficiency Into Our Considerations?

Everyone is looking at every aspect of energy efficiency, and every watt counts, so evaluating this benchmark for devices will put money back in the institution’s pocket. But IT teams should also consider scale when making sustainability decisions about energy efficiency. Yes, wireless smartphone charging is much less efficient than wired, but a single smartphone uses only a few ampere-hours per day. A single rack of servers will draw about 1,000 times that. Selecting devices and configurations to make one rack of servers 25% more efficient makes a real impact. You’d have to convince thousands of people to give up wireless charging to have the same effect.

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4. Is the Cloud a More Sustainable Choice?

Calculations are always complicated when looking at sustainability, but comparing a data center with a cloud center is much simpler: Cloud data centers always win. They are more efficient in every way — power, cooling, space, utilization, device lifecycle, overall efficiency, even adoption of renewable energy sources.

5. Is All Software Equally Sustainable?

Many people overlook software, but it is a key part of the sustainability equation. Software can be more or less energy-efficient, can have a longer or shorter lifecycle, can be cloud-friendly or cloud-hostile, and can encourage users to select more efficient settings — or not. Determining which software is more sustainable can be difficult for IT teams, but it’s worth the effort.