Athlone based Sidero, Ireland’s software, cloud and digital transformation specialist, has announced the results of a new survey which found that over a quarter of organisations in Ireland (27% ) have set targets to become carbon neutral by 2030.
The survey of 111 IT decision-makers* across the island of Ireland revealed that environmental considerations play a significant role in business decisions for 44% of respondents, while a third said the same about purchasing decisions. Some 35% of those surveyed have made changes to their supply chain to become a more sustainable organisation.
However, the research found that a significant proportion (19% ) of tech leaders do not view sustainability as a priority right now, with 14% saying the road to sustainability is too costly. And, while sustainability is playing an increasing role in business decisions, a significant 42% of those surveyed admitted that they are yet to measure their business’s carbon emissions. An additional 10% have measured their business’s environmental footprint, but haven’t acted on it.
The survey also provided insights into how technology is being viewed as an enabler of more sustainable business practices. Almost a third (31% ) of those surveyed will begin, or increase, their usage of sustainable technologies in the next 12 months. These include technologies that are more energy efficient, reduce harmful emissions, or streamline business processes to decrease their strain on resources.
The findings are part of Sidero’s new report Head above the Clouds, which was launched during a well-attended event at Dublin’s Conrad Hotel. Speakers on the day included Elliot Daly, Director of Peru Consulting and Gerry Murray, Chief Operating Officer of PepTalk (both pictured ).
Increasingly, organisations are using the cloud as a means to reduce the carbon footprint of their IT strategy. Sidero’s research found that, in the next 12 months, Irish enterprises intend to invest an average of €883,000 in cloud and digital technologies and the majority (80% ) expect their business to move more applications or workloads to the cloud. Organisations also plan to begin or increase their usage of digital transformation (67% ), automation (47% ), cloud native applications (46% ), AI (31% ), and machine learning (26% ).
Despite the mass movement towards the cloud, almost a fifth (19% ) of organisations say their cloud strategy is outdated or limiting their business. Nearly half (48% ) of IT leaders believe their digital transformation strategy is just adequate or a work in progress, while only 18% feel their organisation’s strategy is enabling business success.
“Sustainability is a business imperative. Organisations are facing increasing calls to examine their environmental impact; not only from government and other industry stakeholders, but from their own customers and employees. It’s encouraging to see that a growing number of businesses in Ireland are taking this call seriously by setting carbon neutrality goals and leading by example. However, with a significant one-in-five IT leaders saying sustainability is not a priority for them right now, businesses must work to ensure they have buy-in (and budgets ) across the board to ensure success.
“The necessity to become more sustainable comes at a time when businesses are pushing to become increasingly digitalised. These goals do not need to be mutually exclusive and our research shows that technology can support sustainability targets. Cloud, in particular, is now being used by organisations to reduce their emissions as it provides them with greater efficiency than alternative on-site solutions. In addition, it is enabling businesses to quickly scale up and down their operations, expand virtually into new markets and innovate at speed. Given these benefits, there is no doubt that the future of work is in the cloud, and the businesses embracing this will be the ones to succeed in the digital and hybrid workplace,” Carmel Owens, CEO, Sidero, stated.
