Some of today's most profitable sustainable IT initiatives have an adoption rate of less than 30% by organizations, according to new research from Gartner Inc., a world leader in business research and advice.
“The progress of Sustainable IT is happening at a solid pace,” he says Kristin Moyer, Vice President and Analyst at Gartner. “The survey found that leaders have completed, on average, nine sustainable IT initiatives across the categories of data centers and cloud, digital workplace, and data and software. However, sustainable IT adoption patterns show that executives are not always implementing the most profitable initiatives.”
The survey was conducted in Q4 2023 to assess IT’s actions and impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions within companies and the technology sector as a whole. A total of 200 leaders from North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific participated in the survey.
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The survey shows that 641% of leaders believe they don’t receive the emissions performance data they need from suppliers. “Because of these limitations, some executives struggle to prioritize sustainable IT initiatives or know where to start,” Moyer says. “They also neglect to consider sustainable IT initiatives that are low-cost and achieve moderate greenhouse gas reductions.”
While the top two areas where leaders have implemented the most sustainable IT initiatives are in data centers (86% of respondents) and digital workplace (79% of respondents), there are initiatives that are more cost-effective and have low adoption in both categories. In data centers, these include right-sizing the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) and improving cooling.
“Leaders should right-size their UPS systems based on current needs and future capacities, which will help increase efficiency and save costs,” explains the Gartner analyst. “Enhanced cooling systems such as immersion cooling, passive cooling and direct-on-chip cooling are also underutilized and can significantly reduce water consumption and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.”
In the workplace, leaders are underutilizing circularity in IT. Only 22% of respondents are choosing to purchase refurbished assets to improve circularity, reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions.
Additionally, many companies are still upgrading devices based on an estimated three- to five-year lifespan, rather than using analytics to determine the optimal time to replace laptops, PCs, and servers. Executives should use performance analytics and insights telemetry to replace machines and devices as needed. Gartner estimates that by 2027, PC as a service offerings will grow to 50%, representing an increase from 20% in 2023.
Gartner clients can read more in the report “Sustainable IT: Don't Miss These Cost-Effective Opportunities????????
