Tbtech June Edition

tbtech publication

£9.99

tbtech.co

STORIES INSPIRED BY MODERN LIVING.

JUNE 2023

A future worth thinking about

FOCUSING ON SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES IN THE TECH WORLD.

Vigor 2865AX

SKU V2865AX-K

DrayTek’s Vigor 2865 series

Multi-WAN Firewall VPN

Login to see deal price

Vigor 2927ax

SKU V2927AX-K

DrayTek Vigor 2927AX WLAN C

Login to see deal price

Vigor 2763ac ADSL or VDSL Router/Firewall

SKU V2763AC-K

DrayTek Vigor 2763 series

VDSL and Ethernet VPN

Login to see deal price

DELIVERING EV CHARGING INFRASTRUCTURE TO MEET 2030 NEEDS.

Those responsible for the deployment of EV infrastructure need to understand their user’s needs, which should inform long-term roll-outs, and design procurement processes that incentivise charging point providers to deliver quality long-term deployments.

let’s connect connectedkerb.com

Global team of analysts, at your reach 24/7

Contain threats both on-prem and on the cloud

Incident response teams to mitigate any threats

Real time analytics

PROVIDES ENTERPRISE CUSTOMERS WITH ONE-STOP CONSTRUCTION WORLDWIDE, INCLUDING INTEGRATED IP TELEPHONY SYSTEM, VC SYSTEMS, OFFICE EQUIPMENT,

ONE-STOP SOLUTIONS FOR IT INFRASTRUCTURE INTEGRATED CABLING, NETWORK, SERVER AND STORAGE, EQUIPMENT, COMPUTER ROOM CONSTRUCTION.

CHINATELECOMGLOBAL.COM

The era of software-defined everything is pushing the pace of innovation and transforming market segments ranging from aerospace to industrial, defense to medical, and networking to automotive.

Meet your tbtech team.

Joe has vast experience and knowledge accumulated and honed as a New Business Development Manager and Relationship Manager. Responsible for generating new business opportunities, looking after the growth of the company and strategy, sourcing new ventures and managing the company.

Paul stops at nothing to innovate and create value for our customers. His mission is help those we work with to win in their markets. Passionate about delivering customer success and have had the pleasure of supporting many of the world’s leading technology brands for over 15 years.

Matt is Operations Manager at TBTech, he has spent the last 15 years working with multinational IT companies building campaigns, GTM strategies, leading both Sales and Marketing teams to achieve organisational goals. With a love of computer science, history, and psychology he is an advocate for change, operational efficiency and automation. Value across the business for all our customers.

JOE ALLEN

PAUL WHITTALL

MATT ROBERTS

We have been working behind-the-scenes to elevate the readers experience.

ERIN LANAHAN

Erin’s love for advertising and design has led her to Tbtech as a Media Marketing Apprentice. As a new member of the team, she is looking forward to exploring new skills and learning more about the tech sector .

WILLIAM MOORE

William’s passion starts and ends with design, timeless aesthetic and creative solutions. Having worked on numerous creative campaigns ranging from car manufacturers, leading tech companies, property investors as well as local artisans, the goal is to create the ultimate brand experience between the client and the consumer.

growing audience, of thousands

Why sustainable solutions are vital for the security industry’s future.

In an era marked by growing environmental consciousness, industries are actively seeking innovative ways to embrace sustainability. However, one sector that has often been overlooked in this context is security. Nevertheless, a transformative shift is currently underway, reshaping the security industry’s approach to sustainability.

By Rhys Richardson, Business Development Director – CLD Systems.

Why sustainable solutions are vital for the security industry’s future.

The journey to transform the security industry into a sustainable powerhouse is not without its challenges. For CLD Systems the primary hurdle lies in garnering support from its stakeholders and ensuring that sustainable solutions are viewed as valuable investments rather than burdensome costs. Overcoming this obstacle requires collective efforts to integrate sustainable practices throughout the industry, promoting product reuse and longevity, while dispelling the misconception that sustainability compromises profitability.

Driving the security industry towards sustainability requires designing sustainable products and solutions from project inception and allocating adequate budgets for them. By embedding sustainability as a core consideration, the industry can proactively implement sustainable solutions on a wider scale. Achieving this vision requires collaboration among all stakeholders and a commitment to challenging the status quo.

The increasing priority placed on sustainable solutions by customers across various industries has begun to influence the security sector as well. While larger projects have made notable strides in adopting sustainability, there remains untapped potential for smaller ventures.

CLD Systems, the leading UK manufacturer and supplier of rigid mesh fencing and security gates, showcases its commitment to sustainable solutions with the integration of its On-Ground FenceSafe product during the construction phase of projects. Made with a 100% recycled base and 78% recycled steel, this product serves a dual purpose. It can be used during construction and then converted into a permanent fenceline or easily deployed on the next project, showcasing the versatility of such solutions and promoting positive sustainable outcomes. By utilising recycled materials, CLD Systems not only showcases the versatility of sustainable solutions but also significantly reduces carbon emissions and waste generation, making a positive impact on the environment.

The On-Ground FenceSafe is positioned directly on the ground, eliminating the need for physical tools, streamlining operations whilst minimising resource consumption. This approach effectively minimises environmental impact and lowers carbon emissions.

The shift toward sustainability in the security industry is driven by customers’ heightened awareness of environmental issues and their desire to align their projects with sustainable values. This growing demand underscores the changing landscape of customer expectations, where sustainability is a crucial factor in decision-making processes. More clients are now seeking BREEAM excellence, the world’s leading science-based suite of validation and certification systems for sustainable built environment. This places a significant responsibility on CLD Systems as manufacturers to challenge the status quo and provide innovative, sustainable solutions. To achieve this, CLD Systems collaborates with contractors who operate zero-towaste schemes, further reinforcing

its commitment to sustainable practices.In response to the everevolving nature of the security sector, CLD Systems has emerged with a solution that aligns with sustainable principles: rental options. This approach offers clients greater flexibility while minimising waste.

The RiseMaster HE Barrier, an automatic boom arm barrier system powered entirely by solar energy, exemplifies this commitment. Featuring primary and secondary photovoltaic panels, it eliminates the need for road crossing control cabling during installation, reducing environmental impact and carbon emissions. With 24/7 solar autonomy and zero carbon emissions over a 10-year life cycle, it sets a new standard for sustainable security solutions. The integration of Bluetooth connectivity reduces the reliance on physical tools, streamlining operations and minimising resource consumption.

As the security industry aligns itself with the broader environmental movement, CLD Systems’ commitment to offering rental solutions and solar-powered innovations paves the way for a greener and more secure future. By embracing collaboration, innovation, and sustainable product design, the industry can make a significant impact in addressing environmental challenges while meeting customer demands for a more sustainable and secure world.

Green tech investment. The new green gold rush.

As the global climate crisis worsens and energy costs skyrocket, green technology has become a necessity for business survival. Those executives who strive to be forward-thinking enough to develop eco-friendly solutions have the potential to meet the growing demand for sustainability and reap the financial rewards that come with it. This is because Investors are now recognising the positive impact on both the environment and their bottom line as they turn their attention to the ESG market (Environmental, social, and corporate governance).

By Prashant Ketkar, Chief Technology & roduct Officer at Alludo.

Green tech investment. The new green gold rush.

What was once considered a niche market for eco-conscious leaders is now becoming mainstream within the corporate world. This burgeoning sector now encompasses a wide range of industries, including carbon removal, agriculture, food waste, renewables, and decarbonisation of the built environment. The leaders in these industries are prioritising environmental sustainability for a host of reasons, including consumer demand, legislative and investor pressure, talent retention and more importantly meeting the ESG regulatory requirements that are being imposed on them - and many are turning to technology to help them achieve these regulatory requirements.

THE RISE OF GREEN CLOUD

Green cloud is no longer just a passing trend but an essential requirement for businesses that want to prioritise sustainability and reduce their carbon footprint. By using cloud infrastructure, businesses can manage workloads efficiently and become

more energy-efficient, thereby improving their sustainability performance in areas such as lighting, energy consumption, and cooling systems. A recent study by International Data Corporation (IDC) found that if more organisations were to adopt green cloud technology by 2024, they could collectively avoid emitting up to 629 million metric tonnes of carbon. The study also found that prioritising sustainability in data centre design can eliminate up to 1.6 million metric tonnes of emissions by 2024. By adopting green cloud, businesses can contribute to a greener future and enjoy significant financial benefits.

Moreover, green cloud is a necessary component of sound business practices in 2023 –as it attracts environmentally aware investors. The demand for green cloud is growing, and the market for green IT is expanding. Therefore, businesses must make it a priority to adopt green cloud; and in doing so, they will help create a more sustainable future, reduce energy costs, and attract investors who prioritise environmental awareness.

TOP SOURCES OF IT ENERGY COSTS IN BUSINESS

As businesses continue to rely on technology for their daily operations, the expenses associated with IT energy consumption have become a significant concern for business leaders. Green IT initiatives have become a necessity for companies to reduce their carbon footprint and enhance their financial competitiveness. One of the most significant sources of IT energy costs is data centres, which are, estimated to be responsible for up to 3% of global electricity consumption today and are projected to touch 4% by 2030. Businesses are continuously seeking ways to reduce energy consumption within data centres. Personal computers and mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets, are also significant sources of IT energy costs. These devices are often left on even when not in use, leading to energy wastage. Network equipment, such as routers and switches, also consumes energy even when not in use.

To address the energy consumption of IT, businesses must take a proactive approach. By identifying and addressing the top sources of IT energy costs, business leaders can reduce energy consumption, save on energy bills, and enhance their bottom line. In a world where sustainability is becoming increasingly crucial, companies that adopt green IT initiatives will not only reduce their environmental impact but also be better placed to succeed in a changing business landscape. Virtualisation technologies such as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is an effective solution to reduce IT energy costs It consolidates multiple physical servers into a single virtual machine, resulting in lower energy consumption. With a VDI solution in place, companies can continue the usage of legacy software and applications instead of purchasing replacement solutions, which may be ecofriendlier and more sustainable if those solutions require less computing power to operate (among other factors). Optimising power management strategies can also help. Setting up automated

power management policies that turn off inactive devices and put them into sleep mode is one way to do this. Additionally, optimising cooling systems in data centres can save a considerable amount of energy and reduce costs.

Cloud computing is another viable solution that can reduce energy consumption. By switching to remote or hybrid work options, therefore reducing the need for on-site servers and data centres, cloud can be more environmentally friendly and an effective way to reduce energy consumption. The scalability of cloud computing also allows organisations to scale their IT infrastructure up or down, depending on their needs.

In the world of business, green technology is no longer a trend but rather a necessary aspect of sustainable practices and futureproofing an organisation. As we witness a rapid expansion in technology usage, it is imperative that we address the energy consumption of IT. The good news is that there are multiple strategies that organizations can

implement to reduce energy costs and improve the sustainability of IT operations. By adopting these strategies, businesses can create a more environmentally conscious future while staying financially competitive. It is time for businesses to take a proactive approach and embrace green IT initiatives for a better tomorrow.

How can telecommunications operators achieve their sustainability goals?

For telecommunications operators (telcos), going green is not only a socially responsible move – it’s an economical one too. In fact, a study conducted by Deloitte earlier this year found that energy consumption constitutes 20 to 40 per cent of a telco’s operating costs. The ability to cut costs, coupled with customers, partners, regulators, and shareholders now expecting firms across the business landscape to adopt sustainable measures and practices, has led many carriers to begin developing their own strategies in order to achieve net zero targets.

By Ted Curtis, senior engineer at NETSCOUT.

Can telecommunications operators achieve their sustainability goals?

IMPACT OF 5G NETWORKS

In recent years, 5G – the fifth generation of wireless technology – has come to the fore. The technology has brought automation to a range of industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, and retail. What’s more, 5G networks allow Internet of Things (IoT) devices to communicate and share data faster than ever before. They have also played a significant role in the development of autonomous transportation and augmented reality.

The rollout of 5G networks has also provided some sustainability advantages. Research from the telecommunications giant Nokia found 5G to be 90 per cent more energy efficient than comparable legacy 4G ecosystems. Also, when transmitting the same amount of data, 5G cell sites consume just 15 per cent of the energy compared to a 4G cell site. Because of this, a swift transition to 5G globally could save up to 0.5 billion tonnes of CO₂ by 2030.

Ultimately, 5G ecosystems will consume more energy than their predecessors due to the increased network density, reliance on complex IT infrastructure, and far greater volumes of network data traffic. The expansion of 5G is expected to cause a substantial rise in data, as business and consumer adoption of applications and services continues to grow significantly at a rapid pace. In fact, recent predictions have indicated the increased use of 5G networks will result in a rise of around 160 per cent in power requirements by 2030, which has broad implications for sustainability. This is due to the flexibility of 5G in both consumer and industrial settings, as well as the energy demands of the powerful network components which comprise 5G ecosystems, such as edge servers and massive multiple-input multiple-output (Massive MIMO) technology.

As an increasing number of organisations are exploring methods to improve sustainability value propositions within their business practices, many are seeing the adoption of 5G-enabled services as a way to achieve important efficiency goals that will lead to a drop off in consumption and emissions. This provides telcos with an opportunity, as enterprises continue to place a greater level of importance on energy efficiency when carriers launch 5G networks.

MEETING NET ZERO GOALS

To realise energy and cost savings, carriers will need to evaluate network operations throughout their entire online infrastructure. This will ensure that everything, from networks to software, is optimised. The priority for telcos is to integrate sustainability across the entire organisation. This will enable businesses to make incremental, but no less important, developments. To achieve this, enterprises must adhere to best practices aimed

at key areas of the ecosphere, such as network technology, infrastructure, and visibility. When it comes to network technology, organisations should make use of hardware and software that has been designed to operate both efficiently and effectively. In terms of infrastructure, enterprises must find a way to maximise this when taking into account the effect edge data centre and cloud environments will have. And lastly, looking at visibility, businesses must attain end-through-end visibility via next-generation solutions capable of measuring, monitoring, enhancing, and automating the whole network.

Telcos will want to take a comprehensive view of the entire infrastructure, connecting key performance indicators (KPIs) to individual business units so as net zero efforts can be prioritised. To implement a sustainabilityfocused mentality throughout the organisation, it’s imperative for carriers to have accurate metrics so they can fully comprehend the most efficient and effective way to embed their chosen strategy.

THE NEED TO GAIN VISIBILITY

To meet net zero objectives, carriers require end-through-end visibility that enables them to establish sustainability-specific KPI priorities. They should strongly consider implementing a solution that can provide network visibility. This will enable telcos to monitor traffic levels and analyse applications for KPIs associated with responsiveness, inaccuracies, and service dependencies by market, through each of the network layers – all the way down to cell sites and subscribers.

With these invaluable insights, telcos will be in a stronger position to make knowledgeable and wellinformed decisions directly related to their sustainability goals.

For telcos, meeting sustainability and power efficiency targets is no easy task. Nevertheless, implementing a strategy that puts businesses in a position of strength to achieve these objectives – without compromising performance or service quality – is essential when it comes to setting priorities and goals for greater sustainability and power efficiency.

How can transparency and technology help shape our planet’s future?

In the face of constant environmental issues, our planet is striving to tackle them head-on. Sustainability embodies the aspiration to conserve the environment, promote social fairness, and foster economic prosperity. It acts as a guiding force to steer our endeavours in an ever-evolving world and construct a resilient tomorrow. As the global community grapples with the repercussions of the climate crisis on agriculture, the increasing prominence of technology within the industry offers an opportunity to address these challenges. However, in order to transform this prospect into a tangible outcome, it is crucial for businesses to initiate collaborative efforts aimed at enhancing connectivity and efficiency across the agricultural sector, ultimately fostering a food system that is aligned with the principles of environmental preservation.

By Davide Ceper CEO of Varda

How can technology help shape our planet’s future?

However, where do we stand presently in terms of sustainability? Are we effectively attaining our sustainability goals? And how can technology help solve this problem?

THE OPTIMISTIC OUTLOOK OF OUR FUTURE

There is a growing recognition, especially among younger generations, of the inadequacy of the existing economic model. People are increasingly aware of the urgency needed to take action and this awareness is spreading through various channels, facilitated by the continuous flow of information and extensive media coverage. Leading to a collective understanding that proactive measures are indispensable in tackling this situation effectively.

Once awareness is established, the subsequent crucial phase entails translating it into tangible action. From an ecological standpoint, the overall condition of our planet has significantly deteriorated compared to previous decades. Addressing these issues and implementing concrete steps to restore the well-being of our planet is of the utmost importance.

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN

Despite dedicated endeavours that have successfully tackled specific elements, the comprehensive evaluation paints a disheartening picture when assessing diverse climate-related factors. Instances of extreme climate events, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, waste, and deforestation depict a bleak scenario. It is crucial for us to use this alarming reality as a catalyst for more urgency in addressing these challenges.

By improving communication channels and ensuring easy accessibility of information to the general public, we can emphasise the urgent need for action and convey that our desired goals have not yet been achieved.

SOLVING THE PROBLEM

One way of mitigating the problem is effectively using technology. The agricultural sector has already experienced positive outcomes through the implementation of various technological advancements, and harnessing data effectively holds immense potential in monitoring and improving the overall environmental footprint. This, in turn, supports initiatives aimed at reducing negative impacts. By using incentives across the industry, agriculture can proactively embark on a path towards better use of data, thereby enabling more sustainable practices.

One way in which technology can transform the industry is the use of data. Currently, the agricultural industry stands as a highly fragmented ecosystem, distinguishing it from sectors like pharmaceuticals, which boast concentrated production and standardised processes regulated by authorities. This industry encompasses millions of independent farmers engaged in cultivating numerous diverse crops, each necessitating unique farming techniques adapted to varying environmental conditions specific to different locations. Moreover, the supply chains within agriculture are extensive and operate with distinct dynamics across different markets. Consequently, any situation that involves the measurement of multiple variables across different stages or farms necessitates the aggregation and retrieval of data from disparate individuals, systems, and structures, all lacking consistent standards. The intricate nature of this data collection system renders the potential of data largely untapped, as coordinating such efforts becomes exceedingly challenging.

While regulatory control commonly ensures standardisation in other industries, it is worth noting that these industries often involve fewer major players and shorter supply chains, enabling more effective alignment. In contrast, the agricultural industry has evolved over centuries, adapting to diverse local conditions, which has resulted in a wide array of individual processes and solutions. Standardising farming practices in the same manner as shipping goods simply doesn’t work.

To succeed in gaining more transparency in the complexity of the food value chain, Varda is starting from the field level, assigning a unique field ID to each plot of agricultural land. In this way, the product, Global FieldID, provides an infrastructure for participants, across the ag and food industry, to make better use of their data and understand its source. If this data system became aligned, we could begin incorporating the environmental impact of our consumption into the pricing of goods. This can have a profound effect on current consumption patterns.

By accurately incorporating the genuine cost of environmental consequences into the prices of the goods we consume, we would witness a transformative change as people would take a more considered approach to their consumption patterns. This would result in a differentiated pricing framework for products, which could act as a strong incentive for driving change.

NOW IS THE TIME TO MAKE A CHANGE

Fundamentally, enhancing transparency regarding the impacts of our consumption choices holds immense promise as a solution for sustainability. It can act as a vital catalyst for expediting change, utilising prices as a potent indicator to foster a perception of scarcity. This approach has proven its

efficacy in the past, as evidenced by initiatives such as carbon credits or carbon pricing, which seek to drive transformation through economic incentives.

Nevertheless, it is vital to recognise that for this approach to achieve success, it necessitates unified action and equitable implementation across all countries and supply chains. Without such collective efforts, it may result in distortions of competition and provide an unfair advantage to those not bound by such regulations. Therefore, considerations of fairness and equity should take precedence when implementing these measures.

Significant progress has been made in terms of sustainability, reflecting commendable efforts. However, there remains a substantial journey ahead to safeguard our future. Whether it involves developing methods to accurately assess the external impacts of products or deploying technology to facilitate sustainable practices, concerted action is imperative to consistently meet our sustainability objectives.

Supply chains in tech businesses are crucial for a more sustainable future.

Sustainability has risen to the top of the business agenda and for a business to be sustainable, many areas need to be considered. Many businesses are reliant on other businesses and external suppliers when it comes to sourcing materials, components or services. The supply chain status quo for decades has neglected the environmental consequences of modern production methods, so positive change couldn’t be more needed to protect the planet. From the largest global tech giants to SMEs, supply chains are a crucial part of the sustainability puzzle and a sustainable future is only possible with greener and more environmentally friendly supply chains.

By Alan Hayward, Sales and Marketing Manager at SEH Technology UK.

Supply chains in tech businesses are crucial for a more sustainable future.

UNDERSTANDING YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN FOOTPRINT

Businesses exist in a connected world, and many are reliant on external suppliers to function effectively. During the pandemic, supply chains began to creak demonstrating just how reliant businesses are on them. In a similar vein, businesses are dependent on their supply chains to help them be more sustainable, so it’s important to understand their supply chain footprint. The CDP has found that supply chain emissions are on average more than 11 times higher than operational emissions, so businesses need to look beyond their emissions to that of their supply chains.

Supply chains are complex but with the help of technology, understanding them - and thus improving them - can be made easier by having greater visibility. Technologies that can help with supply chain sustainability include IoT, 3D printing and blockchain. IoT sensors within a supply chain can help share data back to central control and monitoring points, to better inform sustainable

decision-making. 3D printing can further help to reduce costs and wastage by being able to more easily make prototypes and products on demand. Furthermore, transparency issues have long been a problem with supply chains and blockchain can alleviate some of that by recording transactions across an entire supply chain. Technology really can be a powerful enabler for understanding and boosting a supply chain’s sustainability credentials.

THE BENEFITS OF A GREENER SUPPLY CHAIN

Businesses can benefit from having a greener supply chain in a multitude of ways. Supply chains are a reflection of a business’s overall carbon footprint and many countries have enacted net zero legislation, so businesses will have to play a part in that by reducing their emissions. Legal actions will only become more common against businesses that will fall short of future duties and legal obligations. This also has an impact on reputation as some legal actions could receive

significant media attention. Supply chains, despite being external, can have positive effects on a business internally when they are sustainable, as employees want to know that they work for sustainable businesses. Attracting talent is also easier as prospective employees look to work for businesses that align with their own goals and beliefs. Another benefit of greener supply chains is that they help to reduce the overall consumption of resources, better for the protection of the environment and also the bottom line of a business. Companies can save costs by having more sustainable supply chains as a result of the reduced use of resources, so there’s also an economic benefit to reducing the use of resources.

A CIRCULAR FUTURE

Over the past few decades, the status quo has been to extract new materials almost every time that something is produced. The consequences have been wideranging, from losses in biodiversity to excess levels of waste, rising global temperatures and pollution. Currently, the linear economic system is causing numerous environmental harms and so the status quo needs to shift towards a global economy based around the principles of circularity. It’s worth noting that discussions around the circular economy often lead to greenwashing and other negative reputational issues but what’s truly important are genuine efforts to protect the environment when the health of the planet is at risk.

Technology companies are not only in the position of being able to make positive changes when it comes to circularity, but can also help to provide much-needed solutions, as mentioned above. However, waste produced by the technology industry has had a significant impact on the environment as older products become outdated and end up as electronic waste. Sustainability and longevity need to be top priorities for products so that the ultimate environmental impacts are minimised for the long term. The product life cycle will therefore need to encompass the principles of circularity at all stages, from design and production to operations and ultimate disposal.

In a circular economy, waste is returned to the economy and reused rather than ending up in landfills. Larger and smaller technology companies alike have started to design products using recycled materials and this trend can only be expected to continue in the coming years. Many of the raw materials used in components such as semiconductors will eventually be depleted and

their extraction has numerous environmental impacts. The technologies of the future may not be as reliant on oil to make plastics for example but their production is very much dependent on precious natural resources such as lithium and cobalt that need to be effectively conserved.

LOOKING FORWARDS

A greener future will depend on everyone doing their bit and technology businesses will have a crucial role to play. Supply chains form a critical part of the sustainability puzzle and they must not be overlooked when it comes to creating a more sustainable future.

Ways to make your existing IT strategy more sustainable.

With sustainability increasingly becoming a boardroom priority, IT buyers are playing a vital role in leading this investment into creating more sustainable business practices. At the same time, these businesses are continually investing in new technologies to digitise their workflows to achieve efficiency, support remote working, and to remain competitive. Luckily, making the right decisions in these investments doesn’t have to mean undermining ESG targets and commitments. Intelligent technologies such as IoT and machine learning are popular choices for IT buyers looking to make a difference to their companies’ carbon output whilst maintaining or even boosting efficiency. From smart light switches and thermostats to route optimisation software, these investments help organisations to reduce their wasted resources and function more sustainably on a day-to-day basis. “Reduce, reuse, recycle” is now a wellestablished mantra for those looking to make smarter choices of the planet. So, in addition to implementing new technologies to improve sustainability efforts, organisations need to shift their approach to the technologies they already employ each day.

By Daniel Creasey, Marketing Manager at

Panasonic TOUGHBOOK UK

Ways to make your existing IT strategy more sustainable.

Mobile computing brings connectivity and productivity to workforces in a whole host of industries, but research from Circular Computing found that producing a new laptop creates an average of 331kgs of CO2 emissions. By extending the lifecycle of each device in an organisation, business leaders can reduce this impact in the long-term while improving their ROI.

So how can these devices be used more sustainably within a business, and how can small choices add together to extend device lifecycles, thereby reducing their environmental impact?

BRINGING SUSTAINABILITY INTO THE DAY-TO-DAY

Easy behavioural changes and tactics to extend the battery life of a device can contribute to an overall reduction in CO2 emissions. A power plan, designed to lock or shut down devices left unused after a certain time, minimises the amount of energy that your fleet uses on a daily basis and improves security.

Similarly, lowering the brightness level on the screen of a device reduces the power output. Depending on the task and working environment of a mobile user, who may well work long days or require a high processing power, this carries a large impact. For field workers operating in bright sunlight, investing in products with anti-glare screens reduces the need for high brightness, helping users to make small, efficient choices on a dayto-day basis.

INVOLVE YOUR WORKFORCE FROM THE OUTSET

To make more sustainable mobile computing decisions, it helps to have the right mindset from the outset. By bringing your workforce into your purchasing decisions from the outset, you can be sure that you are considering the right devices for their specific, and often varied, needs.

Simple considerations such as ease of use during mobile or hands-on tasks and suitability for the environment can determine the long-term success of a deployment in your business. Piloting programmes are essential to making sure that the right choice is made first time, boosting ROI and extending the long-term success of each deployment. For example, a device with a short battery life or poor connectivity is a bad fit for an ambulance worker in rural environments, where the efficiency and reliability of the device is vital to the health of the public.

According to Panasonic’s Sustainability Gap survey, over fifty percent of IT buyers still do not pilot new devices before purchase, ignoring this valuable first step in ensuring a productive and extended device lifecycle.

ENSURE LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS WITH RUGGED FLEETS

Mobile workforces operate in challenging environments, and their computing devices need to be as tough as them. There are many pressures that could reduce the lifespan of a computing device, whether it be water damage for utilities professionals working with water pipes or broken screens on docked forklift terminals, so the right device should be ruggedised against these risks with IP65 to IP68 ratings and high vibration resistance. Investing in robust devices is, of course, a great financial decision, but considering the full lifecycle of each device within a fleet also demonstrates the future-forward mindset needed to make more sustainable choices.

REDEPLOY DEVICES ACROSS YOUR BUSINESS

Mobile computing is a lynchpin for modern organisations and can be employed in a wide range of use cases. Once a device in your fleet has served its initial purpose, consider whether it could be used in another department to extend the lifecycle of your device and make the carbon investment last longer. Devices with a modular design are optimal for redeployment. Modular features such as expansion ports, programmable buttons, and even holster accessories allow new users to adapt a device for new tasks and requirements. Prioritising flexibility this way allows you to streamline your fleet and repurpose investments long after initial purchase.

SEEK SUPPLIERS THAT SHARE YOUR VALUES

Modern technology suppliers should be continuously looking to the future to drive sustainable innovation, extending the life of products, minimising waste and supporting the circular economy. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it is a growing priority for many modern organisations.

In a recent survey of over 750 mobile technology buyers, we found that, despite wanting to make sustainable decisions, organisations are stuck in a four-year cycle of refreshing their computing devices. Modular, rugged computing, combined with device support that extends after the computers’ end of life date, allows customers to make sustainable, long-term investments.

Dispelling sustainability myths.

Data centers have long been accused as a potentially significant contributor to global carbon emissions, rivalling the airline industry. Whilst there has been positive news for the industry - for example, operators committing to self-regulation through the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact - a flurry of negative mainstream media headlines relating to the market were published last year, promoting this often poorly researched narrative. For example, it was widely reported in London that Thames Water is looking into the impact of data centers on water supplies. This news was closely followed by a story on house building being halted, purportedly due to data centerrelated electricity capacity issues. Both stories suggested that data center operations are directly (and negatively) impacting on peoples’ daily lives.

By Darren Watkins, olutions director at VIRTUS Data Centre.

Dispelling sustainability myths.

Many experts believe that these negative headlines misrepresent what’s really going on in the industry. David Watkins, solutions director for VIRTUS Data Centers, says: “People in the know will undoubtedly realize that both issues were sensationalized by the media, with limited investigation as to whether data centers were actually the culprit for their accusations. The truth is that the data center industry has long been committed to ensuring sustainability and efficiency, and digital infrastructure assets have a central role to play in the transition to a low-carbon economy and sustainable cities.”

WHAT IS THE TRUTH ABOUT WATER COOLING?

According to Watkins, whilst those outside of the industry could be forgiven for thinking that data centers use enormous amounts of water to cool equipment and keep facilities working efficiently, the headlines don’t represent what’s really going on.

He says: “It’s true that more providers are turning to chilled water systems as an economical, effective and efficient way to maintain cooling. But importantly, the water used for cooling systems is often sourced sustainably, from bore holes or using impurified water: NOT the supply as we rely upon for household use.”

Indeed, the majority of large modern data centers use ‘closed loop’ chilled water systems, meaning that water is charged into the system during construction and then continually circulated within a facility, rather than needing new water consistently pumped into the building. What’s more, indirect evaporative cooling - which does require water periodically for adiabatic functionality - is more energy efficient so provides other benefits. This type of cooling uses fresh air from outside the building, which is filtered and then delivered into the facility for cooling purposes. This only requires the use of fans, so the overall energy consumption is lower. As outside temperatures rise, firstly compressors are brought on-line to provide additional cooling and

only at high temperatures (24C or higher) is water consumed. Given that data centers operate 24x7, and temperatures above 24C typically only occur for a few hours a day across a small number of months per year in the UK, water usage is minimized.

A LOOK AT POWER CONSUMPTION

Watkins said: “It’s true that the data center industry requires significant power to run. But what the headlines fail to mention is that energy consumption is another area where significant environmental strides have already been made; data center operators are increasingly sourcing direct energy, where possible, from renewable sources. And at VIRTUS we, like many providers, use one hundred per cent certified renewable carbon-zero energy from sources including hydro, wind and solar. And encouragingly, renewable energy is now not only more affordable than fossil fuels, but also more reliable too.”

There’s more progress to be celebrated in this field too, as some data center operators move away from Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs), instead embracing Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with renewable generation operators, which help to increase the availability of renewables and support the UK government’s net zero commitment. Investment in PPAs delivers increased volumes of renewable energy to the grid, creates ‘green’ jobs and delivers cost certainty for operators and competitive pricing for customers that is not subject to energy market volatility.

AN INNOVATIVE AND FORWARD-LOOKING INDUSTRY

Watkins is keen to extol the virtues of an innovative and forwardlooking industry. He says: “There is significant, good work, being done by the data center industry which is too often overlooked. Progress is happening all the time, and we’re leading by example – demonstrating that it’s possible to ‘green’ even the most

power-intensive industry.” The Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact is an ambitious initiative that has seen twenty-five companies and seventeen associations from across Europe agree to take specific steps to make data centers climate neutral by 2030. This pact commits signatories to ensuring their data centers are climate neutral by setting measurable targets for 2025 and 2030, such as through purchasing one hundred per cent carbon-free energy, prioritizing water conservation and looking for ways to recycle heat.

These green initiatives are paying off. The industry’s progress towards green goals is evident when we look at sustainability statistics. Currently, many experts estimate that data storage and transmission to and from data centers use 1 per cent of global electricity. But this share has hardly changed since 2010, even though the number of internet users has doubled, and global internet traffic has increased 15-fold since – testament to the innovative approach the industry is taking to drive sustainability.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

For David Watkins, the picture is clear. He says: “Data centers are not the invisible and energyconsuming monsters the headlines would have us believe. Instead, they are the foundation of our digital world, critical infrastructure which has become essential to our daily lives. And, they’re significant drivers of progress too. Over the last decade, we’ve seen a visible increase in the number of green initiatives being pursued by some the largest tech companies in the world, and the data center industry is at the forefront of this change.” He continues, “We urge people to look beyond the misleading headlines, to an industry which is committed to improving sustainability and mitigating its environmental impact. And to realize that there’s plenty more progress in the future too.”

When we look ahead we can see an industry primed for progress. For example, the use of Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil instead of diesel in generators has the potential to reduce carbon emissions by up to 90 per cent - as well as eliminating sulfur dioxide emissions and reducing harmful nitrogen oxides.

What’s more, technological developments in areas such as uel cells are continuing at a pace – and whilst they are not viable right now, if they can perform at scale, they might present a compelling option for a brighter, greener, future.

How asset and service data are shifting sustainability thinking.

If you have attended a technology or industry conference recently, it would be fair to say that there are some common and recurring themes. We need to be more sustainable. We need to invest in skills, and we need to innovate, are perhaps the top three. Throw in resilience and regulation compliance and you’ve probably got a full house. Regardless of industry, we all share similar challenges and to a greater or lesser extent, legacy and cultural issues when it comes to confronting those challenges. But what threads these together and makes it possible for us to find a way to resolve issues, is data.

By Sara Cerruti, Senior Director, ServiceMax.

How asset and service data are shifting sustainability thinking.

Through data, we can understand where and how to make effective change, if we know where to find it and how to use it. Those are big ‘ifs’ of course. One of the biggest issues, sustainability, is a great example of how data can be used to make transformational change. Yet in many organisations it tends to be hidden from those that can have a huge impact.

It’s estimated that 80 percent of all product-related environmental impacts are determined at the design phase of a product and yet how many R&D and product design teams get access to field performance and service data? Data silos and legacy technologies continue to restrict organisations and this comes at a cost - McKinsey says, CIOs estimate that legacy tech can add up to 20 to 40 percent of the value of their entire technology estate. But it also comes at an environmental cost.

Quite simply, to design more sustainable products, product engineers need to know how products are performing in the field under varying conditions. They need to know common failures and understand the ongoing impact of service. It’s a circular economy argument.

Interestingly, a PwC report on The importance of the circular economy in manufacturing, claimed that bringing the concept of the circular economy to life within the manufacturing value chain “involves substantial changes in core production and supply chain processes,” which would also require a “reverse logistics process to get the used products back into the cycle.” This makes sense but it’s only part of the solution. By focusing on the lifecycle of a product and not just its recyclability, manufacturers can start to shift their thinking towards longer product life and efficiencies in service provision.

THE CRITICAL ROLE OF AN ASSET-CENTRIC APPROACH

An asset-centric, lifecycle management approach enables critical data to be fed back to engineering. Asset and service data allows organisations to understand the location, current condition, usage, performance, and service history of assets over their lifetimes. By aggregating this data, designers and decision makers can start to answer some pressing questions around product sustainability, costs and organisational performance.

Culturally, it may be a shift for some organisations, as most product development teams traditionally take a methodical approach to research. However, this is because they’re often not aware of – and not leveraging – the best information available, which already exists within their organisations – asset data. By turning thinking on its head, organisations can begin to solve some challenging questions around product circularity and carbon impact. It means looking deeply at data availability, infrastructure and service management, to ensure connectivity across the lifecycle of assets.

There are some good examples of this. Engineering business 3D Systems produces 3D printing products and on-demand manufacturing services. Its goal to improve service response times, maximise asset uptime, reduce repeat service visits and better forecast future demand of products, led to technology change. Through a field service management transformation, the business now takes an asset-led approach to customers, with data flowing back and forth so that asset performance is fundamental to decision making.

In short, this has seen 3D Systems record a 195% increase in its NPS score in two and a half yearsfrom 22 to 65, a 195% increase - a 62% reduction in parts usage and a 39% decrease in repeat visits. Data is now being fed into product development, improving design and longevity of assets, adding to its increased reduction in carbon impacts.

It’s a great example of a business moving towards a circular economy, in which service sits at the heart. We know reverse logistics to handle the return, refurbishment and remanufacturing process that is so critical to the circular economy is increasingly reliant on asset data to inform the entire function. It’s about not acting blind but understanding products throughout their lifecycle so that you can make them even better, for customers, for the environment and of course, the balance sheet.

Make your website more sustainable.

I wrote a chapter for a book called ‘6 Star Business’ and an extract from my writings proves quite revelatory of the way many people perceive marketing…“Puzzled faces looked back at me as I uttered the words and a bead of shame trickled down my head, as I realised at that moment why the discipline of marketing, for some, has such a bad name.” This was a true epiphany for me, and I have since embarked on both a personal and professional mission to clean up marketing and put ethics at the forefront of our work, which has seen us (me and Co-founder of Growth Animals, Jen Bayford) working with the likes of an EDI accreditation company, an innovative care provider, and attractions that are taking accessibility and sustainability to new levels as a result.

By Chris Thornhill, Co-founder and CEO, Growth Animals.

Make your website more sustainable.

I spent the first fifteen years of my career launching and growing brands across the globe for highprofile businesses like AutoTrader, Carlsberg and Goodwood. It was only after I joined the charity Dementia Support as a Trustee, and upon reviewing my own experiences as a disillusioned senior marketer, that I felt compelled and inspired to take his experience and values to the wider community.

When Jen and I set up Growth Animals at the height of the pandemic, we were inspired by our desire to help businesses grow their bottom line AND positive impact, through marketing that is helpful and inspiring, not manipulative or intrusive.

As the charity’s Trustee with marketing expertise, it was my job to challenge ideas and activities and to offer advice as to how things could be improved. On a particular occasion, the activity at hand was an event, a virtual one no-less, as the pandemic had just kicked in. The discussion around the table turned to how to drum up some additional interest in the event and thus secure some much-needed ticket revenue for the charity.

“How could we engineer an impression of scarcity,” said I, knowing full well that there’s nothing like a bit of ‘Fear Of Missing Out’ to get people to open up their wallets. It was at that moment that the decades of focusing on short-term commercial results came to roost. It was a realisation that I had become too used to the idea of being a servant to owners and faceless shareholders, rather than the customers we were really meant to serve. I was involved with the charity precisely because I wanted to put my skills to good use for a cause and purpose that was wholly devised to benefit

people. Yet here I was, doing it a disservice by projecting unethical marketing practices upon it. Now, I may be overdramatising somewhat, by putting my actions in line with some of the big corporate villains of our time, but I’ve always been fascinated by the psychology behind why good people do bad things. A couple of the psychological forces lurking behind my actions no doubt included ‘tunnel vision’ and ‘winner-takes-all competition’. Fundamentally though, what I learnt from this experience, was that if you want to be a ‘6 Star Leader’, you need to get used to spotting, calling out and crucially, creating a culture where ethical marketing is recognised, respected and expected as the benchmark.

Whilst the normality of traditional marketing relies on its power to manipulate people to buy things they generally don’t need, our change of focus meant we began exploring with our clients how to raise their positive sustainability or impact-based stories, both as a means to appeal to customers for whom this is an increasingly important motivation and as a way to educate people in simple steps to make positive and sometimes alternative choices in their lives.

Which brings me to the subject of ‘sustainable web designs…I knew that, once we’ve cleaned up our supply chain, we’ve taken steps to reduce your company travel, and maybe we have even gone paperless, we still all have to deal with the dreaded curse of the digital carbon footprint (the energy consumption of the internet is now estimated to be greater than that of the whole United Kingdom and overtaking that of the global airline industry). But what can we all do to ensure our websites are not part of the problem?

Here are a few ideas to help with faster (and speed here is key – the quicker it loads, the less energy it uses), better and cleaner websites:

1. Measure - The first step is to understand your site’s current carbon footprint. Website Carbon is one of the original carbon calculators and will highlight your present position.

2. Videos - Turn off auto-playing videos (never mind the fact that they can be irritating and intrusive), reduce the size and length of videos and use them more sparingly across your site.

3. Images - Reduce the size and quantity of your imagesless is often better. Consider if your message could be better conveyed through clever use of copy or graphics.

4. Old Pages - Reduce the bloat of your site by removing old or unnecessary pages. Consider combining pages to condense the message and reduce your site’s page count.

5. Hosting - Change your hosting platform to one of the many that are now powered by renewable energy. This simple change alone could reduce your carbon footprint by 10%.

Implementing these 5 simple steps can have a dramatic impact on the reduction of your website’s carbon footprint, often without the need for a full rebuild. And for those looking to take it further, there’s plenty more that can be done to further reduce your site’s impact, through areas such as the optimisation of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), UX/UI (User Experience & User Interface), Fonts and Clean Coding.

Reduce your digital carbon thumbprint.

The digital industry is responsible for up to 4% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. That’s a larger percentage than commercial aviation. A single data center is capable of consuming the equivalent electricity of 50,000 homes, according to research from MIT. Meanwhile, Greenpeace has suggested that if the cloud were a country, it would be the sixth biggest consumer of electricity on the planet, after Russia and before Germany. On these measures, any belief that cloud computing is not a contributor to environmental damage must be taken with a pinch of salt. At the same time, we’re already on an important technological path toward ubiquitous cloud computing, and this brings incredible long-term benefits too. These include greater scalability, improved data storage, and quicker application deployment, to name a few.

By Davide Bianchi, senior technical lead at Mia Platform.

Reduce your digital carbon thumbprint.

So, how can we better manage the cloud’s insatiable appetite?

We say that ‘every cloud has a silver lining’ (no pun intended!), so here are five steps you can introduce into your cloud strategy to offset the carbon emissions of your business’s digital thumbprint.

1. INDUSTRY COLLABORATION/OPENSOURCE

Knowledge-sharing and collaboration is one of the best approaches to finding greener cloud solutions. In the world of DevOps, this means open-source applications.

Collaborating on open-source projects is a way to bring together the best ideas from anywhere in the world. It also represents an effective means to bridge internal knowledge gaps to develop greener cloud strategies from readily available external software resources.

Cloud services like GitHub host open-source projects where developers can share, edit and fine-tune applications for

the purpose of building more sustainable software. Open-source is the means to drive sustainable transformation by providing critical transparency, traceable decisionmaking, and to encourage more collaboration on green innovation.

By engaging with an online community, organizations can utilize publicly available projects to move in the direction of decarbonisation. Reducing carbon thumbprint has become a priority for many app developers with the ‘climate change’ hashtag accounting for no less than 534 public repositories on GitHub, all of which contain open-source software codes contributing to efforts to fight climate change.

2. EFFICIENT USE OF APPLICATIONS

It is an inescapable reality that cloud computing relies on a huge amount of electricity, which is typically powered by fossil fuels. However, steps can be taken to mitigate the effect of carbon emissions through the efficient use of applications. By utilizing applications that measure carbon

emission rates, you can stay in control of your carbon thumbprint.

Examples of applications that have been created for the purpose of managing carbonisation include kube-green. Capable of reducing CO2 emissions of IT infrastructures by 30%, kube-green mitigates the problem of unused IT resources consuming electricity outside of business hours by giving developers the ability to customize when deployment resources go to sleep and wake up. This negates the cost of leaving clusters running outside of working hours. In simple terms, it is the equivalent of turning off the lights when you leave a room.

Outside of kube-green, there are dozens of applications such as Green Metric Tool, Greenly and Cloud Carbon Footprint that provide tools to measure and reduce the C02 consumption of an organization’s software architecture.

Some tech companies go one step further such as Utego, provider of an all-in-one financial application that grants users full visibility of

their different bank accounts from a single interface. Utego is a participant in the global 1% for the Planet movement, an initiative where respective members promise to return 1% of their company turnover to environmental causes.

3. CONTAINERISATION OF APPLICATIONS

How your applications are packaged can have a huge impact on their carbon efficiency. One strategy that IT departments can use to reduce their carbon thumbprint in the cloud is the containerisation of applications.

The basis of containerisation is packaging software code with just the libraries and dependencies as single lightweight executables. Each container houses different software applications and runs isolated processes.

From an efficiency perspective, because containers are smaller they can start up in a fraction of the time virtual machines or servers take. Furthermore, because containers only include what an application needs to run, they

are lightweight, meaning that less resources are being consumed. Overall, more containers can run on the same compute capacity as a single virtual machine, eliminating overheads and driving higher server efficiency.

4. MICROSERVICES ARCHITECTURE

Containerisation helps package software, but you can go one step further with the design of digital platforms, specifically by adopting a microservices architecture. Microservices consist of a suite of small, autonomous services under the banner of a single application. You can think of a microservice as a single LEGO brick that is connected with other bricks to make a more complex structure.

With a microservices architecture, business applications are segmented into independent modular services that can be programmed in any software language, leading to faster deployment and efficient cloud operations. Any of these microservices can be decoupled and managed independently,

which makes it easier to automatically scale as needed. This means that if a specific microservice is used a lot, it is possible to replicate only the specific microservice. Clever management of software resources with this type of architecture will ensure that a platform can perform with far greater energy efficiency than has been found with old fashioned monoliths where this decoupling approach was not possible.

5. WORK WITH GREEN PARTNERS/SUPPLIERS

The digital ecosystem of a business is not some abstract concept that lives on a screen. Virtual services require a physical shelter to function. Cloud providers are the landlords and data centers are the block of flats that house the virtual resources of organizations. Because there is now a wide selection of cloud providers in the market, if businesses are serious about decarbonisation, they need to align themselves with green suppliers.

Data center sustainability has been a key initiative of cloud platforms like AWS and Google Cloud and should be considered when selecting your cloud vendor, for example, AWS has a Customer Carbon Footprint Tool that uses simple visualizations to forecast emissions based

on usage, whilst Google Cloud provides a Cloud Region Picker that enables users to select data center regions with a higher average hourly carbon free energy percentage. These innovative features in the cloud demonstrate the importance of aligning with responsible third parties.

By choosing suppliers that share the same green ambitions, and without compromising on operational efficiency, organizations can achieve their business goals whilst also paving the way for a greener future.

Holistic approach to sustainable transformation.

Businesses are increasingly under pressure to deliver operations in a sustainable way. The pressure for this shift comes from multiple quarters. Growing demand amongst consumers favoring businesses with their own sustainability initiatives, government regulations trending towards more stringent requirements, and business partners pursuing their own sustainability imperatives are pushing sustainability to the forefront of organizations agenda. wThere is also pressure coming from within businesses internally to transform towards clear, sustainable operations. Unsustainable business practices require a holistic response – including, but not limited to, emissions reduction, and while employees want their company to take action, employers are also looking to help deliver an economy that will support their businesses long into the futurewhich is where Enterprise Architecture (EA) comes in.

By Jim Hietala, VP Sustainability and Market Development, The Open Group

Holistic approach to sustainable transformation.

THE ROLE OF ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE

It’s not an easy task to establish systems that enable information to flow in the right way, to be made available in a timely manner and without boundaries, but it is one with a well-established toolkit around it. For years, the discipline of Enterprise Architecture has grown and developed to solve exactly this kind of problem: looking at technology and business practices as a holistic environment, it brings rigorous processes which enable more efficient, resilient, and innovative ways of working.

As organizations have sought to balance the transformation imperative with the need to sustain existing areas of value, the role of Enterprise Architecture has grown in significance. Ensuring that new products, services, or methods integrate well with established offerings – and, indeed, ensuring that those two aspects mutually support one another’s value – is something that Enterprise Architecture fundamentally enables.

In the future, businesses that want to commit sincerely to sustainability will need to repeat that move with these new information flows. With sustainability being an echo of digitalization as a transformation imperative, reexamining and rearchitecting the fundamentals of daily workflows is critical.

A HOLISTIC PPROACH

Businesses are also investing significantly into revenue maintenance, workforce management, regulatory compliance, and informationdriven processes. This is to ensure that the relevant information is well-founded, well-stored, and well-shared.

A significant difference with sustainability is that the nature of the information it needs to work with is still an emerging factor. With something as obvious as CO2 production, different businesses or processes within an organization could use various: units to record that data; ways of describing how that data was recorded and with what level of confidence; definitions for what constitutes direct or indirect emissions; and field names and file formats for storing and sharing that data in. All of this makes a broad, accurate view of a given organization’s footprint very difficult to attain, and the problem is multiplied when we add other greenhouse gases like CH4 and

NO2 alongside impacts like water and land consumption. The role of the Open Footprint Forum, a forum of The Open Group, is solving this challenge, making a holistic, Enterprise Architecturebased approach to sustainability possible. The prospect of gathering emissions data for scopes 1, 2, and 3 reporting is daunting in the context of typical value chains found in businesses, and the outputs and standards coming from the forum will greatly ease these issues.

The Open Footprint Forum will allow organizations to move at speed to develop applications which make effective usage of their sustainability data through its reference architecture and help to deliver interoperability across the emissions ecosystem. The Forum, comprising a range of corporate and academic contributors, is developing a set of standards which is usable across all industries, with unified data and metadata definitions as well as open source data tools and reference APIs to ensure a common approach to working with those definitions.

EA AT THE CENTER

One thing we know, from years of incubating standards development processes, is that cultural norms and usage is just as important as technical design when it comes to effectiveness.

We found recently in hosting business scenario sessions in Edinburgh and São Paulo that issues around operating models, such as supply chain integration and stakeholder incentivization, are just as important of a concern as data issues like validating and exchanging information.

We learnt here that as we progress towards a standard for sustainability data that every industry can hold in common, we will need to increase our understanding of the organizational complexities around using it. It is now the prime opportunity for Enterprise Architecture to start building and sharing the systems and processes which can put sustainability right at the center of effective decision making.

How can location data and technology improve sustainability?

Today we are seeing location data tackling supply chain issues, supporting peatland restoration, as well as enabling sustainable investment in green energy and transport for positive economic, social, and environmental outcomes. Companies and investors want evidence that investments are being made in the right location to create positive and sustainable outcomes. In a complex and ever-vigilant world, the role of environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) to monitor, manage, and maintain responsibility for tackling climate change is more relevant than ever. The challenge faced by responsible and diligent companies is that it’s incredibly hard to find the right data for the right purpose in a landscape swamped by highly variable data quality, provenance, licensing terms and service offers.

By Donna Lyndsay, Sustainability Lead, Ordnance Survey

How can location data and technology improve sustainability?

At Ordnance Survey (OS), we believe that trusted and authoritative location (geospatial) data is fundamental to the further development of impactful ESG, as such data will help accelerate the journey towards both nationally and internationally consistent ESG and build a more sustainable global economy that supports climate change. Therefore, we need to simplify the landscape and make it easier for companies to pull in the spatial insights that will really help drive transformation in corporate action.

Incorporating geospatial data into mainstream business decisionmaking and ESG reporting can help organisations more accurately assess the impact of environmental factors such as deforestation, land degradation, changing coastlines, tracking pollution, biodiversity loss, or unsustainable agricultural practices. It can also help track the positive restoration of habitats that have been previously degraded.

By combining different datasets such as satellite imagery, along with machine learning techniques and artificial intelligence, OS has a wealth of experience in providing the services and knowhow to find viable solutions and supporting customers across the public and private sector. OS can enable businesses and organisations to identify, prevent or mitigate risk, which is especially prevalent when it comes to greenwashing accusations, and identifying opportunities for green and sustainable investment with valuable and trusted insight.

OS is currently working with Natural England to develop a new way to monitor peatland health and help inform and target future restoration activity on the site. This type of project highlights the need for viable solutions to combat the risks of climate change. It also demonstrates how accurate geospatial data can provide credibility in nature-based restoration for investment, ensuring that organisations and landowners are effectively preserving and restoring our peatlands, while satisfying those carbon investors

who are seeking the highest standards of project assurance. By working alongside Natural England and Durham University, OS is helping to produce a detailed carbon model for Thorne and Hatfield Moors, part of Humberhead Peatlands National Nature Reserve in the North of England.

The project will support the development of an accurate and detailed peat map of Thorne and Hatfield Moors, which can be used to monitor peatland health and help inform and target future restoration activity on the site.

OS’s technical experts have been using geospatial data and Earth observation (EO) data to analyse the current condition of peatland. This baselining technique could be rolled out nationwide to facilitate access to investment for largescale peatland restoration projects from carbon markets.

Using OS data, experts will accurately record different types of vegetation species, provide reporting on vegetation cover and health, monitor greenhouse gas emission types and establish the water table. The data will be presented via the OS VeriEarth platform, supported by a dashboard which will enable Natural England to assess site condition and monitor changes across a large site area with a high degree of accuracy. This enables a detailed carbon baseline to be established and accurately monitored, which could enable effective verification for a highly sophisticated approach for carbon accounting.

The project team want to demonstrate how this technology can be used to support a highly accurate assessment of the beneficial impact of peatland restoration on carbon emissions across a large site, and to assess the potential for validation of restoration work under the Peatland Code. The aim is to meet the verification and monitoring requirements of the Code, and to satisfy those carbon investors who are seeking the highest standards of project assurance.

Peatlands are the largest natural carbon store on land, storing more carbon than is currently in the global atmosphere and have a net cooling effect on climate change. Natural England aims to prevent further loss of peatland habitats, re-wetting peatland areas and returning them to their natural state which could make a significant contribution to achieving targets on reducing carbon emissions and reaching Net Zero by 2050, as well as improving water quality, reduce flood risk and support biodiversity.

We need to protect our peatlands so they are healthy and rich in wildlife. Using geospatial data and our technical expertise we can provide valuable insights and evidence to ensure we are preserving carbon sinks and optimising site management. This type of project highlights the need for viable solutions to combat the risks of climate change and demonstrate how accurate geospatial data can provide credibility in nature-based restoration for investment, ensuring that organisations and landowners are effectively preserving and restoring our peatlands. This technology could also enable effective verification for carbon accounting across Britain.

The important role of tech companies in the circular economy?

With the UK facing a recession and the highest inflation rates since October 1981, it’s clear that the current state of the economy could prove to be a barrier for companies attempting to fully embrace environmental best practice. And as sustainable choices risk being traded off for cheap alternatives, unfortunately, there’s no shortage of tech manufacturers happy to capitalise from this, many awry with quick-anddirty production processes, messy supply chains, unethical production conditions, and poor product longevity, all profitfocused with minimal consideration to the planet. But despite the stigma that investing in sustainable processes means a trade off in price, there are endless opportunities and a wide variety of strategies for organisations in contributing to a circular economy and cutting down on electrical waste, while remaining competitively economic.

By Boris Manev, Head of Sustainability and Government Affairs at Epson Europe.

The important role of tech companies in the circular economy?

ADDRESSING ISSUES WITHIN THE SUPPLY CHAIN

While definitions vary, the circular economy is popularly based on eliminating waste and preserving material as much as possible in the product lifecycle, which is why in the technology sector there is increasing pressure to share, lease, repair, refurbish and recycle materials.

No circular economy can be achieved without first understanding the lifecycle of materials in the supply chain, from raw materials and components through to tools, spare parts, consumables, packaging and everything in between. What to some may be a small network of stakeholders is to others a vast and complicated infrastructure, covering multiple territories and cohering to strict timelines.

To say that sustainability may not be addressed equally across every facet of the supply chain would for most be a vast understatement. But one guarantee that every business can make is that the information and data

around the application and lifecycle of materials, energy and water exist and can be collected across each stage of its supply chain. Establishing transparency of a business’s materiality is one of the first steps to understanding what improvements can be made to achieving a circular economy, whether that be reusing or recycling materials, reducing transport emissions, using renewable energy, and so on.

REMANUFACTURING

The process of remanufacturing is, in layman’s terms, using a combination of new and spare parts and repairing broken parts for the creation of new products. This eliminates unnecessary waste by a significant amount and is massively beneficial to the circular economy.

The increasingly popular ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ mindset is one key initiative that companies should follow to enhance their materiality in order to achieve a circular economy. And in many cases, companies that have embraced this mindset find that they reuse

and recycle from unconventional areas to benefit the business overall. Even building materials can be reused and repurposed for different products or for different areas of the business.

Today, there are many ways for businesses to recycle and reuse materials in a convenient manner and having these practices in place not only helps contribute to the creation of a circular economy, it also increases product lifecycles and saves waste and money.

The savings these measures create for the business can then be passed onto consumers in multiple ways, offering more reliable, longer life, easier to maintain or cheaper products. And if businesses choose to provide a way for consumers to recycle their electronics, they will further fuel an ecosystem of sustainable consumption and production that will be greatly beneficial to society now and in the future.

But this pursuit for change can, without the appropriate expertise, be timely and expensive. And key to becoming a more sustainable

organisation is learning from industry and inter-industry peers. That’s why membership bodies such as the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) are so important, as they

offer members years of best practice experience spanning global markets in helping businesses raise their environmental and social standards in the supply chain to advance their realisation of a circular economy.

ADDRESSING THE OFFICE CARBON FOOTPRINT

We know that current economic pressures are causing businesses to take a closer look at office running costs. Switching to renewable energy suppliers, abolishing single use plastics, using water and light sensors to preserve energy, and using local resources where possible are just some of the key practices that companies should be planning if not already implementing in the wider pursuit of a circular economy.

But taking a closer look at an office’s running costs draws a spotlight on economic and ecological shortcomings they’re unlikely to have been previously aware of. Finding that an unreasonable amount of money is being spent on printer expenses is no revolutionary discovery, but finding that high energy consumption, high intervention, and low ink yields are causing you both money loss and increasing your carbon footprint is not something any business wants to see, particularly when it’s easily prevented through a simple technology switch.

PRIORITISING SUSTAINABILITY

Ultimately, while the main concern for a lot of manufacturers at the moment is to cut costs and increase revenue, the risk that businesses may not pay enough attention to long-term brand sustainability, and therefore increasingly contribute to global carbon emissions, cannot be ignored.

A company’s messaging and its products should have an educational aspect for its customers around the importance of quality and environmentally sustainable technology, which may not always compete on initial pricing, but could offer superior running costs and eco benefits in the long run.

While long-term planning and collaboration are key to achieving a circular economy, each business needs to have its own strategy for achieving profit through sustainable methods.

Why ESG reporting is critical for telecoms.

Economies are more digitally integrated than ever before and the global telecom sector is pivotal to delivering products and solutions, not just for a more connected world, but also a sustainable one - to help reach net-zero targets. However, the industry is locked in a constant battle with unique challenges, magnified by the overarching role of its offerings in influencing modern socio-economic outcomes. For instance, the industry currently consumes nearly 3% of global energy. Demand is only expected to rise in the days ahead, resulting in an imminent spike in the industry’s emission profile if left unchecked. While innovation around ESG, net-zero targets and sustainability actions are steadily progressing, the question around reporting accurate data is constantly being raised not just by customers and investors, but also regulators. The Voluntary Guidelines on Corporate Social Responsibility, published by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA), marked the beginning of ESG reporting in India in 2009. It was voluntary for the fiscal year 2021–2022 before new guidelines were put into effect, but it is now mandatory for the fiscal year 2022–2023. ESG reporting along with sustainable operations can no longer be overlooked.

By Akanksha Sharma, Head of ESG at STL.

Why ESG reporting is critical for telecoms.

So how can the telecom sector ensure its manufacturing operations are more attuned to provide transparent and factual Environmental, Social & Governance sustainability metrics?

The answer, of course, lies in the intersection of technology and policy innovations, and their unorthodox application.

Reporting through rationalizing energy usage is one such example. For companies across industries, the telecom sector has been the primary conduit for delivering IoT applications and services. However, telecom manufacturers themselves can leverage IoT constructs to target a persisting sustainability issue: optimized energy usage. Vertically integrated IoT suites, including software, sensors, and automation, can continuously monitor and provide end-to-end visibility into the entire value chain for telecom components, rendering the manufacturing environment more efficient and sustainable. With IoT, telecom manufacturers can compare and analyse data collected in real time from the shop floor, and pinpoint operational irregularities leading to unnecessary energy consumption.

For instance, intelligent sensors embedded on dual-end yarn binders in a fiber optics manufacturing plant can autoswitch off systems while not needed and save energy. Further, IoT’s creative usage may include connected Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) installed into plant machinery to control motor speed in runtime and motionsensor-enabled lights to sync with usage patterns. Recently, such innovations have enabled manufacturers to save up to 6,000 kWh of energy and avoid over 7,500 tCO2e within just a year as well as report detailed performance around such energy efficiency numbers.

Improving waste management is another area. With ML, AI algorithms can learn and evolve as per operational necessities and compliance needs and deliver at a pace that is not humanly possible. For instance, research has found that by applying deep learning, it is possible to classify various e-wastes with nearly 97% accuracy. Alongside efficiency, as an added advantage, such an approach prevents human operators from being exposed to hazardous substances while providing accurate and real time data of each waste stream.

Another major concern is the carbon footprint of telecom manufacturers’ supply chains. Undoubtedly, the telecom sector spearheads the global push towards Net Zero Emissions. However, according to a report, the industry is responsible for 1.6% of total global CO2 emissions, 90% of which result from its complex supply chains. To drive targeted reduction measures, it is essential to understand the emission profile of telecom operations at multiple phases across the value chain. Here, Big Data platforms and advanced analytics can help by crunching supply chain data in real time and calculating the carbon footprint of telecom products and services at scale to facilitate decision-making. As such transactions are executed in highly secure environments with minimal human intervention, data quality and confidentiality are walso guaranteed.

So, as the global telecom sector is called upon to address more and more contemporary challenges, it is unlikely that its mere basic adherence to ESG metrics will suffice anymore. With investors and customers expecting more ambitious sustainability commitments, telecom manufacturers can no longer wait for regulations as a stimulus for positive change. Instead, today it’s a strategic imperative to proactively use technology innovations to report on ESG transparently, thereby helping businesses differentiate themselves in the present, as well as gain resilience for future uncertainties.

Sustainability in the tech world: what can we do?

Sustainability is something that businesses are starting to take very seriously. If they haven’t already, they’ll need to look into improving their sustainability credentials over the next few years, as the awareness of the climate crisis and imperative to adapt unsustainable business models grows. But what does sustainability look like in the context of the tech world? Generally speaking, sustainability can be looked at as a way of reducing carbon footprint, whilst improving overall efficiency. This could mean reducing the use of non-sustainable energy sources and switching over to alternative solutions, such as solar. It might also mean reducing the amount of waste produced, which can be achieved by businesses making small changes, like going paperless, improving the office recycling facilities etcetera.

By Helen Quinn, Chief Marketing Officer

Sustainability in the tech world: what can we do?

Tier1 is a tech company with sustainability at its core. Their ethos of ‘Reduce. Reuse. Recycle.’ resonates throughout the business, as they encourage and enable other businesses to adopt their mission. Tier1 drives decarbonisation through their business - extending the lifecycle of all devices, and creating less electronic waste as a result. E-waste is a serious, global issue within tech - each year 50 million tonnes of e-waste is produced, 80 percent of which ends up in landfill, burned or illegally traded. These numbers are rising too, as the amount produced is expected to double by 2050.

As time goes on, household collections of tech keep growing. This was a phenomena exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which demanded businesses provide work from home systems for their employees. This means there are more laptops, keyboards, monitors and tech in general in the home now, than ever before. Whilst having an office space at home is certainly not a bad thing, it has contributed to more e-waste being produced across the world.

Whilst most consumers are contributing to this problem, they do also have the opportunity to be a part of the solution, with tier1. Tier1 refurbishes high quality equipment to extend its life, reducing carbon production by 75 percent, per device, when compared to a new product. By extending the lifecycle and enabling the consumer to use their tech for longer, less e-waste is produced, decreasing the demand for new equipment, and reducing the price of the product - making it a win-win for both consumer and environment.

On an individual level, this is an easy change to adopt. However, it’s crucial that businesses adopt this practice on a company-wide scale too - lowering the costs of equipment for the company, as well as making a positive impact on the environment. Producing new IT equipment has a huge impact on a businesses’ carbon footprint - from the resources used to make new devices, to the CO2 produced as part of the manufacturing process. Considering the amount of equipment companies require for each employee, there’s a huge opportunity to make a positive impact, simply by switching to refurbished tech.

Not only will this lessen the financial cost of equipment to the company, it’s a change that also has the capacity to improve consumer opinion of the company - and with this, demand. Consumers are more environmentally conscious than ever, and increasingly are directing their support (and money) towards businesses who are making the effort to improve their sustainability.

Sustainability also typically encourages innovation, ultimately leading to more competitive performance across industries. As well as reducing e-waste, sustainable technologies look at improving energy efficiency, reducing the environmental impact of digital systems and encouraging the responsible use of resources. All of these elements encourage tech companies to innovate to find the most efficient solutions to their problems. Finding ways to bolster work rate, whilst also improving energy-efficiency across the board, requires brain power and forward-thinking - which can only ever improve overall performance and output.

Tech giants such as Apple and Google are great examples of this. Apple is working towards powering its operations with 100 percent renewable energy, whereas Google is investing into renewable energy projects for power. Leading the way, these companies set a great example for other tech companies, and also prove that smaller businesses can perform at an elite level whilst maintaining a sustainable approach to business.

If your business is yet to incorporate some serious steps to making operations more sustainable, then now is the time to do so. This process can be kicked off with an internal audit to evaluate all of your current processes in order to identify any unsustainable actions. Then, assess what changes can be made across these actions to turn things around and create a more sustainable setup. Green upgrades such as efficient equipment, renewable power sources, increasing operational efficiency by reducing storage and power usage and purchasing refurbished equipment from companies like tier1 are

some basic changes that can have a great impact on reducing your carbon footprint. Making your business more sustainable is a necessity in today’s world, we must all make the conscious decision to improve sustainability across the board in order to prepare for the future.

UK Fleets can cut costs with a switch to EV.

A rapidly increasing number of individuals and businesses recognise the importance of reducing CO2 emissions and are turning towards sustainable transportation methods. One of the leading solutions is the switch to electric vehicles (EVs), which saw a significant increase in sales by 40% in 2022. Although reducing a carbon footprint is a priority for many, the benefits of EVs for both individuals and companies do not stop there. Even if CO2 emissions were no longer an issue, there are a myriad of compelling advantages to electric vehicles that can unlock significant savings. In this feature, we’ll take a deep dive into the potential benefits and savings of EV use. Before I discuss these advantages however, it feels incumbent upon me to dispel the prevailing myth surrounding electric vehicles – the erroneous notion that they generate more CO2 emissions than they alleviate.

By Tom Rowlands is FLEETCOR’s Managing Director, Global EV Solutions.

UK Fleets can cut costs with a switch to EV.

BE MINDFUL OF EV MANUFACTURING MYTHS

For over a decade now the most common objection to the uptake of EVs has been that while they obviously save CO2 during journeys on the road, their manufacture, and particularly the manufacture of their batteries, releases more CO2 than they ultimately save. Like all long-standing fallacies, there is an element of truth to this. According to the paper ‘Lifecycle Analysis of UK Road Vehicles’, a standard gasoline vehicle will be responsible for 5.6 tonnes of CO2 emissions during its production, while a battery EV will account for 8.8. Based on this fact alone, it could be asserted that EVs create a significantly greater amount of CO2 in the air than their standard automotive counterparts. However, this line of thinking falls apart when we look at the total lifetime CO2 emissions per vehicle: a standard vehicle will emit 24 tonnes during its lifetime (which the study defines as travelling 150,000 kilometres), while an EV will emit 19 (it follows that hybrids are

somewhere in the middle with 21). This disparity has the potential to grow event greater: renewable power is making up an increasing percentage of the UK’s energy mix, so the amount of CO2 generated to produce power for EVs will gradually get cleaner and greener.

Nonetheless, it wouldn’t be correct to assert that the manufacture of EVs has utterly no impact upon the environment. The production of lithium batteries is extremely water-intensive and can cause toxic pollution in rivers. The batteries also break down over time and cannot be recycled easily – although it is very possible that this could change in the future.

THE ADDITIONAL BENEFITS OF EVS

Diesel engines have long been touted as producing less CO2 per kilometre than petrol, despite having a higher CO2 output per kilogram. However, CO2 is far from the only gas emitted by engines, and there are many that are in fact more immediately harmful. Nitrogen dioxide, nitrous oxide and nitric oxide are all produced by both diesel and petrol engines, whereas a petrol engine’s catalytic convertor will reduce nitrogen pollution by around 30%, and diesel vehicles can’t use this technology. This nitrogen pollution significantly increases the chance of respiratory disease and contribute to increased mortality.

Conventionally fuelled vehicles both produce particulate air pollution – tiny pieces of dust, soot and liquids in the air that can spread for miles beyond a vehicle. The larger particles can cause eye, nose and throat irritation, but the smaller particles can cause heart disease and cancer.

A study by the European Environmental Agency points to even less tangible reason to support the switch to EV, asserting: ‘chronic exposure to environmental noise significantly affects physical and mental health and wellbeing’. While electric vehicles could be virtually silent, they are required by law to emit a sound with a minimum frequency of 56 decibels. A traditional vehicle produces around 62dB when driving at 30mph and 70dB or more over 50mph – a motorbike can be as loud as 166dB. Those differences might not seem like much, but decibel levels ramp up quickly: a fridge runs at about 50dB, while a television or a coffee grinder runs at 70dB – most of us would be able to sleep in a room with a fridge, but few people could sleep well when a TV is on.

Noise has been steadily increasing over time, and noise pollution, as well as pollution in general, disproportionately affects those in urban and more built up areas. This only exacerbates existing problems: those living in poorer neighbourhoods could become less mentally and physically healthy. The costs of this will be borne by everyone. If 68% of the world is living in urban areas, as the UN predicts, then noise could be a serious factor in global suffering – unless the world adopts electric vehicles.

WHY SHOULD YOU MAKE THE EV SWITCH?

It goes without saying that working towards reducing CO2 emissions is still crucial, which is why so many governments globally, including the UK’s, continue to make the reduction of emissions a priority. It’s not the only reason to embrace EV, but on top of all the other good reasons, modern fleets and individual drivers would do well to make the switch sooner rather than later.

How DLT is transforming the steel industry’s ability to track and trace.

Increasing pressures from the government to decarbonise the UK economy has forced many British steel companies to face up to inefficient and environmentally damaging processes. A recent report from the UK Parliament found that the sector made up 14% of industrial greenhouse gas emissions in the UK in 2022. The report also states that decarbonisation of the steel industry is needed if the UK is to meet its target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. An essential step in achieving net-zero will be implementing technology that can improve the tracking and tracing of goods across the steel supply chain. Not only can this help the industry become greener, but more efficient too.

By David Coleman, Chief Product Officer, iov42

How DLT is transforming the steel industry’s ability to track and trace.

In December last year, 28 countries across Europe, the Middle East & Africa, recorded cargo losses of more than €17 million in 31 days, due to stolen freights. Despite the size of steel itself, the loss of shipments in general is all too common. Cargo is often lost due to improper handling that results in them being mislaid, mislabelled, or failing to arrive at their agreed destinationsomething that can be drastically improved by delivery visibility.

And this is where digitisation comes in. Advanced technologies like Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) can help enable solutions like electronic proof of delivery (ePOD) and digital product passports (DPPs) that can improve the transparency, security and efficiency at multiple stages of the product’s journey.

DLT provides a secure and transparent platform for businesses to build trusted data networks that allow anyone, with specific permissions, to access, input and validate information across a supply chain. Crucially, it allows them to do this securely, with encryption at the heart of each transaction.

With the combination of DLTdriven solutions like ePODs and DPPs, companies can better monitor key information relating to a product’s journey - such as the date and place a product was made, the handing over of goods at a specific destination, its environmental footprint or any alterations. So, what exactly is ePOD and DPP, what challenges are they solving, and how can their approach to tracking and tracing steel lead to greener and more efficient processes?

TRACK: ENSURING STEEL IS DELIVERED CORRECTLY WITH EPODS

The steel industry has multiple challenges when it comes to manual processes in the delivery of its related goods. They include: the reliance on insecure paper-based systems, a lack of authenticity guarantees, disputes relating to delivery and receipt of goods and reliance on third parties for data services.

However, ePOD has the ability to digitise and collect information about the delivery progress, including digital signatures, that can be shared with relevant stakeholders to better track and validate the arrival of shipments. This is a game changer in ensuring products are correctly identified upon delivery, with the provision of secure digital identities, time stamping and systems that work with what companies already have.

By integrating ePOD, steel companies gain access to indisputable evidence of information relating to the delivery and receipt of goods and digital contracts that help them enforce payments to all parties involved in the haulage process.

Speeding up these admin processes means companies can work more efficiently, react to crises or disruptions more quickly, and provide superior customer service to their clients.

TRACE: INCREASING SUPPLY CHAIN VISIBILITY WITH DIGITAL PRODUCT PASSPORTS

While the ePOD system enables guaranteed delivery, technology like DPP brings the essential component of greater transparency in the import and export of goods. A more transparent approach to tracing products in supply chains is essential for organisations as they continue to navigate incoming policies relating to social responsibility and the environment in the UK.

DPPs enable businesses to keep comprehensive records of a product’s journey from start to finish and beyond, enhanced by technologies like IoT devices, RFID tags and NFCs that can help collect and record data to be stored on the immutable DLT system. This keeps all the relevant information in one place for stakeholders to reduce the lengthy delays suppliers usually face when providing proof of regulatory compliance.

It can also improve the facilitation of real-time communication and trust between stakeholders - such as suppliers, customers or logistics companies. This is because they all have one source of truth to access wherever they are that keeps track of insights and risks. So, there is less friction in communications, and each person can proactively monitor progress with a single click.

MOVING TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

Tackling the challenges of digitisation in the steel industry has not been easy - especially with no standardised solution. Inefficient processes have resulted in environmental and financial costs for businesses, for example Barclay’s revealed that £23.6 billion worth of goods are awaiting completion due to supply chain delays. Fixing this takes the right technology and an increase in collaboration and trust in the industry. Stakeholders need that drive to put in the investment to deliver high-quality data about material sourcing and environmental impact.

And DLT has proved that it can be that foundation for businesses to actively move towards a more sustainable future across global supply chains. In partnership with technology like ePOD and DPP, the industry can make its drive to achieve more efficient processes, and commitment to a greener economy a reality.

PROUD PARTNERS OF

According to research from IDC1, 85% of organizations already operate in hybrid cloud environments, although most data is still held on-premises. for infrastructure solutions. Fujitsu uSCALE delivers flexible, on-premises IT infrastructure as-a-service solution via monthly consumption-based billing technical flexibility, and you gain freedom from up-front investments. It helps to improve time-to market by leveraging pre-provisioned buffer capacity

on-premises. One key trend is the adoption of consumption-based models such as Fujitsu uSCALE billing based on actual usage. uSCALE supports business resilience, increases financial and capacity that is deployed in your data center ahead of business needs.

Save upto 75% with Cisco Refresh

Who is CHULO

We buy, sell and recycle new and second user hardware. Our aim is to deliver a wide variety of ery good quality network hardware equipment at the lowest possible prices –and with over 30 years of IT industry experience, we understand technology and take every opportunity to get the best deals for our customers. This knowledge coupled with the capabilities of the Ampita Group and agreements with strategic partnerships, enables Chulo to offer global logistic capabilities and fast delivery timescale.

Powered by Cisco Cisco Refresh maximises your budget, whilst maintaining the same Cisco quality, certified protection, and support as you would see on a new product. Plus, the minimal environmental impact will significantly shrink your carbon footprint as reduce the need for new raw materials and irresponsible landfill disposal.

Part of Ampito

The Ampito Group is a leading provider of technology solutions, cloud services, digital media and marketing. Founded in 2006, the Group has seen rapid growth, with presence in North America, Europe and the UK. The Group provides infrastructure, security and cloud ready, data centre networking, wireless and mobility solutions through its dedicated business units.

FOLLOW US ON

STORIES INSPIRED BY MODERN LIVING.