3 Ways The Cloud Can Make Your Business More Sustainable
Forward-thinking companies should always be on the lookout for ways to cut down on waste.
In addition to being good for the environment, this is just good business; after all, almost any time you can lower energy usage and produce less waste, you’ll usually be realizing significant savings.
And while usually talked about in purely IT terms, the emergence of the cloud has been one of the best — and least discussed — ways to promote sustainability.
Its benefits in terms of storage space, workplace efficiency and resource management make both dollars and sense — and it’s no wonder companies that invest in this technology gain tremendous dividends.
Here are three ways the cloud can make your business more sustainable, helping both your bottom line and the planet.
1. Cloud-Based Document Management
Thanks to technology, printing documents or meeting notes containing a multitude of pages is no longer necessary in most workplaces — and it’s certainly not good for the planet.
At the same time, though, emailing documents and spreadsheets back and forth to disparate groups of co-workers or clients is also tedious and can lead to things falling through the cracks.
By contrast, maintaining a cloud-based storage system allows workplace teams to keep everything easily organized in one central location, as well as provides instant access to all important files and documents.
Housing important documents and invoices in the cloud, as opposed to on-site server stack, also means the company doesn’t have to buy more IT equipment and use loads of electricity to keep it running, which causes a host of problems on its own.
2. Climate Control Savings
In-house servers not only use a significant amount of energy, but also require an array of supporting equipment to keep them running effectively.
Large banks of data storage and processing power must be kept cool, and this means additional resources must be devoted to maintaining peak performance.
In addition to temperature control, humidity conditions must be kept at the right level.
This demands companies to spend more upfront and a higher level of ongoing energy expenditures. But despite these extra requirements, the electricity used to power it all will be used much less efficiently than it can be at a large data center that specializes in optimizing its energy use.
3. Cloud-Based Provider Partnership
A great business case for outsourcing has emerged in recent years.
These days, companies are usually better served by focusing on what they do best and farming out payroll, accounting and customer support to one or more third-party providers.
But beyond purely financial considerations, partnering with outside vendors can offer benefits in the form of sustainability, too.
Setting up a corporate call center can come with high costs and a large environmental impact. On the other hand, it’s much less intensive to partner with an existing cloud call center to centralize customer engagement work.
Indeed, these platforms are already established with all the necessary equipment and cloud-based storage, which means no new server farms have to be built to serve a single company.
Cloud Sustainability
Companies are learning that sustainability is no longer just a buzzword and increasingly corresponds to good business and cost savings.
And since it comes with undeniable benefits for the environment, now is the time to start ensuring your sustainability and energy-use strategies incorporate components of the cloud.
Document management in the cloud has enough advantages on its own, but becomes an even better proposition when green advantages are considered.
It’s also a no-brainer to rid yourself of climate cooling and humidity management costs if you can just as easily get the storage and processing you need from the cloud.
And, finally, cloud-based call centers are showing that customer service is better — for the environment and customers — when it’s fulfilled externally.
About the Author Staff Writer
Our writers come from all over the world, but one thing unites them - their passion for sustainability.