Balancing sustainability and productivity in the digitalization of the PHL economy

Since the devastation caused by typhoon Yolanda, there has been a significant increase in Filipino awareness regarding the connection between climate change, carbon emissions, and the growing severity of weatherrelated disasters. At the same time, the country is undergoing a process of digital transformation as it strives to keep pace with its neighbors.

While the adoption of new technologies has positively impacted the workplace, workforce, and employee workload, it has also had adverse effects on the environment. Both the manufacturing and transportation of IT hardware, as well as software development and usage, contribute greatly to carbon emissions.

To sustain the country’s economic growth through digitalization, business leaders must prioritize sustainability alongside their modernization efforts. It is also important for businesses to operate their technology within the framework of compliance, laws, and sustainability.

LESS COSTS AND CARBON EMISSIONS THROUGH ENERGY CONSERVATION

While some see sustainability as a source of additional expenses, it can contribute positively to the bottom line. For example, energy conservation not only lessens a company’s carbon footprint, but it also reduces operational expenses by lowering electricity bills.

This is particularly important given that the Philippines has some of the most expensive electricity rates in all of Asia, along with the anticipated depletion of the Malampaya gas fields next year and the power shortages expected to follow.

REDUCING POWER DRAIN THROUGH ENDPOINT MANAGEMENT

One way businesses and other organizations can quickly make an impact is by addressing the excessive use of devices such as computers and printers, implementing energy conservation practices in the workplace, and making workplace devices as energy-efficient as possible. This starts with knowing how much energy is being consumed by your digital assets, like servers, kiosks, laptops, mobile devices, and tablets, followed by recommending what your organization can do to reduce carbon emissions from these devices.

For example, people may make a habit of leaving their computers on while out for lunch or at a meeting. But that unnecessarily consumes energy, especially when done every day and across the whole workplace.

Assuming that well-disseminated policies addressing this problem are already in place in a particular workplace, business leaders can complement these efforts through endpoint management systems. This allows organizations to monitor the energy consumption of individual endpoints and then take action remotely whenever needed.

For example, users can automate the shutting down of specific groups of computers based on their users’ working hours and days off. An endpoint management solution can also automate measures to reduce the energy consumption of computers when idle, such as by reducing display brightness or putting the monitor display to sleep.

Aside from the automation of tasks that reduce excessive and unnecessary electricity consumption, an endpoint management tool can also enable decision-makers to see the bigger picture when it comes to implementing energy conservation. This enables effective decision-making and impactful sustainability measures across the organization.

ENHANCING DATA CENTERS’ ENERGY EFFICIENCY

The technologies deployed in data centers today are not sustainability-friendly. With the amount of hardware, cooling, and processing power that data centers need, organizations need software that can monitor the usage of these energy sources.

Maximizing the operational efficiency of their data centers is another way for businesses and other organizations to conserve energy. While data center management practices and solutions are known primarily for enhancing performance, they can also monitor metrics such as CPU health, CPU temperature, fan speed, and power consumption to guide the operation and maintenance of data centers, and implement energy conservation measures.

For example, while the default climate in the country is hot, requiring more cooling of data centers, there are seasons, or even just days and weeks during the warm season, when the climate is cooler. Integrating smart temperature control devices in a data center management platform reduces the performance of cooling devices when temperatures are cooler and prevents wasting electricity.

SUSTAINABILITY BENEFITS EVERYTHING, INCLUDING THE BOTTOM LINE

Promoting sustainability is crucial for contemporary businesses, and it should not be overlooked. Organizations should start by changing their mindsets and introduce one sustainability aspect at a time into their business practices. Not only does sustainability contribute to efforts that make our world better, but embracing environmental and social sustainability also lowers costs, makes brands more enticing for consumers and business partners, and enhances regulatory agility. Embracing rather than being indifferent towards this push for sustainability will only be a boon for Philippine organizations, elevating brand reputations through accountability and making digital operations work for the environment.