Not all that long ago, green technologies were known as such for two reasons: yes, they were beneficial to the environment, but they also came at great expense to the businesses leveraging them. This has recently changed. Now, businesses are seeing plenty of reasons to go green, from increased customer appreciation for conservation efforts and, yes, even cost savings.
It doesn’t hurt that there are many different options out there for businesses to leverage in their efforts - options that just weren’t available in the recent past, and ones that scale up to have a far greater impact. Sure, you could switch out your office’s lighting to energy-efficient LEDs (and you should) but you could also leverage the cloud for more of your needs, along with some other adjustments.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing has opened a world of opportunity for businesses. Data can be accessed at any time, from anywhere. A business can take advantage of a new server without having to lug another piece of energy-pulling infrastructure into their building - and without having to run the A/C to keep it sufficiently cool.
Naysayers may argue that the cloud isn’t actually all that green, as it isn’t as though it eliminates all of the environmental impacts. However, they need to start looking, as they’re missing the forest for the trees.
Consider it this way: on the one hand, you have twenty businesses, each maintaining an in-house server with varying degrees of energy efficiency. On the other, we have the same twenty businesses, this time leveraging a cloud provider and hosting their solutions (including virtual servers) in the provider’s optimized data center.
Comparing these options side-by-side, it becomes clear why the cloud is such an environmentally friendly choice. Frankly, you’re taking twenty server rooms and consolidating them into one big one, so while it isn’t creating a net-zero environmental impact, it is greatly reducing it as compared to the alternative. Plus, cloud providers take great stock in efficiency - even building their data centers in environments that are naturally cooler, with less humidity - which translates in the long term to reduced environmental impacts.
Remote Workers
The average commute in the United States, one-way, is over 26 minutes. This means that, over a five-day workweek, your employees are spending just over two hours, and that’s just getting to the office. Factoring in their return home, we’re looking at about four hours and twenty minutes spent commuting. That’s four hours and twenty minutes more of emissions, for each employee, each week.
Leveraging a remote workforce (or in other words, letting your people work from home) can help greatly reduce these emissions. The comprehensive communication and collaboration solutions now at our disposal make it so much easier than it once was for work to be effectively done in the home. Your business is still productive, your employees don’t have to deal with the commute, and you’re making a sizable chunk in your organization’s environmental impact.
Less Printing
How much paper is there in your business that, quite frankly, doesn’t have to be there? Is your workplace cluttered with filing cabinets, filled to the brim with files that take forever to find things in?
Let’s face facts, and just say it - hardcopies of documents are effectively obsolete at this point. A modern file management system allows contracts to be signed, documents to be found with a quick search, and backups to be taken. This means less paper copies, and therefore less environmental impact.
We’re all about green technologies here at Suffolk Computer Consultants, and we can help you implement them in your operations. For more information, give us a call at (631) 905-9617.
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