CIOs: why a sustainable IT programme is critical to your career

As a CIO, you’re probably fed up hearing about the need to be a strategic partner to your organisation.

You’ve undoubtedly read about how your job is no longer just keeping the technology running…how every business is now a digital business… how you’re now the Chief Digital Officer, or the Chief Insights Officer…and so on.

Among all that noise, it can be hard to see the wood for the trees. Yet there’s one obvious place to start: sustainability. You can make an immediate and significant contribution to your firm’s sustainability strategy, by reducing the carbon footprint of your IT estate.

The opportunity won’t be lost on CIOs in sectors like banking, insurance and communications, where around 40% of Scope 1 and 2 emissions come from IT operations.¹

In other sectors – such as retail or government – technology doesn’t drive quite the same proportion of emissions. But the need to decarbonise is still every bit as pressing. Consumers are increasingly demanding it, while government bodies are mandated to do so.

Across all industries, ICT’s share of organisations’ emissions currently sits at 4%. That proportion has doubled since 2013, and is set to more than double again, reaching 8% by 2025.²

As such, there’s a major role for CIOs to play in helping companies reach their decarbonisation goals. Plus, you’ll enhance the bottom line at the same time. More efficient IT use will mean lower electricity consumption, and therefore less cost.

Making your IT greener is a ‘win-win-win’: it will benefit your career, the business and the wider world. So how do you start making a difference? 

Here are three areas of focus that can relatively quickly improve your ICT’s sustainability – not to mention your career prospects:

1. IT procurement typically accounts for around 70% of an organisation’s Scope 3 emissions. The vast majority being embedded in outsourced IT services like cloud computing and software-as-a-service.

Green sourcing builds sustainability requirements into your procurement criteria, which cascades them down through the supply chain. And it doesn’t require huge amounts of work – just the right guidelines, policies and controls.

2. E-waste reduction can address 50-60% of emissions related to end-user devices – by procuring fewer devices, sourcing from accountable vendors, and extending the lifecycle of devices by recycling them.

3. Digital clean-up initiatives will reduce your storage requirements, and cut both your carbon emissions and your costs.

That means regularly auditing and cleaning up digital storage, optimising databases and deleting unused data – typically 60% of data created by organisations is only used once.

As a CIO, your contribution to sustainability can go even further than reducing the firm’s effect on the climate.

You can also have a positive social impact, by enhancing inclusion through more accessible systems and tools.

This will have multiple advantages: a more engaged and productive workforce; a strong ESG narrative for the market; and ultimately a stronger brand.

Digital accessibility means making it easy to use your technology, and access your online presence, for everyone – including those with disabilities. Not only is that the right thing to do; it’s increasingly a commercial and regulatory necessity.

Improving accessibility requires a systematic approach, which in my experience comprises seven key steps:

1. Understand your risk position: what regulations must you comply with, and what are your accessibility goals?
2. Assess the accessibility of your current digital products and services
3. Review the maturity of the processes and policies that support accessibility
4. Identify any key risks for quick remediation
5. Create a roadmap for improving and maintaining accessibility
6. Embed your updated supporting processes
7. Ensure ongoing promotion and support via training and champions, and by using tools and accessible design to 'shift left' – making your products and services accessible by design, not just through testing.

The chance to be that all-important strategic partner is at your fingertips. What are you waiting for?