The discussion and excitement surrounding cloud computing is on the rise and it seems this low cost solution is here to stay with much known about the endless array of benefits it can provide for businesses. At first glimpse, it may not seem obvious that cloud computing can have an eco-friendly impact but a deeper look shows it really can affect the environment in a positive way and maybe most importantly for some; give your business a better public image.
For those firms using a cloud computing system, information is stored securely in large, off site data centres serving clients all over the world.
This minimisation of individual servers decreases the vast amount of energy being used to run these machines, thus reducing environmental impact as well as decreasing the large electricity bills that come hand in hand with running an expensive server farm. It seems to be blindingly obvious; less machines being used equates to less money being spent and less energy being wasted.
In fact, Research carried out by Google suggested that businesses could save around 60-85% on their energy costs simply by switching to a cloud facility. The environmental impact of these substantial reductions in energy is significant for any company who is looking to reduce their environmental footprint.
In terms of utilisation, data centres delegate resources over vast amounts of machines making sure none are idle, as well as scaling the energy needed depending on the size of demand. The cloud also reduces carbon emissions through these minimized energy requirements and according to the CDP report, offsite servers have the potential to prevent 85.7 million metric tons of annual carbon emissions by 2020. It also sees firms make huge amounts of savings as less hardware is needed, lowering purchasing and maintenance costs, amongst other outgoings. However, there are even more ways in which cloud computing can make your business eco-friendly.
The fact that businesses would not be running local servers and all activity would take place off site eliminates the need for transportation of goods and servers. It also sees an end to costly IT teams being called upon to solve a problem as this is all handled at a firms chosen data centre. It may seem like trivial steps for any large company to take but sizeable businesses naturally have a larger environmental footprint than those of individuals, so it’s great to reduce this in any way possible.
Lastly, and by no means least, using cloud computing for its positive environmental factors can make your business stand out from the crowd. It is not always about what you sell, but what you stand for and if you can show your customers that you not only care about profit, but the environment as well then you are setting yourself apart from the mass.
Although ideally all institutions would welcome any implementation that lowers cost, it is down to those organisations to research and adopt a cloud computing service that best suits them from an eco-friendly point of view. It is always good practice to get in touch with providers and question them on the eco-friendly systems that they have in place.