Cutting carbon emissions. Net Zero. The UK government has started to drop heavy hints that, for businesses, the time to start acting to stay in line with upcoming climate regulations is now.
If you’re a business leader, the goals are to cut your carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. Then to have reached Net Zero – putting no more carbon into the environment than you are removing – by 2050.
In lots of areas, the UK government has been pretty vague about how this is going to come about. But for most businesses, they have made it clear there is one easy win:
Adopting cloud technology and migrating your business over to using it.
What is the cloud?
Being “on the cloud” is the phrase used to refer to a situation where – instead of using software that is on the computer in front of you – you are communicating data over the internet to use software that is somewhere else altogether.
You may already use cloud services without realising it. If you’ve ever used a Google doc, you did so using cloud computing. The software that let you store, access, and edit that document wasn’t on your computer. It was sitting on a Google server in a big facility probably somewhere very far away indeed.
Using cloud technology is more cost-effective, secure, and reliable than the “software on the computer in front of you” set-up of yesteryear. It’s got a pretty hefty advantage when it comes to making your business more environmentally sustainable too.
Why does moving to the cloud make your business more sustainable?
1) No more need for local servers
If you’re a company of any size or have worked for one, you’ll be familiar with the old standard arrangement of having a local, usually in-office, server.
Take a step back and picture every single SME and larger business in the world having servers like this in their offices. Picture just how many additional computers that is demanding energy (and carbon output to create it) every hour of every day. What’s more, think of how much physical space all that extra computing power took up.
Now imagine doing away with all that.
2) A lot of cloud computing infrastructure is “green” already
All of those vanished local servers haven’t just been put in one warehouse with a big “Google” sign on the door.
A cloud data centre will usually be built much closer to a power generating facility (because it’s more efficient that way). They can also be much, much more efficient in the way their hardware works. That means they need much less of it. That’s much better than having poorly optimised systems in every office in the world all drawing unnecessary power over unnecessary distances.
Google Workspace is actually a great example of how one company at least has made cloud computing greener:
- Google already hit Net Zero in 2007
- All of their cloud systems run on renewable energy
- They aim to be Zero Carbon by 2030
3) Improves business economic sustainability
It’s not just the environment that benefits when you decide to professionalise your business by migrating to the cloud.
Using these systems usually costs less and is much more efficient than the old-school alternatives too. Need fewer services from your cloud computing provider this month? No problem. Dial down your requirements (you can often set this up to happen automatically) and you’ll pay even less.
How to start moving your business to the cloud
First thing’s first. It’s a good idea to perform a thorough assessment of your current business IT set-up and plan out how you are going to move to the cloud with minimal disruption.
At Dial A Geek, we’ve arranged for organisations to move to the cloud literally overnight. But that called for a whole lot of assessment and planning first. There are a wide variety of options – Google Workspace and Microsoft365 to name just two of the big ones – and finding the right choices for you will depend on your business needs and goals.
Don’t let this stop you though. Not only does moving to the cloud make your business more sustainable in the environmental sense. The cost and efficiency savings and increased security mean it’s also good business sense.
Ready to take the first step to move your business to the cloud?
Let’s talk. Dial A Geek helps almost 1000 businesses in and around Bristol make their IT work for them. Including helping them migrate to the cloud.
Set up a cost and commitment-free chat with Chief Geek Gildas Jones today. Let’s walk through how we can help make your switch to cloud computing easy.
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