Several worldwide movements adopt the tagline “Tech for Good”. It’s a call, if not an act, to utilize technology in ways that improve well-being and create an impact – especially in the environmental domain. As members of the tech community, we asked ourselves: What does CPaaS have to do with the environment and how can we help? Here’s what we found.
Caught between climate and change
Innovations in technology can leave positive social benefits. The concept of Tech for Good can extend to include healthcare, education, climate, and equality, among other sustainable development goals. While some may argue that nature always finds a way, there is no escaping the fact that businesses of any size around the world have to meet certain obligations to ensure that if they cannot help, they’re not making things worse.
In the past 5 years alone, the world faced several challenges that have threatened our ideas for the future. Not just that, but our entire existence is threatened. Human-caused global warming is causing the Earth's atmosphere to change at an alarming rate.
Between greenhouse gas emissions, burning of fossil fuels, driving more cars, and cutting down forests, we can expect to see more carbon emissions, wildfires, flooding, hurricanes, droughts, famines, and climate refugees.
The role of businesses
Many of the world’s major corporations have already started taking action. Companies such as Apple, Amazon, Boeing, Tesla, and FedEx have all committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions (also known as carbon neutrality or carbon offsetting) within the coming two decades. Some of the ways these companies have pledged to help include planting trees, switching to electric cars, and switching to clean energy resources to name a few.
Surely, companies of this size are able to allocate budgets to this issue. But what about smaller businesses?
The first step is raising awareness. Organization-level awareness can create a cycle of changes in each person's life. Some of the questions you can begin asking are:
- How can we decrease the cost of energy?
- How can we reduce commute expenses?
- How much do we spend on business travel?
- Do we work with sustainable suppliers and/or partners?
- Is our data center in compliance with international regulations?
Here are some specific examples of how SaaS is being used to promote sustainability:
- A large retailer is using SaaS to track its energy consumption and identify areas where it can save energy.
- A small business is using SaaS to manage its fleet of vehicles, which has helped it to reduce its fuel consumption.
- A non-profit organization is using SaaS to collect data on climate change, which is helping it to raise awareness of the issue.
SaaS and climate change
A study by the Cloud Industry Forum found that SaaS can help businesses to reduce their carbon emissions by up to 80%. The study also found that SaaS can help businesses to save money on energy costs and hardware costs. Additionally, research from Accenture suggests that migrating to cloud can reduce global carbon emissions by almost 60 million tons of CO2 per year.
Overall, SaaS can play a significant role in sustainability by helping businesses to reduce their energy consumption, reduce their hardware costs, increase their flexibility, and improve their collaboration. Among the many benefits of incorporating SaaS applications into the fight against climate change are:
- Reduced energy consumption: SaaS applications are typically hosted in data centers that are designed to be energy efficient. This means that SaaS can help businesses to reduce their energy consumption and their carbon footprint. With no need for huge data centers anymore, on-cloud hosting can make use of wind and solar farms around the world to get the power it needs.
- Reduced hardware costs: SaaS applications do not require businesses to purchase and maintain their own hardware. This can save businesses money and resources. Cloud solutions eliminate the need for many devices and hardware. This means less wasted power and energy-draining devices.
- Increased flexibility: SaaS applications can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection. This can help businesses to reduce their travel costs and their environmental impact.
- Improved collaboration: SaaS applications can help businesses to collaborate more effectively with their employees and partners. This can lead to increased productivity and reduced environmental impact. Online communications mean by extension that people do not have to commute daily and be physically present to manage cloud systems.
A few more reasons to help
Reducing your business’s carbon footprint has other benefits as well. Not only will you contribute to the future of the planet and upcoming generations (which is big enough), but you will also see benefits that have nothing to do with the environment such as:
- Increased customer trust
- Increased interest in your company culture
- Increased investor attraction
- Increased profit
Any business, big or small, is bound to benefit from these points. At the end of the day, it’s about having a sustainable future for our planet, our families, our team members, our friends, and everyone else.
Conclusion
Technology is neither good nor bad. It’s how we use it that counts. Advancements in technology can either disrupt our lives or significantly enhance them. When it comes to connectivity and platforms, cloud-based technologies like SaaS and CPaaS are actively involved in solving critical issues such as digital finance literacy, telemedicine accessibility, supply chain efficiency, quality education, and nation-wide campaigns. The only way to real change is in relation to others.
We’ve already made the case that CPaaS is a present technology for the future. Today, we make the case that CPaaS might help save the future. That, to us, is empowerment, and we pledge to use our tech for good.
Business Partner | 
