CIOs: Catalysts to promote sustainability through collaboration

Sustainability initiatives are largely driven by data, and CIOs are uniquely positioned to ensure their organizations have the right data necessary to drive collaborative decision-making practices that influence sustainability.

In recent years, IT groups have helped a wide range of organizations improve sustainability initiatives by creating infrastructure that allows them to collect and analyze related data. Apparel maker Vuori uses its data to drive sustainability goals regarding waste reduction, its carbon footprint, and managing raw materials. And Choice Hotels has used data derived from utility providers to identify sustainability issues like leaking swimming pools.

By leading tech-related opportunities to measure sustainability KPIs, and even helping determine which ones to measure, CIOs bring critical information to collaborative sustainability efforts. Plus, collecting and presenting data helps CIOs and other decision-makers understand the outcomes of particular business decisions, identify inefficiencies that might otherwise go overlooked, and identify opportunities for improvement. With these resources, CIOs can often initiate and drive the conversation surrounding sustainability.

Identifying tech allies who support sustainability

Today’s businesses work with more external partners and collaborators than ever. The average enterprise utilizes 112 SaaS applications, according to SaaS management platform provider BetterCloud, and each has varying commitments to sustainability. Outside of tech-specific partners, suppliers in areas ranging from logistics to waste removal also have a significant influence on an organization’s true carbon footprint.

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Regardless of whether these partners act as vendors or more deeply involved partners on collaborative projects, understanding the impact of their sustainability practices plays an essential role to ensure your actions remain sustainable. As such, CIOs are integral in these efforts as they leverage their knowledge of the tech their potential partners use and its environmental impact.

The importance of this was highlighted during a conversation with Sam Scoten, CEO at waste removal company CheckSammy. “Finding technology partners who can directly help you address your sustainability needs is ideal,” he says. “Offerings such as e-waste recycling can be especially impactful for IT operations, but you should ultimately evaluate all partners through the lens of data: Can they benchmark your current diversion rates and quantify the improvements they make for you? Reporting and analytics are key to measuring your success and sharing that progress internally and externally.” 

Making sustainability central

In promoting widespread sustainability, Diana Bersohn and Accenture’s Sanjay Podder have argued that CIOs must focus on three core areas as they promote an organizational shift:

• Net zero: Utilize green software practices that can reduce energy consumption.
• Trust: Build systems that protect privacy and are fair, transparent, robust, and accessible.
• Governance: Make ESG the focus of the technology, not an afterthought.

There are countless projects that’ll involve tech and IT, and when it comes to these collaborative efforts, CIOs must lead the charge to ensure the technology solutions proposed keep such practices in mind. This requires opening dialogues with other company leaders to help them understand how technology use influences sustainability goals.

CIOs must also practice effective communication, particularly when discussing such matters with others who may not be as well versed in tech. Presenting information is one thing, but presenting it in a way that’s clear and easy for others in the organization to grasp will prove crucial to get widespread buy-in.

Breaking down collaborative barriers

CIOs should also play a vital role to help their organization’s sustainability initiatives succeed through technology that inhibits collaboration. Even the best-intentioned companies often experience organizational silos that hinder progress. Quite often, these are the result of a dispersed tech stack, as well as organizational resistance that focuses on short-term goals rather than long-term environmental outcomes.

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In these circumstances, CIOs are critical in securing buy-in from other stakeholders in tech changes that’ll influence collaboration and sustainability, thereby guiding the company culture to break down barriers to sustainability and help the organization move to a more unified tech stack that fosters greater inter-departmental collaboration.

As an organizational leader, CIOs must lead the charge to encourage a sustainability mindset among those they lead. As this mindset becomes prevalent throughout tech in their other collaborative areas, a sustainability-first approach can become more widespread throughout the organization.