The Future of Sustainable IT Procurement

[suepreston]

In today’s world, environmental awareness and sustainability are becoming more imperative in our everyday decision making. From clothing production to car manufacturing as well as where our food comes from, there is a growing responsibility to ensure our choices have a minimal environmental impact on the planet. At HPE, we see this to be especially true in our procurement process; making sure IT systems are efficient as well as being cost effective and high quality. In fact, in recent years, the priorities have shifted, and environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are becoming the top priority when it comes to IT procurement. With worldwide spend on IT procurement projected to total $3.8 trillion in 2021 (an increase of 4% from 2020), there is a significant opportunity to reduce the environmental impact of IT, as well as securing cost savings.

With such a surge in importance, HPE realises the opportunity to influence not only our own procurement decisions, but also our customers’. In 2020 we developed guidance alongside a sustainability calculator to help organisations on their sustainability journey. We believe there are some general sustainable IT procurement principles that need to be considered and can be used as a guide to harness great benefits and reach for a number of sustainability targets.

Product attributes

Digging a little deeper into the product itself and how it is made can reveal new opportunities on how to minimise the overall environmental impact in the product’s manufacturing phase. Ensuring it’s not made of restricted materials; that sound power information has been measured; that its design is energy efficient and that it can be reused or recycled – including its packaging – is key. Look out for eco-labels as well, to see if it adheres to an environmental certification scheme.

Generic attributes

In addition to the specific product attributes, there are other considerations when looking at the environmental impact of IT procurement, including:

Product packaging: Avoid packaging that contains ozone depleting substances. Additionally, packaging should be minimal and recyclable, to reduce the carbon footprint associated with shipping.

End-of-use services: Every product should be manufactured with its end-of-use in mind and there are different options that should be considered to make sure the product is not destined for landfill. These options include repair and refurbishment, trade-in, replacement, and monetary rebate through upcycling. Otherwise, a responsible recycling programme is required, to guarantee all elements are dismantled correctly and recycled safely. Data protection is also important here, with the relevant elements erased or destroyed to ensure compliance and security.

‘As-a Service’ solutions, leasing and managed services: ‘As-a-Service’ consumption models ensure that you only pay for what you use, providing the technology you need, without over provisioning. If you don’t need to own your IT equipment, leasing may be a more sustainable alternative. Leasing can offer financial savings as well as environmental benefits compared with the traditional ‘buy, own, retire’ cycle. Confirm the company you lease from has a robust programme for managing returned equipment to ensure it is reused or securely disposed of.

Supply chain responsibility: Who is involved in the process of getting your products to you? Ask your vendor to provide information on their own social and environmental responsibility, as well as that of the supply chain. Do they comply with the Responsible Business Alliance’s Code of Conduct, which ensures working conditions in the electronics supply chain are safe and in accordance with applicable laws? It can be tricky to obtain information on every link in a global supply chain, so your vendor should do their best to demonstrate that the products they supply are as sustainable and compliant as possible.

Organisational performance: Suppliers should be able to demonstrate their commitment to reducing their environmental impact. Look for their environmental policy and environmental management system as well as their annual report. These should outline their environmental programmes and should all meet the reporting requirements of ISO 14001 which looks for an effective environmental management system.

Environmental standards: There are a number of standards and eco-labels that show the environmental attributes of a product. Look for a recognisable standard that demonstrates a commitment to sustainability. It could be an Energy Star® certification, ECMA-370: The Eco Declaration standard; EPEAT rating or LEED certification.

The Sustainability Calculator

Taking so many aspects of procurement into consideration is a mammoth task, so HPE has designed a sustainability calculator to make it simpler. The calculator provides a set of questions aimed at assessing an organisation’s ‘sustainability maturity’. It measures against three pillars:

Pillar one	Sustainable procurement/supply chain (how people are making sustainable purchasing decisions).
Pillar two	Responsible consumption of IT (energy efficiency, carbon consumption).
Pillar three	Lifecycle management (circular economy, asset upcycling/recycling).

Once complete, the results offer a grade and advice based on this grade. This maturity level is an indicator of where you are on your sustainability journey and any places that you could grow. We offer a consultancy service to help you with the next steps and future actions.

Low maturity	The wonderer – you observe the current issues and are looking for ways to get started/make improvements.
Mid maturity	The guardian – you care about your impact on the environment and you’ve made some good progress and are looking for ways to do more.
High maturity	The warrior – you are committed to action and want to lead the way with new innovative programmes.

Crown Commercial Service (CCS), an Executive Agency of the Cabinet Office, supports the UK public sector to achieve maximum commercial value when procuring common goods and services. In order to meet the Government’s agenda to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, CCS is reviewing and adjusting its sustainability strategy. CCS recently studied HPE’s sustainability calculator to evaluate the usability, relevance and output in line with public sector needs.

They said, “The sustainability calculator is a useful tool to help the public sector to meet its sustainability objectives and drive long-term improvements to how and where we do business.

“CCS is in the process of reviewing and adjusting our sustainability strategy, and the calculator is one of a number of elements being considered as part of that. We continue to discuss the strategy with customers to help them to drive the change required to meet the Government's agenda to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.”

Financial flexibility and environmental benefits with a pay-per-use model

A flexible approach can be the ideal solution for organisations reaching for more sustainable procurement options. In 2019, ‘as-a-Service’ models accounted for 46% of worldwide spend on IT infrastructure, and this is expected to increase to 58% by 2022¹. As-a-Service solutions reduce energy and IT waste as well as saving money. HPE GreenLake is a modern, agile cloud experience that operates in an as-a-Service model. Compute and storage can be scaled up or down quickly, and you only pay for what you use. Pay-per-use solutions reduce over-provisioning, giving organisations an efficient environment that is easy to monitor, simple to manage and lower in IT costs than purchasing up-front. HPE GreenLake customers have reported up to 30% CAPEX savings, as well as a reduction of 40% in equipment, space used, cooling required and power consumption. We have a signed Memorandum of Understanding with the Crown Commercial Service, making it easy for the public sector to procure HPE GreenLake in an approved buying route and taking advantage of agreed discounts.

Transitioning to HPE GreenLake is supported by HPE Financial Services who offer asset upcycling, accelerated migration and certified pre-owned products to help streamline your IT asset retirement process. We prioritise reuse over recycling, with the goal of keeping tech in use for as long as possible.

Sustainable IT procurement is ever-growing in its importance. Organisations who prioritise the environmental impact of their choices are not only reaching their sustainability targets, but are realising cost savings and financial benefits, as well as standing out as champions of sustainability.

For more information please get in touch here.

¹ Source: IDC/Gartner/HPE estimates, October 2019 (as per Securities Analyst Meeting).

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About the authors:

Sue Preston Vice President & GM UKIMESA- Services, Software & Consumption at Hewlett Packard Enterprise 

Darren Howe Deputy Director - Digital Future (Technology) at Crown Commercial Service 

Sue Preston
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

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