A clear disconnect exists between sustainability practices and Digital Transformation initiatives across organizations in Malaysia, according to the latest report by Paessler, the monitoring experts for IT infrastructures and networks. Titled Keeping Watch: Monitoring Your Path to a Sustainable IT, the report aims to shed light on the current state of sustainability practices among businesses, and deep dives into drivers and barriers in deploying sustainable IT practices. The report revealed that balancing the ESG metrics with growth targets (73%), cost of deployment to business (53%), lack of clarity from government bodies (43%) and lack of technical know-how on planning implementation (35%) as the top barriers to adopting sustainability practices in Malaysia.
50% of organizations in Malaysia are optimistic about the business outlook for the next three years. The report revealed businesses in Malaysia view sustainability and digital transformation in silos and not as intertwined. Organizations are working on developing sustainability frameworks and digital transformation strategies in a piecemeal manner. As a result, their resources, whether budgets, time or skills involved, are less effective. They also lack the capabilities and expertise to develop a sustainability framework and work on it, clearly highlighting a disconnect between the engaged sustainability practices and their digital transformation journeys.
At the same time, organizations in Malaysia are realizing the benefits of IT infrastructure monitoring, a key cog in an organization’s IT strategy to help optimize energy consumption (95%), analyze the need for IT equipment (95%), monitor environmental factors like temperature, humidity, CO2 etc. (89%), and reduce emissions (84%). Therefore, a sustainable IT strategy backed by a comprehensive monitoring framework must be a vital part of the business operations. This will ensure sourcing material; production processes and all other components of a sustainable business can be integrated by the overarching digital transformation strategy.
“Many businesses see sustainability and profitability as a contradiction, but when the right values are measured, it results in cost efficiency and a competitive lead. It is imperative to build a robust IT strategy, and a digital transformation strategy and develop a sustainability framework which are all integrated by a comprehensive IT monitoring framework. Bridging the gap between digital transformation and sustainability to make data-based decisions can result in resource optimization and bring economic benefits for businesses,” said Felix Berndt, Regional Sales Manager of Asia Pacific, Paessler.
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Sustainability Practices (ESG) and Digital Transformation Efforts Are Not On the Same Page
While sustainability is one of the top 3 business priorities for the next three years, it does not even feature as one of the top 5 challenges for businesses across markets and sectors. Instead, challenges such as increasing competition, digital transformation, driving growth (top line), improving profitability (bottom line), and talent management are seen as the top five challenges by businesses. The top three drivers for adopting sustainable frameworks are reputation (45%), following industry operations standards (36%) and adhering to Regulatory framework and compliance (24%).
The technology, telecom, and data centre vertical (82%) was seen as the top vertical which already has a sustainable IT strategy in place followed by manufacturing (79%) and essential services/ public sector (66%). While the public sector lags in this regard, 31% said that they will embark on their sustainable IT strategy journey in the next year.
Digital transformation can enable sustainability by making businesses more efficient, reducing their environmental impact, and helping them meet sustainability goals. Engaging the right digital technologies can help monitor and optimize energy usage, reduce waste, and streamline supply chains. The knowledge and importance of a sustainable IT strategy can be improved if backed by an effective IT monitoring backbone.
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