IT is driving new enterprise sustainability efforts

From an energy efficiency perspective, sustainability has always been a “no brainer” for IT, says Lee Green, chief architect at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA). The business imperative to streamline business processes and optimize IT operations was driving efficiency improvements well before the healthcare insurer developed its corporate sustainability framework.

Now, however, investors, customers, and employees are increasingly pushing businesses toward more sustainable operations — “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,” as the United Nations phrases it. More than half of all enterprises now have a formal sustainability framework, up from just 18% a few years ago, according to Sheila Patel, vice president and sustainability agenda lead at Capgemini Global Invent. And IT is increasingly playing a key role in advancing that agenda, Green says.

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