ESG, which stands for Environmental, Social, and Governance, is a set of standards by which companies are evaluated on their sustainability and their promotion of social justice. These standards are becoming more and more important to investors, consumers, governments, and employees alike, which means businesses need to take special care to earn high ESG ratings. One way to do this is through an IT audit. This audit will alert you to areas in your data infrastructure that could be optimized for greater sustainability. In this article, we’ll go over the main ways an IT audit can make your company more sustainable so you can understand its true value. Let’s get started!
An IT audit improves your business’s sustainability by involving all of the following:
Discovering inefficiencies
Before you can make improvements to your business’s sustainability, you need to know what technologies and processes are lagging. An IT audit can help you do this by evaluating your company’s carbon footprint, utility use, energy use, and more. For example, an IT audit can make a note of whether business resources like computer monitors, lightbulbs, and appliances are currently energy efficient. It can confirm which energy conservation methods are being used and which aren’t. An IT audit can also measure electricity, gas, and water usage. This way, you know where your company’s energy use stands so you can measure improvements.
Adopting sustainable technologies
Next, an IT audit will help you identify sustainable technologies. There may be new systems and programs that increase work productivity or smart technology that helps employees collaborate virtually (instead of meeting in the office).
An IT audit will also help you distinguish between End of Life (EOL) and End of Support Life (EOSL) hardware statuses so that you know how long a piece of equipment can last, how to extend the useful life of your equipment when these milestones hit, and when the equipment needs to be replaced.
Thorough IT audit will also help you identify key players within your organization who are responsible for taking action on sustainable IT initiatives.
Extending the useful life of your equipment can prevent the introduction of new raw materials into your IT estate and avoid legacy equipment waste.
Reporting findings
An IT audit isn’t complete without a thorough report on the audit’s findings. The IT audit report can go to company executives, investors, customers, and other stakeholders. The larger the organization, the more team players will have a vested interest in the results of the IT audit. A good IT audit report will get everyone on the same page about what the company is doing well, where it could use improvements, and potential solutions to get the company up to ESG standards.
Identifying key players
Lastly, a thorough IT audit will also help you identify key players within your organization who are responsible for taking action on sustainable IT initiatives.
It may be the Chief Information Officer (CIO), Chief Technology Officer (CTO), or Chief Security Officer (CSO). The key is to identify who has the most influence over the needed ESG improvements and then assign the job to them.
Creating a sustainable business environment is more important now than ever before. Don’t allow lazy business practices to threaten your company’s long-term viability. Start with an IT audit. You can have your IT staff conduct an internal IT audit or hire a neutral third-party auditor to do it for you.
That way, it’s clear who is responsible for implementing the desired sustainability improvements, and nobody is confused about what’s expected.
Adding it all up
Creating a sustainable business environment is more important now than ever before. Don’t allow lazy business practices to threaten your company’s long-term viability. Start with an IT audit. You can have your IT staff conduct an internal IT audit or hire a neutral third-party auditor to do it for you. Both are better than nothing, but a third-party audit is more likely to cover your blind spots and give you an objective assessment. Don’t hesitate to plan an IT audit today!
