How Startups Are Leveraging Cloud For Sustainable Digital Innovation

In the journey of solving environmental issues, even cloud-managed service providers are emerging as essential partners in achieving sustainability to encourage the reuse and recycling of materials. Jesintha Louis , Chief Executive Officer, G7 CR Technologies India Pvt Ltd, talks about how startups are leveraging cloud for sustainable digital innovation

Sustainable Solutions are going to be the impetus as Indian Startups and Founders take a plunge into digital transformation and the generative AI (Artificial Intelligence) era. The idea of sustainability has become incredibly important for any industry lately. As more startups realize the importance of sustainable business practices, Founders have started prioritizing intelligent cloud for building sustainable products and solutions to contribute to a greener economy. The primary motivation behind focusing on sustainable development goals is to reduce carbon emissions, protect natural resources, and encourage social responsibility toward climate change.

As per FinOps, many cloud providers have committed to using renewable energy to power their data centers. According to the Renewable Energy Buyers Alliance (REBA), some major cloud providers have achieved or are on track to achieve 100% renewable energy consumption, including Google and Microsoft.

Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability enables organizations to accelerate sustainability progress and business growth through a set of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) capabilities from across the Microsoft Cloud portfolio. Also, a report found that high ESG (environmental, social, and governance) rated companies consistently outperform the market in the medium and long term.

In the journey of solving environmental issues, even cloud-managed service providers are also emerging as essential partners in achieving sustainability to encourage the reuse and recycling of materials. Startups can implement sustainable practices with the right MSP (Managed Service Providers) partner without compromising their ability to grow and make a profit.

Here are the following ways startups are leveraging cloud to build sustainable digital products.

1. Energy Efficient Data Centers

Using cloud data centers significantly reduces 64% of carbon emissions, which is higher than traditional on-premises data centers. In addition, startups that leverage the cloud can reduce their energy consumption by up to 84%, leading to substantial cost savings and lower environmental impact.

As a top Cloud MSP, G7 CR aims at reducing energy consumption and minimizing the carbon footprint of startups with 165% improved performance and 94% energy-efficient infrastructure by driving transformation through Microsoft’s green data center transformation.

2. Server Optimization & Utilization

When it comes to the utilization of servers, a report has estimated that traditional data centers typically operate at an average server utilization rate of only 10% - 20%. On the other hand, cloud providers achieve utilization rates of up to 65%, which is more than 3X.

So, to optimize energy consumption, startups can focus on leveraging clouds and maximizing the use of server resources and eliminating the need for idle servers.

3. Waste Reduction with Automatic Feature Updates

Cloud reduces e-waste by minimizing the need for physical infrastructure upgrades or replacements. With cloud solutions, startups are upgrading themselves to the latest technologies and innovations without discarding outdated hardware, which eventually reduces waste and helps in achieving sustainability goals.

4. Utilizing Sustainable AI and Machine Learning

Startups are continuously exploring ways to incorporate cloud-based AI/ML tools and plugins to promote sustainability. For example, AI-powered energy management systems can optimize energy usage, predict, and reduce waste, and identify opportunities for efficiency improvements in various sectors. Also, AI-powered tools can reduce significant waste by automating various processes in manufacturing entities.

5. Virtualization and Consolidation

Virtualization technique is the best approach where startups can consolidate multiple applications and workloads onto a smaller number of physical servers to reduce the overall hardware footprint. So far, G7 CR has contributed 45% of optimized cloud workloads and resources with the help of Microsoft Azure. Accenture also conducted a survey and found that server consolidation through cloud adoption resulted in a 34% reduction in physical servers and a 30% decrease in energy consumption.

6. Circular Economy

Cloud technology enables startups to embrace the principles of the circular economy by optimizing resource utilization and reducing waste and materials being recycled and reused. With the help of cloud-based collaboration and communication tools, startups can now focus on minimizing paper consumption, which leads to contributing to a greener and more sustainable work environment.

7. Scalability and Elasticity

Startups often experience fluctuating demands for their services. Cloud computing enables startups to scale their infrastructure up or down based on their needs. By leveraging cloud resources, startups can avoid overprovisioning and wasting energy on underutilized servers during periods of low demand.

8. Environmental Monitoring and Reporting

Cloud-based systems help organizations in building real-time environmental monitoring, such as air quality, water management, and waste management. Many startups have implemented this practice to further collect data around it further for further analysis to drive informed decision-making and promote sustainability practices while building products and applications.

Sustainability is a core focus for everyone, for every industry, for every department. In India, various initiatives and projects have been created to promote sustainability. Sustainable startups are continuously collaborating with investors, technology and growth enablers like G7 CR, and incubators that place a focus on sustainability and provide support for sustainable business models and vice versa. Startups that prioritize sustainable practices are likely to have a competitive advantage in enticing clients, investors, and talent as the relevance of sustainability continues to rise.

Cloud managed solution partners play a vital role in supporting sustainability goals for startups and organizations. Thus, while selecting cloud partners, organizations should first consider their sustainability commitments, energy efficiency parameters, and alignment with environmental goals. By partnering with recognized and trusted cloud managed solution partners like G7 CR, which prioritizes sustainability, startups can leverage the power of the most intelligent cloud, like Microsoft Azure, while advancing their own sustainability initiatives.

Utilizing sustainable technologies enables businesses to operate in a way that has fewer adverse impacts on both people and the environment. The technology could boost operating efficiency, lower waste and resource use, and foster healing in the communities.