Paessler, an organisation that specialises in monitoring IT infrastructures and networks, revealed in a recent report that there is a clear disconnect between sustainability and digital transformation initiatives across organisations in Singapore.

While Singapore-based organisations stated sustainability as a topmost business priority at 58 per cent, followed by digital transformation at 55 per cent, only 50 per cent of organisations have a clear sustainability strategy and are acting on it.

With the aim 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 the top barriers to adopting sustainability practices in Singapore include:

– Balancing the ESG metrics with growth targets (65 per cent)
– Cost of deployment to business (43 per cent)
– Lack of clarity from government bodies (48 per cent)
– Lack of measuring ROI (53 per cent)

What causes this disconnect between the sustainability agenda and digital transformation? In an email interview with e27, Felix Berndt, Regional Sales Manager of Asia Pacific at Paessler, explains that the major issue lies in the fact that businesses view sustainability and digital transformation in silos and not as intertwined.

“Organisations 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 the expertise to develop a sustainability framework and work on it, clearly highlighting a disconnect between the engaged sustainability practices and their digital transformation journeys,” he says.

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Berndt further highlights that despite sustainability being one of the top three business priorities for the next three years, it does not even feature as one of the top five challenges for businesses across markets and sectors. He points out that the top reasons businesses adopt a sustainability framework are reputation (45 per cent), adherence to industry standards (36 per cent), and regulatory compliance (24 per cent).

“Similarly, when it comes to digital transformation, organisations are looking to improve efficiency, save costs, and enhance customer experience, amongst others. Hence, at first glance, businesses may find it difficult to understand the direct relationship between the two.”

One might wonder if the pandemic and back-to-back global crises may have a role in this. According to Berndt, while they did accelerate “key shifts in the world economy”, we also have to note that digital transformation is not just the result of the pandemic. It is a general recognition that IT will sustain its fundamental role in driving and enabling significant economic value across every organisation.

“As sustainability takes centre stage, digital transformation can make an essential contribution to sustainable development policies and help showcase the positive impact an organisation can have on the environment in which it functions. Hence there is a clear need for businesses to have a complete coherence between their digital transformation endeavours and their sustainability goals,” he explains.

“After all, the former will support organisations in making sustainable investment decisions as well as developing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data sets in a disciplined manner.”

Bridging sustainability agenda and digital transformation

The good news is that there are steps that businesses can take to bridge between sustainability and digital transformation, and according to Berndt, it begins with an understanding that sustainability and digital transformation can “inherently be mutually beneficial.”

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“On the one hand, the implementation of digital technology further promotes sustainable behaviour by simultaneously improving efficiency and reducing environmental impact and by enabling new products and models that are more sustainable in the long run. On the other hand, implementing a sustainability framework gives organisations a chance to innovate and differentiate themselves, creating new opportunities for digital transformation,” he says.

He adds that one of the many ways organisations can actively bridge this gap is by complementing their IT strategy with a comprehensive IT monitoring structure. ​

Berndt also recognises that as awareness of the importance of sustainability increases amongst business players, they would also need applicable environmental insights to meet their sustainability goals.

“Unfortunately, the current methods tend to be complex, necessitating exhaustive manual labour, personnel with climate and data science skill sets and computing power to fully utilise their data. Nevertheless, digital transformation can enable organisations to stay resilient, adaptive, and profitable in this post-pandemic era,” he says.

“This is where creating a robust infrastructure via digital transformation can help meet sustainability goals. For instance, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered remote monitoring tools can help organisations predict and avert issues while also carrying out condition-based maintenance that is based on operational data and analytics, thus reducing downtime and maintenance costs.”

As for climate tech startups–those who provide solutions for other companies to improve the environmental aspect of their operations–this opens a new opportunity to contribute.

“Whether it is through energy-efficient appliances or sustainable packaging solutions, startups can play an important role in making sustainability more accessible and affordable for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individuals,” Berndt closes.

“By highlighting the economic benefits of sustainability, startups can also help further change overall perspectives on environmentalism, whether it’s through investing in clean energy or other sustainable practices that can save money in the long run.”

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Image Credit: Paessler

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