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Chapter 1

Foreword: Intelligent and modern IT leading the way into a sustainable future

The world we live in is changing and finds itself in a phase of upheaval. While new developments such as industrialization or powerful computers and efficient IT systems have initially favoured progress in our everyday private and professional lives, society must now face up to the task of preserving those benefits – all whilst minimizing their impact on our environment. The biggest challenge our generation has to tackle is to achieve carbon dioxide neutrality. And thus, the ultimate goal of this challenge is to save our planet.

Emphasized by the efforts of regulators, it becomes clear how relevant the topics of sustainability and environmental protection are. The European Climate Pact outlines in detailed steps how the European Union aims to have reduced net greenhouse gas emissions by 55 percent in 2030 compared to the year 1990. An economic area of this size and relevance taking on such a monumental task does not only demonstrate the importance for humanity to achieve corresponding climate goals. It is every company’s and every responsible person’s obligation to act at least as resolutely and purposefully at the same time.

The EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) emphasizes the fact that politics takes responsibility regarding a sustainable future as well. The purpose of this directive is to ensure that all companies in the EU are upfront about their sustainability efforts at the corporate level. In this way, investors, customers and other stakeholders will be able to identify companies that excel in these areas – and contribute to a better future. Many companies are already familiar with this practice from the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) which focuses on high social standards and anti-corruption guidelines. The CSRD will apply from the 2023 financial year – and the first regulatory framework conditions can be expected as early as October 2022. It is therefore clear that the pressure on companies, managers and decision-makers to act is growing – and will continue to increase in the future.

The key point is: Now is the time to act! Empty promises will get companies nowhere and will only lead to delaying the inevitable. Companies need to develop their strategy for a sustainable future sooner rather than later in order to maintain their competitive edge.

This is especially important against the background of IT systems and the use of data. Parallel to that, more companies of all sizes are using sophisticated IT infrastructures and landscapes. Therefore, decision-makers and those responsible are facing the mammoth task of building a sustainable and modern digital environment for their companies. Of course, this cannot be mastered by just rhetorical phrases. It is time to approach the issue with a hands-on mentality and clear deadlines to see significant progress being achieved as quickly as possible.

The topic of sustainability is so broad and difficult to tackle, you would rather focus on digitizing your business first, you think?

According to a current whitepaper authored by Microsoft, the discrepancy between digitization and sustainability is much smaller than one might think at first glance. A smooth and well-planned cloud migration can already achieve added value for the entire company, while at the same time, it can contribute enormously to the sustainable corporate design. Additionally, the storage solution influences the sustainability aspect even further: It makes a huge difference if distributed data centers are used as data storage and data processing takes place at different locations, where files are sent from one place to another by mail or if all IT processes are stored, processed, and made available centrally in the cloud.

We at Devoteam follow our mission to use our expertise and knowledge to help shape the future in a sustainable way for both our customers and all future generations.

On the following pages, we have compiled a guideline of how we can support you, your employees, and your corporate IT in driving the digital transformation throughout your entire company in a sustainable way. Our goal is to ensure that your company remains competitive and that you can enter a sustainable future from the earliest possible stage.