Earth Calling: Befriend The Climate With Cloud Communications

We have one earth and one chance to do it right. 

Undeniably, nature gave us resources aplenty to sustain life. But with rampant misuse and destruction of our home planet, where do we see ourselves in the next fifty years?

Needless to say, it’s time to take action. Climate activism is the talk of the town, especially among the younger generations. People realise that our current practices are not viable to secure a healthy future. As traditional practices are failing the environment, it’s time to take a look at healthy solutions like cloud communications. 

Consumers are very smart and conscious these days. Just as they’ve uncovered the ugly truth of fast fashion—the second-largest water polluting industry—it’s not long before they dig into climate policies in other sectors as well. 

They want environment-friendly economies, and they want them now. So what do you need to do?

The name of the game is sustainability. 

What is sustainable development?

We need to meet human development goals without depleting natural resources. Essentially, attend to present needs without compromising on the future requirements.

This includes keeping a check on CO2 emissions, reducing carbon footprint and global warming, and using resources judiciously.

As companies and factories continue to mass-produce, they deploy heavy hardware at the workplace, which increases their carbon emission. But there is a way to reduce this by cutting down the need for physical hardware at offices. 

With the help of cloud communication, a ‘no-hardware office’ can be set-up.

A lot of firms have already made strides in their efforts to curtail harmful practices. In fact, Google just made an incredible pledge for the climate. In September 2020, CEO Sundar Pichai stated that the firm plans to run operations totally carbon-free by the year 2030. 

Additionally, Google —via its carbon-neutral policy (circa 2007) and purchase of carbon offsets—managed to cancel out all CO2 emissions made by the company since its founding in 1998. 

Other major companies like Facebook, Apple, and Netflix have made pledges to bring down their carbon emissions by 2030 as well.

All the cool kids are doing it, so why not you?

Well, yes, they’re big companies with large emissions, but they also have huge resources to help them achieve their goals. However, you need not be left behind. 

Cloud communications are set to reduce your carbon footprint and boost energy efficiency significantly. With Internet-based phoning solutions, voice broadcasting, data storage, SMS solutions, etc., not only do you save costs and widen your reach, you’re able to do it all sustainably. 

You can check out your greenhouse emissions using Microsoft Azure’s sustainability calculator tool. With this information, you’ll be better equipped to prepare a green strategy for your business model. 

Let’s take a look at how cloud solutions help you run an environment-friendly business. 

• Bring down your carbon footprint

As a business leader, you want to leave a mark on the world. But as responsible citizens, we need to ensure we leave the smallest possible dent on the earth. 

Carbon footprint refers to the level of greenhouse gas emissions made. The more gases released, the hotter our atmosphere becomes. Therefore, firms need to minimise their harmful practices and invest their time in greener practices.

With the rise of IoT (Internet of Things), data-users have grown exponentially over the years. However, this doesn’t have to result in an equally high CO2 discharge—if users switch to the cloud. 

It’s been found that cloud operations can reduce carbon emissions by 90% for startups, 60-90% for mid-sized firms and 30-60% for large enterprises. 

Needless to say, large data centers use massive amounts of resources. Through a process called dematerialisation, you can convert your high carbon physical resources into virtual ones! 

By shifting to a non-physical server, many people are able to connect on one network—even from far apart. With the right business practices, you can boast of environment-friendly operations with high productivity as well.

• Use less electricity, get more output

At home, we like to follow conservation practices like switching off devices when not in use or switching to energy-saving appliances to do our bit for the environment. However, huge office spaces are much harder to keep track of. 

Nonetheless, since less equipment and storage space is required in a cloud-powered office, you save up on exorbitantly high electricity bills right off.

There’s no energy being wasted on powering rooms and buildings full of heavy machinery when everything is virtual. Moreover, with smart automation taking over mundane tasks, you’ll need less space and workstations to achieve the same level of productivity. So you won’t have to power too many desk systems, and people can simply work on the go. 

• Low hardware refresh rate

Those who stick to sustainable lifestyles would shudder at the ‘buy once, use twice’ school of thought. In fact, the three R’s we learnt in school have now expanded to include “reuse” as the first step. 

But how do you reuse bulky hardware that’s become miserably outdated? 

The good news is: you don’t have to. 

If you opt for cloud solutions, you don’t have to keep up with a high hardware refresh rate. Instead, you can update and maintain your cloud infrastructure with the latest advancements in technology—at a truly low cost.

This means you don’t have to keep using outdated equipment for long periods of time and can enjoy high-speed updates at the same time.

An added advantage is that new technologies come with better energy-saving features, which further boost your climate conservation efforts. And these updates are implemented by your VoIP provider, so you don’t have to hire an IT team either.

• Renewable and clean energy sources

One part of the green equation is to reduce the energy requirement and increase efficiency. However, the other (and equally important) part is ensuring that the energy you do use is clean.

Renewable energy has been on the rise for a few years now, but it needs more attention as a viable alternative to fossil fuels. 

You can power cloud solutions with clean energy sources. It’s much easier to implement this in a cloud-based office than a traditional office with heavy equipment that has extremely high energy consumption. 

• A wireless and paperless office

It’s not only heavy machinery that gets ditched if you move to the cloud. With virtual operations, a lot of regular office supplies are cut down as well.

So you no longer need to print out multiple copies of every document, nor do you need to save files on CDs or hard drives. All your data can be safely stored on the cloud. Moreover, you also get multiple backups to ensure that you never lose crucial information. This helps reduce plastic use and limit deforestation for paper supply needs. 

Since many coworkers can work on the same document simultaneously, there’s no need to water resources on transferring information in these preliminary stages. With lesser paper, you also have lower requirements for folders, storage, etc. 

Looking ahead

No matter how we dealt with climate issues in the past, the need of the hour is to look ahead and create a sustainably growing economy. Not just to appease environmentally conscious citizens, but also to leave a better world for our future generations.

In this effort, cloud technology has emerged as the frontrunner. It allows you to meet global business growth levels while taking measures to protect the planet. 

The cloud will dominate the future and serve as the major mode of business in a world with scarce resources. Therefore, it’s important to stay ahead of the curve and establish climate-friendly operations right away. 

There’s no point in delaying, is there? Contact our experts at 1888-859-0450 or [email protected] to clear all your doubts about migrating to the cloud. We’ll set you up in no time, and you can count on our 24/7 support with dedicated agents. 

Diksha Gusain

Diksha is a junior content writer at Acefone. As a tech-lover, she aims to bridge the gap between tech articles and non-savvy readers. She’s equally interested in pop culture and worldly affairs. And in her free time, you can find her with her nose buried in a book or discovering new music for her chaotically diverse playlist.