AWS and other cloud providers are pushing for carbon footprint reporting and related services, but anyone who has spent a bit of time working on those topics knows there is still a long way to go. In the meantime, Managed Services Providers (MSPs) can help you make a leap in sustainability by maximizing operational efficiency.
Using less to achieve sustainability
During AWS re:Invent 2022 in Las Vegas, I attended a few sessions on sustainability in the cloud. One of the things that stood out to me and has kept my mind occupied since is the question: “Are we taking the right course of action?” It’s clear that there is still a lot of work to do to make the cloud more energy sustainable.
The angle I don’t see tackled as much in the meantime shifting to a focus on efficiency. While people are warming up to pushing for high levels of resource efficiency through FinOps and GreenOps principles, there is also a case to be made to push for operational efficiency. I firmly believe that “use less” is key to achieving sustainability in various aspects.
Operating at scale
One of the big issues I still see in the IT landscape today is that a lot of organizations try to do everything in-house, which often leads to a lot of legacy set-ups, architecture lock- ins and technical debt. Compare it to doing Christmas shopping. Take a street with 10 cars. These 10 cars all drive off to various stores, on multiple trips, maybe coming back without finding the gifts they need. That’s a lot of emissions for maybe a handful of gifts. Now, imagine these 10 households all do their shopping online and let package delivery services handle the door-to-door process. One delivery van might deliver the same amount of gifts to that street and then some. It’s all a matter of consolidating tasks and handling them in an efficient way.
It’s not impossible to do cloud operations internally in an efficient way, but it requires a level of investment and dedication that is doesn’t always align with budgets, goals and bottom lines. Managed services providers strive for operational excellence and operational efficiency. We make sure that whatever we manage is kept in line with business needs in an efficient way. Like a delivery van, we consolidate knowledge and expertise and dedicate resources to carry out cloud operations 24/7, which we can do because we operate at scale. That scale also allows us to rapidly gain experience and continuously improve. We improve the operational efficiency of your cloud environment, which leads to achieving more with less.
Want to know more about how we can drive sustainability through maximum efficiency? Reach out to us!
