CIOs Explore Sustainability Strategies: 7 Logicalis Research Findings to Know

How are chief information officers (CIOs) navigating potential sustainability opportunities and challenges? New CIO research from Logicalis, a global technology service provider, provides some potential answers and context.

The Logicalis survey, involving more than 1,000 CIOs worldwide, revealed:

1. 92% of CIOs are investing in sustainability initiatives or technologies this year.
2. 96% of tech leaders said they are already involved in their company’s overall sustainability planning and target setting.
3. 93% said they believe IT is core to successfully delivering on their organization's environmental objectives.
4. 90% said they assess the sustainability credentials of new suppliers before working with them.
5. 93% see challenges in attaining their environmental goals,
6. 43% say collecting data distributed across the organization is a challenge.
7. A similar number are not completely confident that their organization knows how its digital estate is performing against environmental goals.

The research, performed by Vanson Bourne on behalf of Logicalis in late 2023, interviewed 1,000 business and IT professionals across EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), APAC (Asia Pacific), United States and South America. Respondents with over 250 employees with involvement in digital transformation and cloud computing within their organizations were interviewed.

Logicalis: Executive Perspectives on Sustainable IT Services

In a prepared statement about the survey findings, Logicalis CEO Bob Bailkoski said; “Investing in sustainability is not only the right thing to do, it's a commercial imperative for business. We know that a reduction in carbon and energy consumption also means lower costs, and with regulations on carbon reporting becoming more stringent, prioritising sustainability now will serve CIOs well later. We’re working very closely with our partners to ensure there is carbon accountability on our part in the outcomes we deliver through technology and, through visibility tools like our Digital Fabric Platform, we’re empowering customers themselves to better manage the carbon performance of their IT estate.” 

Added Logicalis Chief Technology Officer Toby Alcock: “CIOs globally continue to face pressure when it comes to prioritising innovation, balancing costs and decreasing carbon output but these priorities don’t have to compete. With access to good data, CIOs should be able to see where to find short and long-term gains, both environmentally and financially. What’s more, they are well-positioned to attract new customers who are looking to allocate their business to more sustainable suppliers. The fact that IT is now involved in sustainability at a strategic level should ensure that any initiatives have the right infrastructure and support to succeed.” 

MSPs and Sustainable IT Services: Logicalis Business Strategy

Logicalis has more than 7,000 employees and 10,000 customers worldwide. The IT service provider generated roughly $1.7 billion in revenue during fiscal year 2021. The company is a division of Datatec -- an international provider of ICT (information and communication technology) solutions and services.

Logicalis has invested heavily in sustainable IT services for customers worldwide. The MSP's Managed Digital Fabric platform extends multiple sustainable IT services for customers. The lineup, according to Logicalis, includes:

• Power consumption monitoring and reporting: Logicalis helps clients keep a close eye on the power consumed by their devices.
• Equipment refresh: Outdated equipment is replaced with more energy-efficient alternatives, contributing to overall power savings.
• Responsible e-waste recycling: Logicalis provides responsible e-waste recycling options for its customers.

Armed with those services, Logicalis emerged as Cisco's first Sustainability Partner of the Year in 2023. Moreover, Logicalis in March 2024 became first partner globally to achieve Cisco’s Sustainable Campus Access add-on specialization, the companies said.

Still, we don't know how much monthly recurring revenue (MRR) and EBITDA margin Logicalis generates from sustainability. We also don't know if or how the sustainable IT services help to improve customer retention.

MSPs, Channel Partners and Sustainable IT Solutions: More Research

In many ways, Logicalis is ahead of the sustainable IT services curve at a time when many MSP partners remain laggards - -particularly in the united states.

Indeed, 55% of North America partners and 48% of Latin America partners are not yet tracking sustainability KPIs (key performance indicators), compared to 29% in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) and 34% in APAC (Asia-Pacific), Canalys reported in 2023.

Still, CIOs may increasingly pressure MSP partners to offer green IT services.

Among the anecdotal proof points:

• Environmental sustainability is now a Top 10 business priority for CEOs, according to Gartner.
• Roughly 50% of organizations will leverage sustainability monitoring technology to manage hybrid cloud energy consumption by 2026, Gartner predicts.
• By 2025, 50% of CIOs will have specific performance metrics tied to energy consumption, according to Gartner.
• By 2026, 75% of organizations will increase their business engagement with IT vendors that have clear sustainability goals. Those same CIOs will seek to replace vendors that don't have sustainability goals, according to Gartner.
• By 2027, 75% of organizations will have implemented a data center infrastructure sustainability program, up from less than 5% in 2022, Gartner predicted.

Amid those data points, roughly 50% of partners worldwide said that they expect to generate revenue from sustainability solutions in 2024 – up three percentage points from 47% in 2023, according to research firm Canalys.