Another wakeup call from Gartner has arrived for technology partners, channel partners and MSPs that are late to the green IT and sustainability markets.
Indeed, sustainable technology ranks among the Top 10 strategic technology trends for 2024, according to Gartner's annual list of market segments to watch.
According to Gartner's definition: "Sustainable technology is a framework of digital solutions used to enable environmental, social and governance (ESG) outcomes that support long-term ecological balance and human rights. The use of technologies such as AI, cryptocurrency, the Internet of Things and cloud computing is driving concern about the related energy consumption and environmental impacts. This makes it more critical to ensure that the use of IT becomes more efficient, circular and sustainable. In fact, Gartner predicts that by 2027, 25% of CIOs will see their personal compensation linked to their sustainable technology impact."
Leveraging IT to Monitor, Manage and Reduce Energy Consumption and Carbon Emissions
Our own market definition and focus here at Sustainable Tech Partner is slightly different. We don't focus that much on social and governance issues (where sites like ESG News focus). But we do focus heavily on IT's ability to monitor, manage and reduce energy consumption as well as carbon emissions. Much of our focus is driven by our lengthy history building various IT media companies for technology partner ecosystems.
Meanwhile, we see eye-to-eye with Gartner and the IT vendor landscape on several fronts. For starters:
- We certainly agree that CIOs increasingly need sustainable technology partners.
- Similar themes are emerging from Intel (CTOs need to address sustainability), IBM (midsize, large organizations plan to boost IT spending on sustainability) and Cisco (sustainability is a partner differentiator).
- And ultimately, we believe sustainable technology is a top 10 strategic priority for 2024 (and likely beyond).
Still, technology partners -- especially in the United States -- often are sustainability laggards. But there are signs of progress. For instance, 41% of partners say sustainability has frequently influenced their vendor selection process in 2023, up from 23% in 2022, according to Canalys.
Gartner's Top 10 Strategic Priorities for 2024: The Complete List
Meanwhile, we realize CIOs are juggling multiple near- and long-term priorities. Gartner's complete Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends list for 2024 included...
- Democratized Generative AI
- AI Trust, Risk and Security ManagementÂ
- AI-Augmented Development
- Intelligent Applications
- Augmented-Connected Workforce
- Continuous Threat Exposure ManagementÂ
- Machine Customers
- Sustainable Technology
- Platform EngineeringÂ
- Industry Cloud PlatformsÂ
