Sustainability is no longer optional for companies but a crucial factor in survival and success. The benefits of incorporating sustainable practices go beyond the obvious environmental advantages. Sustainability delivers competitive advantages, like cost savings, better resource conservation, talent retention, and greater customer loyalty. But many companies find it challenging to implement sustainable practices due to limited knowledge and capacity.
As the EU aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to at least 55% below 1990 levels by 2030 and countries introduce more laws and regulations to improve sustainability in the business sector, sustainability is increasingly important for companies. Moreover, younger generations value sustainability when job seeking; 76% of millennials consider a company’s social and environmental commitments before deciding where to work. For businesses, the message is that green programs can lead to higher employee engagement and retention rates. And on the consumer side, 66% of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products and services from companies committed to reducing their carbon footprint.
At T-Systems, we recognize the importance of sustainability and the legal and ethical implications for businesses. That’s why I have worked on the ‘Green it!’ sustainability application for the Chief Tomorrow Officer program to help companies reduce the environmental impact of running their office buildings.
Conserving the earth’s resources is a crucial aspect that companies must address. However, the journey can be challenging, especially for small and medium-sized companies. The challenges increase further when focusing on office buildings to help meet green goals. We see numerous difficulties when implementing sustainable practices, from outdated infrastructure to limited capacity, expertise, or resistance to change.
The lack of knowledge and awareness of the latest sustainable technologies and methods is a significant barrier to implementing sustainable practices. Another major challenge is limited budgets and resources to invest in sustainable technology and activities. Furthermore, growing environmental regulations means that companies must accelerate their efforts to keep up with the times.
Green building is not about buildings – it’s about people.
Sandy Wiggins, Green builder
In this context, an application that can help make office buildings greener could be a game-changer, especially for small and medium-sized companies, when overcoming the barriers they face in achieving their sustainability goals and reducing their impact on the environment. An app can provide clients with a user-friendly interface, making it easy to understand and navigate the service’s various steps.
The solutions offered to the client can be personalized and customized to their needs, considering the main goals they want to achieve. ‘Green it!’ can also make it easier for companies to track their progress. This is achieved by providing real-time data and analyzing the company’s efforts and actions taken over time, giving the visibility needed to monitor progress and identify areas for improvement.
Imagine a world where companies can become more sustainable easily and quickly. That was my objective when I started developing my project, the ‘Green it!’ app. It aims to accelerate sustainability in office buildings by providing companies with potential improvements in different areas, like light and energy, and water management.
To ensure the app meets each client’s specific needs and requirements, it allows them to explain their main objectives, particular needs, requirements, budgets, and any unique characteristics of their office building that could be relevant for the next steps of the service. This customization feature is important for our target audience of small and medium-sized companies in solving their main concerns and knowing all the potential improvements, even if they have a tight budget or other constraints. The premise is to improve sustainability step by step rather than delaying action because it feels overwhelming.
Real-time data is core to our tailored, future-oriented solutions; the app uses digital twins to create a virtual model of the client’s office building. This technology enables customers to see their current situation and visualize future scenarios. They gain a better understanding of their building regarding costs, energy savings, and the expected results once they have performed changes. Everything is visual and easy.
In the next step of the app, clients can select which aspect they want to improve to receive recommendations for their office, such as light and energy, indoor air quality, or new work. They can also choose all the aspects at once. Based on all the data collected on the building and the client’s main goals, the app will suggest various upgrades they can make to their office building for each selected aspect. So that clients can make informed decisions, they will receive detailed information on why the options are best for their specific office space, their goals, or budgets.
For me, it was vital to reduce the time companies spend deciding what changes they want to perform to get things done quicker. This would help to achieve our goal of accelerating our clients’ sustainability. The premise is to make it easier for companies to be more sustainable instead of creating barriers and making procedures longer than needed. Consequently, I thought including potential providers in the app would be a great option to speed up the process. Once the client chooses the improvements they want to make in their building, they will receive information on the companies that can help them install the solutions and have transparency during the whole process. Through the app, the client will decide on the improvements they want in the office, which the app will automatically save and send to the providers who can perform the installations.
While this project is still in development, I am hopeful that it is a great potential solution for companies to meet their sustainability objectives in an easy, well-informed, and fast way. With ‘Green it!’, companies can make the best decisions to move towards a more sustainable future.
