Digitalisation: the key factor for the sustainability of companies

Today, sustainability is gaining more prominence within companies' business models. This is because it is an increasingly important parameter in consumers' purchasing decisions. In this context, digitalisation is becoming a key tool for companies to make their processes eco-friendlier. This is possible thanks to technological solutions that increase energy efficiency, save costs and improve productivity.

In this regard, according to the Smarter 2030 report by Accenture and GeSI, thanks to the use of ICTs, carbon dioxide emissions will have been reduced by up to 20% by 2030. In fact, both the Spanish Government and the European Union are committed to the use of these technologies to overcome the challenges of climate change and environmental degradation through the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (ODS for its acronym in Spanish) established within the Spain Digital Agenda 2025.

The aim of these objectives is to be able to transform the world from different spheres, such as business, which will play an essential role in achieving the goals set.

Technology as a key factor for sustainability

Technology not only makes day-to-day activities much easier, but also allows us to make more efficient use of all our resources. There is a wide range of technological solutions and tools that allow companies to be more digital and sustainable. We tell you about them below!

IoT as an essential tool for a sustainable enterprise

One of the objectives of companies that want to be more environmentally responsible, especially in the industrial sector, is to achieve energy savings and promote the sustainability of their economic activity. In this case, IoT (enlazar con monográfico de IoT)  can be a solution. This technology allows us to make use of sensors, smart meters and software that improve energy efficiency through automated energy management systems. This is because they can forecast consumption, reduce future outages and optimise the use of resources.

Big data as a business enabler to promote sustainability

Big data plays a key role in overcoming the challenges of climate change. In fact, the application of big data to curb global warming is known as green data. In this sense, the application of this technology is helping to make companies more sustainable through:

• Optimisation of energy and resource management.
• Reducing carbon dioxide emissions in their production processes and also in those produced by vehicle fleets by optimising distribution routes.
• Analysis of energy and water consumption data.

5G technology to drive sustainability

As we have mentioned throughout this post, digitalisation is key to reducing the emissions generated by companies, and 5G also allows us to do so. The deployment of the 5G network allows data to be exchanged at higher speeds and more devices to be connected at the same time, while consuming less electricity.

When talking about sustainability within companies, reference is usually made to the three elements mentioned above: energy savings, water consumption and the amount of CO2 emissions. Measuring, analysing and monitoring these three elements help to define whether a company's activity is eco-friendly or not. To achieve this, 5G makes it possible to connect sensors that send this data constantly and immediately.

In other words, for other technologies such as IoT to work properly, an ultra-fast network deployment such as 5G is necessary. For this reason, this technology is a key tool for meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.