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Sustainability ICT
Sustainability in the ICT sector requires balance
Sustainability in ICT requires a critical view: opportunities and footprint go hand in hand.
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Opportunities and footprint
ICT offers countless opportunities for more sustainable working, such as working from home, online meetings, and process automation. At the same time, technology itself has a significant ecological footprint. Consider the energy consumption of data centers and the production of hardware such as laptops, routers, and switches.
What does SBA do?
What does SBA do?
At SBA, we take sustainability seriously. We utilize data centers that actively pursue environmentally friendly solutions, such as 100% wind energy and innovative climate control. We also collaborate with suppliers who have integrated sustainability into their business practices. Hardware returned to us gets a second life: we recycle where necessary or donate equipment to organizations that can put it to good use, from local initiatives to companies with limited resources.
Data centers and sustainability
Data centers are a key component of many infrastructures – the beating heart of the digital world. They ensure data is always available, but they also consume a lot of energy. Globally, data centers account for approximately 1% of total energy consumption, and in the Netherlands, that percentage is considerably higher. Therefore, it’s crucial that these centers become more sustainable. Fortunately, a growing number of data centers run on 100% renewable energy, utilize innovative climate control systems, and strive for a low PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness), a measure of energy efficiency. By consciously choosing these types of sustainable solutions, organizations reduce their ecological footprint.
A little better every day
Fortunately, as a user, you can do a lot to reduce that impact. Think, for example, of (old) files, duplicate photos, and overflowing mailboxes. Everything you save is stored somewhere. That takes energy. By regularly cleaning up, you prevent unnecessary strain on data centers. Also, use AI tools like ChatGPT consciously. They’re convenient, but they consume a lot of energy. A single prompt can use more power than making a cup of coffee. And if you need a new device, consider a refurbished model. Small, smart choices like this can make a big difference for the environment.
Ambassadors ‘Paperless Office’
At SBA, we’ve consciously opted for a digital work environment. Everything we do is paperless, from notes and reports to our communication. Not only because it is our field, but also because every printout costs raw materials and energy and ends up as waste. For example, a single A4 sheet of paper requires an average of 10 liters of water, and the paper industry is responsible for approximately 4% of total global energy consumption. By critically examining what you print, or better yet, not printing at all, you contribute to less waste and a more sustainable way of working.
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Quality is paramount to us
For us quality means three things at once: meeting the requirements and expectations of our customers, living up to our own professional standards, and working to established norms and guidelines. That last one is audited every year by an independent party, DNV. Not because a logo looks good, but because it forces us to keep our own agreements on the days when it is busy.
- ISO 9001 — quality management
- Our processes are written down and measured: how a report comes in, who picks it up, what was agreed and what was done. That is why you get the same way of working from us, even when someone else is at the controls.
- ISO/IEC 27001 — information security
- Access, authorisations, logging, backups and incident handling are set up to the standard and audited periodically. On information security and privacy we are deliberately not flexible: there we follow the norm.
- NEN 7510 — care and sensitive data
- The additional Dutch standard for organizations working with health data. If you work in or for healthcare, you do not have to take our way of working on trust: it has been audited.
The certificates are one click away: ISO 9001, ISO/IEC 27001 and NEN 7510 (pdf). If you want to check our margin on hardware, you may have an audit carried out once a year at your own expense.