Consulting Software & IT Services

Software & IT Service

The Software & Information Technology (IT) Services industry offers products and services globally to retail, business, and government customers, and includes companies involved in the development and sales of applications software, infrastructure software, and middleware. The industry is generally competitive, but with dominant players in some segments. While relatively immature, the industry is characterized by high-growth companies that place a heavy emphasis on innovation and depend on human and intellectual capital. The industry also includes IT services companies delivering specialized IT functions, such as consulting and outsourced services. New industry business models include cloud computing, software as a service, virtualization, machine-to-machine communication, big data analysis, and machine learning. Additionally, brand value is key for companies in the industry to scale and achieve network effects, whereby wide adoption of a particular software product leads to self-perpetuating growth in sales.

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Source: SASB

Consulting firms are prioritizing Sustainability as climate change gets worse and businesses take more accountability for reducing their environmental impact, it is especially important for consulting firms to operate sustainably and be able to help their clients become more ecologically and socially conscious and implement sustainable initiatives. Key initiatives concern:

• Make headquarters and offices eco-friendly as office buildings are one of the biggest contributors to consulting firms' environmental emissions;
• Reduce travelling commuting into offices or to client sites as it generates large amounts of fossil fuels and GHGs;
• Invest in IT infrastructure and workplace services ("sustainable IT") and prioritize tech investments based on an overall enterprise strategy.

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Industy Characteristics

• By 2025, 50% of CIOs will have performance metrics tied to the sustainability of the IT organization. Source: Computer world

Sustainability Impact

• Information technology (IT) is a significant end user of energy, consuming over 10% of commercial electricity. 0.37GtCO2e of IT GHG emissions are attributed to end user computing (EUC) devices, such as desktop computers and notebooks. Source: Science Direct
• Computers, data centers, and networks account for roughly 10% of all electricity consumed worldwide, and this consumption is expected to increase dramatically over the next few decades as software programs become more and more interwoven with our lives and way of life. Source: Digital Power Group
• Data centers now account for over 1% of all the electricity consumed worldwide, and this will likely continue growing in the years to come as data becomes increasingly cloud-based. Source: Green Business Bureau

Sustainability Investments to watch

• The use of green IT services is anticipated to grow in the IT and telecom industry as the number of start-ups and companies is increasing rapidly. Information technology and the telecom industry are among the foremost sectors utilizing green IT services in the recent past. Source: Mordor Intelligence
• Since there is a considerable presence of users on social media platforms, internet traffic has significantly increased. Storage and cloud space must be updated by installing powerful high-capacity servers to replace old, outdated ones. Green IT services come into the role by utilizing the same old disposing of computers products and using them in an environmentally friendly manner. Source: Mordor Intelligence
• The changes will not only alter the competitive landscape but also exert evermore powerful effects on society: reshaping markets, boosting productivity, spurring economic growth, and enhancing lives and livelihoods. Source: McKinsey

• Computer programming, consultancy and related activities
• Data-driven solutions for GHG emissions reductions