Service Integration and Management can drive sustainability, here’s how
From Green IT to Decarbonisation Level Agreements, consider this your crash course in how SIAM can help organisations cut climate footprints.
With COP fast approaching, environmental challenges are once again in the spotlight, highlighting the vast and urgent action required. From the impacts of climate change to increasing demands for sustainable business practices, organisations like The Rainforest Trust and International Animal Rescue are doing their best to deliver long-term conservation projects.
However, worldwide, we all need to embrace greener solutions. One area gaining significant attention is Service Integration and Management [SIAM], which can play a pivotal role in helping businesses meet sustainability goals.
As companies prioritise Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR] and Environmental & Social Governance [ESG], integrating sustainability into service management is becoming crucial. SIAM is a method that centralises and manages various service providers to drive real, measurable progress toward sustainability, particularly in the areas of digital IT services, energy consumption, and broader decarbonisation.
Green IT
One area where SIAM can make a significant difference is ‘green IT’. As organisations become increasingly digital, the environmental footprint of IT infrastructure and services cannot be ignored. By integrating green IT practices within a service management ecosystem, SIAM helps optimise energy consumption, reduce waste, and promote the use of sustainable technologies.
Using a SIAM approach, businesses can benefit from specialised sustainability-focused roles, such as green IT managers or sustainability officers, who ensure that sustainability objectives are woven into the day-to-day operations of service integration and delivery. Whether minimising energy use in data centres or reducing e-waste by extending hardware lifecycles, SIAM provides the framework to make green IT a reality.
DLAs
As sustainability becomes a top priority, businesses increasingly incorporate Decarbonisation Level Agreements (DLAs) into their contracts. These agreements set out specific, measurable decarbonisation targets, ensuring that the service providers and the client organisations are accountable for reducing their carbon footprints.
Within the SIAM framework, DLAs can be tracked and managed alongside other service level agreements, offering a clear pathway to meeting environmental targets. The beauty of this approach is that it sets ambitious sustainability goals and makes them tangible and auditable, giving businesses the tools to monitor their progress and hold their partners accountable.
The Role of Decarbonisation Dashboards
One of the most effective tools businesses can use to track their sustainability goals is a Decarbonisation Dashboard. This real-time data visualisation tool provides an overview of an organisation’s carbon reduction efforts, allowing businesses to track, measure, and report on their progress toward sustainability.
Within a SIAM structure, these kind of dashboards can be customised to reflect the specific decarbonisation metrics that matter most to an organisation, such as energy usage, carbon emissions, and waste reduction. These dashboards give businesses the transparency they need to manage sustainability goals effectively, ensuring that progress is visible and actionable at every stage.
Green by Design Guidelines for Service Ecosystems
Another powerful feature embedded in SIAM governance, is its ability to promote ‘Green by Design’ guidelines across service ecosystems. This approach encourages ecosystem service providers and businesses to design services and solutions that are inherently sustainable from the very start of a project or service implementation.
SIAM enables organisations to align their service providers with these green design principles, ensuring that everything from the procurement of materials to the delivery of services meets high environmental standards. By setting these sustainability guidelines across their service ecosystem, businesses can ensure that sustainability is a goal and a core design principle.
Business Benefits of Sustainable Service Management
While the environmental benefits of incorporating sustainability into service management are clear, there are also significant business advantages. Embedding green practices within service management helps businesses:
- Boost Competitiveness – organisations prioritising sustainability are better positioned to meet regulatory requirements and differentiate themselves in a crowded marketplace
- Enhance Employee Satisfaction – as more employees seek purpose-driven work, companies that commit to sustainability can attract and retain top talent.
- Improve Brand Reputation – businesses seen as leaders in sustainability can enhance their brand image and build stronger relationships with customers and stakeholders.
By aligning a SIAM function with sustainability goals, organisations can achieve a competitive edge while contributing to a greener planet.
In an era where sustainability is no longer optional, SIAM offers a comprehensive approach to integrating green practices into provider and service management. From creating green IT roles to establishing decarbonisation agreements and dashboards, SIAM provides businesses with the tools to contribute to global decarbonisation efforts.
The future of service management is green, and SIAM is at the forefront of this transformation — empowering organisations to make sustainable decisions that benefit their business and the environment. By leveraging SIAM, companies can ensure that sustainability is not just a checkbox but a fundamental part of their service delivery strategy.
Paul Drayton is the Cross-Functional Services Lead at Atos and will speak at The Scopism SIAM Service North Conference on 18th November.
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Image: Scott Graham