E -mail industry leader insists on greater consciousness of challenges in the field of digital sustainability
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- Saas sector lags behind others in sustainability awareness and industry
- Digital emissions grow fast and AI accelerates the environmental impact
- EcoSend runs entirely on renewable energy and serverless digital infrastructure responsibility
Sustainability is not a word that most people associate with Saas. In contrast to sectors that are highly dependent on physical infrastructure or global logistics, the software industry often escapes research when it comes to an impact on the environment.
With the carbon costs of digital activity rise, especially in the AI era, that starts to change.
Since the launch just over two years ago, EcoSend, an e -mail marketing platform, is fully executed on renewable energy and serverless infrastructure. I spoke with the James Gill, the founder and CEO of the company, to understand what Saas holds of being really sustainable, and what is needed for industry, not delayed, when building a greener digital future.
What does being sustainable means for an online company like yours? How do you survey/do you check/do you check your sustainability?
With Ecosend, sustainability is not just a fashion word or a side issue. It is baked in our DNA as a company.
Since we launched Ecoend just over two years ago, we have sustained our platform Fully renewable energy and the latest ‘serverless’ technology. Being ‘sustainable’ means that our planet must be the core of every decision we make, and every corner of our product. Historically, Saas companies have avoided the level of control of sustainability to which other industries are exposed.
Companies that are active in hardware, transport, supply chains etc. have started adapting to more sustainable practices as a result of this check. We are convinced that Saas companies should adapt in the same way, to lead us all to a better future, rather than staying behind.
To help us follow our dedication to sustainability, we trust not only on internal processes, but external accreditation and reporting. We are certified by ‘Green Small Business’, as well as members of the Good Business Charter, Pledge 1%and Terra Carta. In addition, we are currently certifying as B Corp.
What are the biggest obstacles that you have encountered during your trip to more environmentally friendly?
One of the biggest challenges with which we are confronted is common for many companies that work in the sustainability space, and that is a lack of consciousness. Few people are aware of the carbon costs of our digital activities, and yet, if ‘the internet’ was a country, it would be the Fourth most polluting nation in the world.
Specifically taking e -mail, more than 360 billion e -mails per day are sent according to Statista research. Every e -mail can be one Carbon costs of a maximum of 26G. Yet few marketers are aware of the environmental impact of their campaigns. Although many of us can understand the impact of cooking a boiler, the impact of digital activities such as sending an e -mail seems harder to wrap your head around.
So the first challenge is to increase consciousness. Always to that challenge is motivating change.
It is one thing for a company to be aware of the environmental impact of their online activity, but to motivate them to migrate their e -mail service provider, data and campaigns is another.
We spend a lot of trouble making migration as easy as possible for companies, to remove the slowness related to changing software. This includes adapted import tools and special onboarding sessions with our support team to facilitate the process for companies that would like to make the switch.
What would be needed in an ideal world to report publishers like us more about ecological references of SaaS providers?
I believe that a starting place would be better aware of the scale of the challenge. Digital emissions are often behind reporting on other high emissions activities, such as air travel. But the ‘invisibility’ of digital emissions may not mask its scale or impact.
With the recent, meteoric rise in AI, the impact of digital emissions will only continue to grow and felt more sharp.
The ‘root’ motivation for SaaS companies to improve their sustainability references will only bring us so far. But increased coverage by publishers in the digital sustainability sector will lead to increased regulations in the ecological references of SaaS companies. This plays an extra ‘stick’ factor in motivating companies to change into better practices and reporting. Both are required to facilitate change.
EcoSend has built sustainability in the core as a USP. How different is the composition of your audience with your colleagues?
We are lucky to collaborate with hundreds of devoted B-corps, charity institutions and targeted organizations, for whom the concepts of sustainability and holistic capitalism are ingrained in their nuclearhos.
Our customers are ambitious and determined to grow profitably, but the most important difference is that this growth is never at the expense of people or the planet.
Whether they are entrepreneurs, SMEs or large companies; We learn so much from our customer’s efforts to help digital sustainability move forward, and we are pleased to support them in their mission.
AI is praised as the solution for the conund of sustainability and the destroyer of forests. What is your opinion about this?
The rise of AI offers both threats and opportunities. The decisive factor will be in how AI is used. Chatgpt is currently estimated 39.98 million kWh per day. That is more than the annual energy consumption of more than 100 countries.
Frivolous Use of AI will only bring us further forward on a path that we should not be on. That said, if we can consciously use AI, we can use it to create a better future. Whether it is about automating complex ESG reports, evaluating the sustainability references of a large supply chain or increasing the efficiency of the Admin tasks of companies; There is room for AI to serve us, instead of contributing to our downfall.
If the use of AI is both limited and aware, I believe it can be a solution for the challenge for sustainability. Unfortunately, the current trends seem to show that the opposite is the case.
Where are you going from here? How do you get even more sustainable?
We are currently certifying as B Corp. The process to apply and maintain the B CORP certification will ensure that our company is held to the high standards of B CORP for ethical and sustainable business practices. Through this application we will keep ourselves publicly responsible to ensure that we ‘walk’ of sustainability, ethics and community on our company, software platform and supply chain.
In addition to our B CORP application, we regularly assess how we can improve our sustainability references. These reviews have encouraged us to play a more active role in our local community by doing volunteer work Food banks And Conservation sites throughout London.
An example of ways we have evolved – we have always sent a gift to our Enterprise customers every Christmas. We switch from sending obstacles to sending donations to Jet – An organization that supports people who experience homelessness in the UK to find stable work and accommodation. We have sponsored so far More than 50 customers through our partnership.
Moreover, we recently have one New Tree-Plants Partner To our ecosystem to improve the monitoring and reporting of where the trees of our customers are being planted.
Although we are proud of what we do, we know that the world needs more – more of us and more of all companies. We are pleased to push ourselves to ever do more to protect our home planet and to inspire others to follow.
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