Today, businesses face an increasing need for advanced technological solutions that not only drive productivity but also address pressing environmental and financial concerns. In this article, I’ll explore how Azure virtual desktop, a desktop and app virtualization service that runs on the cloud, empowers businesses to embrace a greener future while achieving substantial cost savings.
The road to net-zero IT
Ireland’s Climate Action Plan 2023 is driving a 35% reduction in emissions by 2030 with the expectation that all companies large or small expected to play their part towards achieving this goal. If you are considering taking your company on the journey to net-zero your Enterprise Technology stack is a key area you will need to address.
According to a recent McKinsey report (The green IT revolution: A blueprint for CIOs), enterprise technology accounts for about 1% of total global Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, emitting around 350 to 400 megatons of CO2 equivalent gases annually. For certain sectors, this could represent up to 45% of their Scope 2 GHG emissions, which refers to indirect emissions from purchased electricity, heat, or steam.
The report identifies end-user devices, such as laptops and smartphones, as a primary source of these emissions, emitting 1.5 to 2 times more carbon globally than data centres. A key reason for this is the high number of end-user devices compared to servers in on-premises data centres and their shorter life cycles. To tackle this issue, the report suggests that up to 60% of these emissions could be mitigated through changes in sourcing, primarily by procuring fewer devices per person and promoting recycling.
One effective way to achieve this is by adopting Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD), which allows companies to deliver virtual desktops and apps to less demanding hardware and to offer BYOD in a secure manner.
In addition to this hosting virtual desktop infrastructure in the cloud rather than on-premises can further reduce your carbon footprint. Microsoft’s Azure Datacentres in the EMEA have an average Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) – a measure of data centre energy efficiency – of 1.185, compared to the 1.57 average PUE of a private on-premises data centre. Using AVD in Azure Public Cloud can therefore increase your data centre efficiency usage by almost 25% with all the additional benefits leveraging a hyperscale cloud service like Azure can bring to your business.
Making green tech cost-effective
Adopting AVD doesn’t just make environmental sense, it is also a way to manage your End User Compute operation costs. AVD offers several cost-control features. For predictable workloads, you could consider three-year Azure Reserved Instances to fix your costs at a discount for a set period, scheduled auto scale plans to turn off un-used compute outside of business hours.
For more complex requirements this might not be enough. To enhance AVD capabilities in optimising and scaling workloads, Ergo partners with Nerdio. Nerdio Manager for Enterprise can automate scaling and shut down processes, offer enhanced monitoring and management capabilities, and provide additional significant cost savings on top of native cost saving features.
Nerdio Manager for Enterprise enhances these cost-saving measures by providing dynamic scaling, automated host shutdowns during periods of inactivity, and robust management capabilities. The real-time data utilized by the tooling aids in “right-sizing” your environment for additional saving potential of 50-70%.
Migrating to AVD enables companies to join the fight against climate change while lowering costs. As the push for net-zero intensifies, innovative solutions like these will be pivotal for businesses Together with Nerdio, Ergo can support your transition and ensure your technology stack is cost-effective, flexible, and eco-friendly. Reach out today to make your contribution to a greener future.
