Why You Need to Make Your Business More Sustainable Post-Pandemic?

The promise of sustainability is a liveable future wherein the continuity of production and progress is ensured. And whether the sustainability movement will succeed depends a great deal on our ability to meet our own needs without harming or endangering the needs of future generations.

Due to their collective impact on the environment and world economy, businesses are increasingly held responsible for setting and realizing sustainability goals across operations. And with the disruptions brought about by the pandemic, sustainability concerns found more ground among industry executives.

That's why we're going to discuss the benefits of transitioning your business into a more sustainable working environment.

So if you’re ready, let’s first answer the questions, what is sustainability, and what is sustainable?

Introduction of the Concept of Sustainability into Our Lives

The term sustainability was first coined in the 1987 report of the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, titled "Our Common Future".

Our Common Future warns us about and provides solutions to the fundamental problems arising from globalization, increasing rate of industrialization and the immense boom in global population.

The report defines sustainability as: “Humanity; It has the ability to make development sustainable by meeting daily needs without compromising the ability of nature to respond to the needs of future generations.”

Around the time when this report was published, the ozone depletion was raising concerns among the public for the first time. This has accelerated the adoption of the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development.

At the point we have reached today, there is a general consensus on the idea that the world's resources are racing to the limit of depletion as a result of human activity. And the view that only collective sustainability efforts will allow the regeneration of nature’s resources is common.

Three Pillars of Sustainability

Although sustainability immediately brings environmental measures to mind, it’s a holistic approach to human life that has economic, ecological and social dimensions.

It has three important pillars: environmental protection, economic growth, and social development. The idea is to find the balance between all three that would proceed human progress without harming the environment.

Environmental Protection

As one of the basic principles of the concept of sustainability, it focuses on the fact that the resources in the environment and nature are exhaustible, and therefore it focuses on using these resources more economically. It focuses on protecting the integrity of ecosystems.

Economic Growth

Sustainability focuses on providing economic freedom and greatness to create better societies without harming the environment. As the consumption of goods and products increases, it is planned to increase the level of welfare.

Social Development

Sustainability supports social life by focusing on achieving an appropriate level of health, life, and education quality for all societies. It is ensured that human relations are strengthened and people reach their social goals.

When all these factors are in harmony together, the potential to meet human wants and needs increases. Also, according to the sustainable development articles, society should strive to increase welfare over time.

Why Is Sustainability Important?

With the industrial revolution, the increase in the energy need of the rapidly growing industry has led to the depletion of non-renewable natural resources such as oil and coal.

The fact that the industry is fast-paced and consumption oriented has led to the rapid addition of new harmful factors to the environmental degradation. Serial industrialization and factors such as modern urbanization and rapid population growth as a result of this have caused ecological pollution and a decrease in biodiversity. In addition, it has led the problems such as soil loss and desertification to reach even more concerning levels.

All living things are parts of an ecosystem in which they interact with each other and with other inanimate objects. All parts of an ecosystem are intricately interconnected. Therefore, if one part of the ecosystem is damaged, related consequences will occur in other parts as well.

This destructive effect of humans on the environment has outweighed the  environment's self-healing capacity, and at this point, the need to take action without disturbing the balance of the ecosystem has emerged.

For all these reasons, first of all, all businesses, together with industrial companies that cause the most important negative impact on the ecosystem, should adopt a sustainable approach and set some measures to reduce carbon footprint and produce more durable products.

Sustainability can only be achieved by integrating with an executive plan, in which company interests are not confronted with social benefits when viewed from the business side, and that not only financial improvement but also social and environmental issues are included in management issues.

Sustainability is one of the top agendas of companies and investors. It is no longer enough for companies to achieve financial success only with their services and sales. People of today expect companies to be sensitive to the ecological balance and make decisions that will not harm human life.

Today, unfortunately, global warming, he decrease in biodiversity, more consumption and pollution of resources, rapidly increasing population, and environmental problems force humanity to seek a new system or to find developments that will reduce the increase of these problems and solve problems.

Therefore, companies not only have to develop their own financial budgets but also have to think about the social and environmental side of the business. For all these reasons, companies consider in-house sustainability approaches by considering economic, social, and environmental sustainability as a whole

About corporate sustainability

Corporate sustainability is the long-term management of company operations wherein economic, environmental, and social measures are deeply rooted in corporate strategy and execution.

We can say that the times when companies acted only with the need to make a profit are over. It has already started to be among the responsibilities of companies that the social and ecological interests match each other while profit is being made, and that they do not engage in activities that will receive the reaction of individuals.

Source: Euromonitor International, Voice of the Industry: Sustainability 2020 Survey (June, 2020)

What sustainability provides to companies

• Decreased budget and costs in the long run,
• Being eligible for funds,
• Stronger brand image,
• Operating a long-term strategic plan

The fact that companies pay attention to environmental sustainability in the branding efforts will create a more trustable image in the eyes of their customers and prospective buyers.

How can companies reduce their costs?

Companies have to invest tons of money in data storage centers and their maintenance and security expenses to store data that is vital to their business and operations. But sustainability also means digital transformation for companies.

In this context, companies that leverage cloud storage systems can drastically reduce their costs. Not only will they be content with this, but they will also be able to contribute to a sustainable environment by taking advantage of other benefits provided by cloud storage systems. And for an example?

It is as simple as reducing paper usage in the office by digitizing documents!

In order for companies to maintain their sustainability, they need to back up their important and sensitive data and ensure the security of this data. If these conditions are not met, the data loss they will experience will cause serious problems for companies. Data loss is a serious problem that can even lead a company to bankruptcy. The most challenging situation for companies is to bring back lost data. It is of great importance to take precautions against data loss, which may occur in different ways, before the negative effects.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we are all in the same boat when it comes to sustainability. For this reason, as individuals, societies, institutions, and organizations, we are all obliged to do our best, but we have to protect the environment. If you think that you have not taken a step in this regard yet, you can switch to using a secure cloud storage system for the sustainability of your company as the simplest step. You can be sure that your company uses recyclable materials and you can start to separate waste.