Only 37 percent of companies in the Benelux countries have a sustainable IT strategy. This is the result of a recent study by Passler AG. 60 percent of IT managers in the Benelux pointed out the importance of environmental awareness on the part of the software supplier performing the monitoring.

According to Paessler AG, Europe is a leader in implementing a sustainable IT strategy to save energy, water and hardware, for example. 42 percent of European companies have sustainable IT strategies, compared to 26 percent in America. More than half of respondents from the Americas say they will not prioritize a sustainable IT strategy in the coming years. The number of organizations working on sustainable IT strategies has increased from 33 percent to 37 percent worldwide this year.

Cloud adoption is a big problem in the Benelux

Cloud adoption is the biggest challenge (41 percent) for the IT sector in the Benelux. 72 percent of the IT infrastructure is not yet integrated into the cloud. However, 61 percent of companies in the Benelux expect to focus more on cloud adoption in the next two years. In addition to the introduction of the cloud, the implementation of operational technology infrastructures (31 percent) and automation and robotization processes (31 percent) are the biggest challenges within the IT industry. In fourth place is robust infrastructure, followed by data storage.

Surprisingly, despite the recent media attention in the top 5 IT administrators in the Benelux, artificial intelligence is not yet a challenge. Although IT managers have major concerns about cloud adoption, actual adoption is still low. Paessler’s research found that only 28 percent of IT infrastructure in the Benelux and 19 percent of global IT infrastructure is stored in the cloud. Data storage in the cloud reduces the carbon footprint on site.

Protection against hackers

The extent of cloud usage varies across the world by industry. For example, 92 percent of organizations in the global public sector store data locally. Although cloud environments meet strict compliance and security requirements for these organizations, many organizations still choose to store data on-premises. The main reason these organizations cite for storing their data locally is that they believe it is the safest way to protect data from hackers.

Cloud adoption across all industries:

• Telecom, technology, internet and electronics industry (24%)
• Financial Services (23%)
• Education (21%)
• Healthcare and Pharma (17%)
• Manufacturing (17%)
• Public Sector (8%)

“IT infrastructures are complex and modernizing them takes time,” says Wilco Ravestein, Country Manager Benelux at Paessler AG. “Although IT managers’ primary focus is on business continuity, it’s important not to overlook processes that enable a more sustainable infrastructure. A well thought-out sustainability strategy is not only future-proof, but can also be more cost-efficient in the long term. Greater use of the cloud can be part of that strategy.”