Sustainability is a critical topic for technology vendors and their partners in 2021. The impact of the pandemic, climate change and increasing environmental awareness means every organization needs to consider its actions. Investors are increasingly looking at whether organizations have sustainable business practices.

Canalys has seen significant interest from channel partners as to how they can become more sustainable and how they compare to their peers. Recent Canalys quick polls highlight the opportunities and challenges that exist. They found just 23% of partners have developed solutions to help customers manage energy consumption, while just over a third of partners say environmental sustainability is influencing their customers IT investments. 40% of channel partners state they do offer recycling and take-back services (either directly or via a third party), but there remains a significant number who are yet to embark on any activity at all.

Vendors are assessing how they can support their partners to develop sustainability strategies. They are increasingly focused on measuring the impact of their actions and reporting back to their stakeholders. HP’s Amplify Impact program is industry-leading in terms of driving partners to participate and review their sustainability strategies and objectives.

The opportunities for partners that do embark on developing sustainability strategies are immense. They are increasingly opening up opportunities in RFPs which specifically ask what their actions are (increasingly prevalent in local government RFPs), they open up new business opportunities, they are more attractive to new recruits who want to work for ethical and responsible employers, and they are seen as leaders in their communities and become more attractive for merger and acquisition.

Sustainability covers many different elements and knowing where to start can be a daunting prospect. To that end, Canalys has launched our own Sustainability Assessment tool. Channel partners can take the short (36 questions) free of charge assessment covering environmental, social and governance topics. Once completed partners receive a personalized report showing:

• how they have scored
• how they compare to peers
• recommendations as to how to develop and enhance sustainability strategies.

See how your organization compares today by taking the complimentary assessment now!