Green credentials sway choice of cloud provider, survey finds

More companies are making the environment a deciding reason for selecting cloud providers, according to a new survey.

A study of 232 respondents from UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil, among others found that customers are focusing on sustainability as part of the selection process for cloud service providers.

The research, carried out by hosting company Rackspace discovered that sustainability gives a service provider an edge over another regardless if two choices are equal or not, according to 74 per cent of respondents.

The study found disparities between international companies and US-based ones when focusing on green issues. Face with the choice between two unequal providers, international companies would choose the sustainable option 60 per cent more than US-based ones.

When it comes to influencing purchasing decisions, 72 per cent of the US respondents said they believe sustainability is important in selecting a service provider as well as influencing a purchasing decision. In the rest of the world, 91 per cent, build sustainability into their purchasing decisions on either a periodic or standard basis. Countries outside the US seemed to put a greater emphasis on weighting sustainability as part of purchasing decisions, according to the survey findings.

Rackspace provided survey respondents with four definitions of sustainability; environmental stewardship, economic prosperity, social responsibility and all of the above. . A majority of customers, 53 per cent, agree with the holistic definition of sustainability balancing the needs of environmental stewardship, economic prosperity and social responsibility.

This followed closely by those who view sustainability primarily as environmental stewardship (16 per cent), economic prosperity (16 per cent) or social responsibility (11 per cent). Almost all customers (96 per cent) identified with the definitions provided and only four per cent had a negative response toward sustainability.

“Looking at this year’s results, we are seeing a clear correlation between service provider selection including a sustainability factor and the weight sustainability has in the purchasing decision,” said Melissa Gray, Rackspace director of sustainability.

“We see sustainability expanding from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘need to have,’ as companies understand that selecting solid partners as part of their supply chain translates into lower risk, more efficiency and more reward.”