by Shane Henson — May 14, 2012—Service providers with a demonstrated commitment toward sustainability tend to have an edge over those that appear less environmentally friendly or don’t promote themselves as being green, according to Rackspace Hosting’s 2012 Rackspace Green Survey.
Rackspace, an IT (information technology) service company, says that 232 customers from 24 countries responded to its survey, including participants from the United Kingdom, the United States, New Zealand, Australia and Brazil.
The company says its findings point to an increasingly established trend to embrace and include sustainability practices within the purchasing process. When it comes to influencing purchasing decisions, 72% of the U.S. 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% build sustainability into their purchasing decisions on either a periodic or standard basis.
“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.”
