In an increasingly digital world, the IT and cloud infrastructure market faces fundamental challenges. The ecological and social footprint of digital growth can no longer be ignored. At the same time, global providers dominate the market—it is becoming more difficult, yet crucial, to systematically enhance sustainability and regional impact.

IDED (formerly SDIA) brought together providers and purchasers during the event "Empowering Sustainability, Transparency, and Regional Impact in the IT Cloud & Infrastructure Market." Two surveys—one for purchasers, one for providers—produced insightful results.

Purchasers' Perspective

Lack of supply chain transparency. Companies purchasing IT infrastructure often lack adequate insight into their suppliers' sustainability efforts. This makes it difficult to hold providers accountable or assess the ecological and societal impact of purchased products. A shift towards open reporting is necessary: What are providers achieving today? What are their plans? What progress has been made? Without this transparency, purchasers cannot make informed, responsible decisions. The same goes the other way: purchasers must also transparently include the IT infrastructure they procure in their sustainability reports.

Regional providers remain invisible. Purchasers report difficulty identifying regional providers contributing to the local community and reducing environmental impact. Global players dominate the market; smaller, local companies have little chance to showcase their added value.

Sustainability criteria remain underdeveloped. Many purchasers are gradually integrating sustainability criteria—so far, primarily for hardware. To be truly effective, these criteria need to extend to cloud services and software. Purchasers need clear, manageable criteria to compare providers across the entire spectrum of digital infrastructure.

Providers' Perspective

Pressure for transparency without clear frameworks. Many providers feel the pressure to report more openly on their sustainability performance—but without uniform industry standards, they often don’t know what and how to report. This lack of clear guidelines leaves them uncertain about how to effectively communicate their efforts to purchasers.

Sustainability not reflected in business results. Providers are under pressure to improve sustainability and transparency—yet aligning with these goals is not yet economically rewarding. The perception must shift: sustainability as a cost factor must become a competitive advantage.

Regional providers competing with global players. Many regional providers make disproportionate contributions to their local communities—through jobs, tax revenue, environmental initiatives, and local collaborations. These contributions are not yet recognized in the market. Case studies documenting the added value of regional providers could play an important role here.

This article is part of IDED’s work in the "Cloud of Amsterdam" project, funded by the Province of North Holland.