Embracing Sustainable IT Unlocks Environmental, Business and Financial Benefits

Learning from a sustainability leader on gaining performance, saving on IT costs and supporting sustainability goals.

Norway is a leader in sustainability. Its use of renewable energy, sustainable technologies and recycling is common in homes and businesses throughout the country, as well as the neighboring Nordic region, making Norway a role model of environmental stewardship.

Cegal, a Norwegian global IT services business, is a great example of this leadership. Recently, Cegal chose Dell Technology Rotation to create sustainable IT while enhancing the business value it delivers. Cegal’s results include achieving a sustainable IT lifecycle model, a 58% improvement in data delivery speed, an 80-90% reduction in data center footprint and near-100% uptime for business-critical applications. As Cegal’s outcomes demonstrate, Dell Technology Rotation allows organizations to prioritize both performance and sustainability.

What is Dell Technology Rotation?

Dell Technologies is accelerating the circular economy to help global customers simultaneously achieve business and sustainability goals, and it’s how Dell Technology Rotation was born. Dell Technology Rotation is a business strategy and solution that allows organizations to implement regular refresh cycles, helping IT contribute to the circular economy, improve productivity and security and maintain liquidity. With a proactive plan to refresh assets, Dell Technology Rotation also refurbishes or recycles assets at the end of their useful life, helping overcome challenges throughout the full technology lifecycle.

Customers like Cegal use Dell Technology Rotation to:

    • Gain flexibility and better manage cash on hand.
    • Ensure they deploy the latest technology and security features efficiently and with minimal maintenance concerns.
    • Promote sustainable business practices to help the planet.

“Dell Technologies brand is well-known. This, together with their payment solutions, flexible pricing and sustainability, makes them a great partner for us and our growing business,” shares Lars Bjørnar Jøssang, Procurement Manager, Cegal. 

Sustainable and State-of-the-art Technology

When it comes to technology and e-waste – the recycling of electrical and electronic equipment – we can once again look to Norway and Cegal for guidance. Cegal provides IT and consulting services to regional oil and gas companies and is helping the energy sector migrate from fossil fuels to green sources. Cegal’s dedication to sustainability started with its own organization, adopting a sustainable approach to IT internally and to its customer base.

Cegal’s deployment of Dell Technology Rotation contributes to the circular economy and minimizes e-waste while also ensuring state-of-the-art technology. That’s because Dell Technology Rotation enables Cegal to rotate storage and data protection platforms every four years, providing cutting-edge storage and security for mission-critical customer data. These continuous technology refreshes help Cegal support its high-stakes energy customers with four-hour mission-critical support on all of its Dell PowerScale units and near 100% uptime.

At the end of the four years, Dell Technologies refurbishes, cleanses and then remarkets up to 95% of the assets, giving them a second life. Dell recycles the remaining five percent in adherence with local regulatory guidelines. “It was a differentiator for us that Dell Technologies had a program that allowed us to return equipment for refurbishment when it’s no longer in use. This way, we know that we’ve reduced waste and that components are reused,” comments Jøssang.

Financial Liquidity Fuels Business Growth

While sustainability is crucial, organizations also need financial liquidity – a vital enabler of business growth and innovation. Without it, business growth can be stifled and market opportunities missed. Dell Technology Rotation increases liquidity by moving IT from a CapEx model to an OpEx model. That preserves cash and translates into a low initial investment, allowing organizations to pay for technology over time while also reducing the costs of deployment, services and maintenance.

For Cegal, flexible finance payments spread over four years help to increase the cash available for other business priorities. “We want to be asset light so we’re looking at making more investments with an OpEx model rather than a CapEx model. It definitely brings advantages to a business like ours,” says Kjetil Anundsen, Director of Group Finance, Cegal.

Advancing Business and Sustainability

We can all learn from Norway and Cegal, both real-world proof points of environmental stewardship in action. Dell Technology Rotation is providing a simple way for IT-centric organizations like Cegal to participate in the circular economy, save costs and advance sustainable practices.

Previously, sustainability initiatives were viewed as a hefty investment and perceived as costly to organizations. Many organizations believed something else had to be sacrificed to be environmentally responsible. Dell Technology Rotation has changed that, enabling organizations to combine sustainability, financial and operational goals. That allows organizations around the world to advance both business and sustainability initiatives – for business, people and the planet.

Learn more about Dell Technology Rotation.

Read the Cegal customer story.

See how to create IT business value while advancing sustainability initiatives.

Read about Dell Technologies’ commitment to sustainability.

Colin Keaney

About the Author: Colin Keaney

Colin Keaney joined Dell in April 2011 as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Dell Financial Services EMEA. He was part of the management team who established Dell Financial Services’ captive operation in EMEA which included the setting up of a regulated bank. In May 2014 Colin took up the role of Global CFO and then in April 2023, Colin became the Global President for Dell Financial Services.