Would you make a purchasing decision based on what a cloud company's commitments are to ESG areas?
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We're starting to see a bit of an uptick in ESG metrics from companies, because people are getting more cognizant about it. At this point, I haven't made a buying decision from a product perspective based on ESG commitments, but that could change. The compound effect of companies becoming more mindful of ESG in two to five years’ time could make this a completely different conversation. I could definitely see ESG metrics being part of the buying process down the road.
In terms of ESG focuses at the board level, folks are now starting to think about the executives who are held accountable. ESG has never truly been in the boardroom before, but it's been brought in by a forcing function, which is the investment in ESG by major firms like Blackrock. That focus trickles down to the board, leadership and the employees and partners. It is starting at the top and meeting the bottom up activities. It’s a very different world today. There is urgency at all levels.
Cloud companies are already making buying decisions based on their vendor’s sustainability plan. Apple, as an example, said they're no longer going to be building sustainability projects in one location to discount their power usage somewhere else. The renewable energy project has to be built on the same network grid that they're using resources from, so they're trying to create a much more one-to-one model.