UK Mid-Market Organisations See ESG Initiatives As Drivers for Economic Growth and Market Leadership
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Node4 Research Reveals UK Mid-Market Organisations See ESG Initiatives As Drivers for Economic Growth and Market Leadership

Fears over potential bias and discrimination could be delaying AI adoption, according to Node4’s Mid-Market IT Priorities Report 2024

According to research  from Node4, UK mid-market organisations are embracing ESG policies specifically to improve customer loyalty and gain a competitive advantage. They also believe implementing ESG initiatives can drive innovation, deliver growth and generate cost savings. Notably, the research data indicates that less than 1% of mid-market organisations have yet to adopt an ESG strategy—making it practically the norm across this sector of the UK’s economy.

Findings from Node4’s latest Mid-Market IT Priorities Report suggest IT decision-makers have a favourable view of ESG initiatives, describing them as helpful (28%) and useful (22%). That’s compared to 16% who said ESG policies are unhelpful and 18% who said they are irrelevant. In addition, over a quarter of respondents said that their digital transformation efforts are now motivated by improving environmental and social impact—that rises to 31% of CTOs and 35% of IT Managers.

Close to a quarter of respondents see aligning IT strategy with wider corporate ESG goals as one of their most important aims for the remainder of this year. This means it outranks objectives such as getting to grips with AI, managing costs and hiring/developing new in-house skills. Only business growth, improving customer experience, and increasing hybrid cloud development were viewed as more important. It’s a similar story for compliance, with ESG-related compliance objectives receiving higher priority than GDPR, BYOD, AI, and data governance.

Node4’s research also reveals that more than one in five respondents are concerned that AI use within their organisation could lead to potential bias and discrimination risks—making it a topic that warrants further exploration as mid-market organisations take their first AI deployment steps. Insurance (28%) and transport (25%) companies are most concerned about this issue compared to other vertical sectors examined in the report.

Mid-market IT decision-makers also hold ESG principles in high regard when seeking new IT solutions. Alongside analyst reports, they consider ESG reports to be the most important source of information for selecting potential IT suppliers. Almost a quarter are likely to use published ESG reports in their selection processes, highlighting the growing importance of ESG in the decision-making landscape. 

Kate Lincoln, Head of Group Governance at Node4, comments, “Over the last 12 months, many clients have told us they must demonstrate ESG compliance within tenders or contract bids. While it’s true that there are costs involved in embedding ESG into the business, the return on investment is clear. ESG is ultimately seen as a means to improve—and often a prerequisite for—revenue generation and business growth. This experience in the field, alongside data from our respondents, suggests that IT decision-makers and the organisations they work for see ESG as an integral part of long-term success and profitability. In that context, it’s understandable to see ESG emerging as one of the main drivers for digital transformation.”

To download a full copy of the report:

Report Methodology

The Mid-Market IT Priorities Report 2024 is based on a survey conducted independently and exclusively for Node4 by Censuswide. It reveals the views of 503 IT decision-makers across the private healthcare, transport, retail, finance and insurance sectors. The survey was conducted amongst Heads of IT, IT Directors, CIOs, CTOs and IT Managers in companies with 100-1,000 employees, with an equal split for each job title across each sector. This year’s report also references data from the Mid-Market IT Priorities Report 2021/2022 and the Mid-Market IT Priorities Report 2022/2023. These reports surveyed 459 and 300 IT decision-makers respectively — both covering the insurance, transport and logistics, healthcare and online retail sectors.

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About Node4

Node4 empowers private and public sector organisations across the UK to deliver positive outcomes through technology and innovation. Thanks to a broad portfolio of fully managed services including Business Applications, Modern Workplace, Cloud, Network, Data and Security, clients are empowered to reach their strategic goals.

Node4 fully owns its own a network of data centres, points of presence and operates best-in-class integrated tooling. Alongside strategic relationships with market-leading vendors such as Microsoft, Cisco and Fortinet, Node4 brings together the best options for infrastructure, platforms and applications, tailored to the needs of their clients.

Key to Node4’s success is its friendly, supportive culture, with Great Place to Work® ranking it as one of the UK’s Best Workplaces™ for three years running (2020, 2021 and 2022). Built on an ethos of exceeding client aspirations, Node4’s Exceptional Service as a Standard ensures a service delivered with knowledge, talent and passion.