As CIOs, our role has evolved far beyond managing infrastructure and vendor relationships. We are now expected to drive strategy, improve operational efficiency, and increasingly, support corporate sustainability goals.
Efficiency is no longer measured by cost alone. In today’s climate-conscious environment, it also includes minimizing environmental impact with GreenOps initiatives. This dual mandate—cost and carbon—places CIOs at the center of a critical business transformation. According to McKinsey, companies that integrate carbon reduction with cost control see stronger innovation outcomes and long-term performance gains. This is not just a sustainability initiative—it’s a business imperative.
At Tangoe, we support this shift by equipping organizations with the visibility they need to manage their technology investments effectively. While we don’t monitor carbon emissions directly, we enable better decision-making by providing detailed insights into IT expenses across mobile, cloud, and software. These decisions—what to buy, how to use it, and when to retire it—have clear implications for both financial and environmental outcomes.
For example:
- SaaS rationalization reduces both cost and unnecessary compute cycles. When businesses eliminate duplicate or underutilized software, they not only save money, but also reduce energy use in data centers.
- Smarter device refresh strategies based on actual usage, rather than arbitrary timelines, help limit e-waste and extend the lifecycle of hardware.
- Cloud optimization can eliminate idle resources and right-size workloads—streamlining both spend and infrastructure usage.
These aren’t hypothetical scenarios. They’re areas where Tangoe is actively helping clients optimize IT spend in ways that support broader sustainability goals.
The traditional model of Technology Expense Management is changing. We’re entering an era where it’s not just about managing costs, but also enabling CIOs to bring sustainability metrics into their operational playbook. CIOs can and should start requiring more transparency from vendors—not just around pricing, but also around carbon intensity, energy use, and environmental impact.
This thinking is supported by recent findings from Gartner, which position sustainable technology as a top priority for boards and CEOs. Similarly, CIO Influence’s cloud strategy research shows sustainability now ranks alongside cost control and repatriation as one of the top considerations shaping infrastructure decisions. Still, the gap between intention and action remains. CIO.com recently reported that although the vast majority of enterprises express concern over environmental impact, only a small percentage prioritize sustainability in purchasing decisions—particularly when it comes to data centers and hardware. Visibility remains the missing link.
At Tangoe, we aim to close that gap. By giving CIOs the tools to understand their IT spend in granular detail, we make it easier to align operational decisions with corporate ESG objectives—even if those outcomes aren’t explicitly measured today.
2025 is shaping up to be a critical year for IT strategy. As the National CIO Review noted, this is the moment when CIOs stop talking about systems and start driving outcomes that shape business direction.
If we want to reduce both cost and carbon, we need to lead—not react. The opportunity is clear: expense transparency is a foundation for operational sustainability. Let’s get to work.
References:
McKinsey & Company. “Add Innovation and Performance by Subtracting Carbon and Cost.” McKinsey & Company, 10 Apr. 2024, https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/add-innovation-and-performance-by-subtracting-carbon-and-cost
“Cloud Strategy 2025: Repatriation Rises, Sustainability Matures, and Cost Management Tops Priorities.” CIO Influence, 22 Apr. 2025, https://cioinfluence.com/cloud/cloud-strategy-2025-repatriation-rises-sustainability-matures-and-cost-management-tops-priorities/
Thibodeau, Patrick. “CIOs Could Improve Sustainability with Data Center Purchasing Decisions but Don’t.” CIO, 24 June 2024, https://www.cio.com/article/3966280/cios-could-improve-sustainability-with-data-center-purchasing-decisions-but-dont.html.