The Role of Smart Networks in Meeting Sustainability Goals

It’s been a long time since sustainability was a mere buzzword. These days it is a critical concern for organisations globally and there are few (if any) enterprise businesses that don’t have statements professing their environmental credentials and green commitments.

One key certification many enterprises strive for is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), the world's most used green building rating system. It aims to help building owners and operators be environmentally responsible and use their resources efficiently.

The LEED certification is multi-faceted, and there is no one way in which an organisation can earn it. While the certification path may not be straight, what is clear is that improved sustainability begins with network efficiency.

The Role of Network Efficiency

Smart IoT solutions, intelligent monitoring, and automation can significantly benefit business sustainability by optimising energy efficiency, water management, waste management, and procurement. By connecting company systems to the network, IoT allows them to communicate and share data. This connectivity enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of sustainability initiatives, such as those required for LEED certification, by providing real-time data and automated control over various processes.

Enterprise networks often contain a wide range of technologies, including wired Ethernet, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth, other IoT protocols, and private 5G. Each of these has a specific role, and there are numerous ways to combine them during implementation, depending on the industry in focus. Let's explore how these technologies are applied in the retail sector.

Retail

Retail is one of the more diverse and technologically advanced sectors. Retailers promote their sustainability credentials knowing they influence customers’ preferences as to where to shop. One widespread waste-saving initiative is retailers switching to eco-friendly packaging to minimise their environmental impact. However, the opportunities for network-based, efficiency-driven sustainability improvements go far beyond this.

An intelligent network offers retailers numerous ways to further reduce their carbon footprint. Beyond the green measures of digital receipts, electronic shelf labels, and digital signage to replace printed materials, there are greater, system-level opportunities that can strategically enhance the resource-conserving efficiency of the network. For instance, smart management of power systems makes it possible to turn off connected devices, including lighting in unoccupied areas, thereby reducing energy. That’s been common for some time, what’s newer is the ability to do things like rebalancing Wi-Fi coverage across a particular area, ensuring that the signal is where it needs to be to suit customer and network demands.

Additionally, AI can dynamically adjust heating and cooling systems to reduce energy usage and costs without compromising customer comfort, enabling retailers to meet their sustainability goals. This advanced capability ensures that environmental control systems are optimised for efficiency, further contributing to the overall reduction of the carbon footprint.

Introducing AI

A recent and significant change to network capabilities is the widespread adoption and rapid development of AI as a design, configuration, management, monitoring and even optimisation solution. AI is now a priority in the retail sector, as it is in every enterprise environment where the number and complexity of connected technologies are growing. Managing these layered technologies is nearly impossible for humans alone. Even with a large IT staff, it would be complex. AI allows staff to focus on other valuable tasks instead of, for example, deciding when to turn services on or off. Indeed, AI and automation can constantly review store traffic and optimise settings as needed. With experience, AI can even learn to predict traffic patterns, making the network even more efficient and reducing the need for human input to the most basic overview.

Retail industries associated with perishable goods particularly benefit from AI's proactive issue resolution capabilities as maintaining specific temperature ranges is crucial to preventing spoilage. AI can detect and resolve network issues before they impact operations, ensuring that food is stored correctly and reducing waste. AI can further assist sustainability efforts through water monitoring and management. Leaks can be rapidly identified, and water use in other operations (such as cleaning) optimised to keep costs low and waste minimal. Through modern IoT sensors and controls, AI can designate that power and water are only consumed to serve a specific purpose.

Across the retail industry, businesses face a trifecta of challenges: IT is getting leaner, margins are getting thinner, and there is a mandate to meet or beat sustainability goals. AI-driven networks provide a solution by delivering self-healing and proactive management of networks that require minimal IT involvement. This reduces the number of truck-rolls to physical retail locations to fix network issues, directly lowering the carbon footprint and IT costs. Every single truck-roll counts when margins are thin.

Supporting, not Replacing, Staff

In 2025, the IT industry has reached a pivotal understanding: AI is not here to replace teams, but to enhance their capabilities. AI is supporting IT professionals to work smarter and more efficiently. By automating routine tasks, it is freeing up their time, allowing them to focus on more complex and innovative aspects of their work. This boost in efficiency means they are achieving more in less time and that is therefore driving productivity. With more time available, AI is enabling IT teams to undertake strategic projects that can better fuel business growth and innovation.

Vitally, AI has been helping IT departments become future-ready by freeing up budgetary resources. The efficiency gains from AI have allowed organisations to allocate funds towards modernising their networks. This proactive approach is ensuring that IT infrastructure is prepared for future technological advancements, keeping the organisation ahead of the curve.

The Broader Enterprise Perspective

While this article has used the retail industry as its core example, IoT-connected networks, driven by AI have huge potential across pretty much every industry. Hospitality, healthcare, transport, and education… all of these can realise sustainability and energy-saving benefits from the insights AI provides at every phase of operations. From procurement to resource management, smart networks can identify, leverage, and measure key sustainability factors, driving organisations towards their sought-after LEEDS certifications.

Sustainability remains a critical focus in 2025 for many of the world's enterprises. The use of AI-driven smart networks and IoT will be essential in their efforts to achieve greener operations and reduce their environmental impact.