Interview Denis Didier

What is the place for responsible digital technology in businesses?

Denis Didier, a member of the ISIA group and an expert in sustainable IT, explains to us the importance of being involved in responsible digital technology nowadays.

Presentation and experience

I am Denis Didier, I have a CTO profile, technical director. I started my IT career by managing servers for banking applications on minitels, I participated in IT transformations with the arrival of UNIX/Linux, IP networks followed by the internet, open source, distributed information systems, distributed information systems, voice and video over IP in the USA.

The major changes and the challenges that come with them attract me.

The impacts of digital technology are not just a new challenge for me but a need for transformation, which is what brought me closer to the Institute for Responsible Digital Technology (INR) and allowed me to get involved in this field by managing the production of the INR eco-design framework: the GR491.

In the ISIA Group, an ESN that has existed since 1996, I found an intelligent, agile structure with an extremely clear vision of its responsibility to build digital technology at the service of a responsible society and people passionate about implementing collective intelligence in the service of this vision.

For several years in the ISIA Group, I have participated in the creation of Responsible Digital offers, NR training courses, I also provide and transmit NR expertise in customer projects or for internal collaborators.

As NR is in constant motion, R&D is essential. This is the reason for the NR LAB that I am in charge of.

State of green iT and difficulties observed today

In the majority of organizations, the impacts of digital technology are a point of attention, but one that spreads in a very disparate way.

Sometimes it is individuals who push the subject into their operational sphere of influence, without really succeeding in spreading.

Sometimes it is general managers, CSR or DSI departments that integrate Responsible Digital Technology into their environmental strategies, but the relays are not ready, the implementation is often disappointing.

In both cases: bottom-up or top-down, the approaches encounter difficulties, the main ones being an absence or imprecision of the NR vision, an insufficient overall maturity to allow a massive commitment of all actors (not only the technical functions), and a communication that is not structured enough to federate and allow the adherence of all stakeholders.

Adopting a responsible digital approach in 2022

Undoubtedly, before asking yourself how to adopt an NR approach, it is essential to answer the question “WHY? ”.

Why would a manufacturer whose 90% of greenhouse gas emissions are linked to its industrial production embark on an NR approach?

Supporting organizations to set up this NR vision and build an NR strategy with well-trained governance is undeniably an indispensable first step.

As an aside, to answer the question asked for our industrial example, it is good to remember that NR is not only CO2, but also raw materials, water, energy as well as human, social and societal issues as well as human, social and societal issues. So CO2: yes, but not only that, CQFD: an industrialist is also involved!

To move forward peacefully in an NR approach, everyone needs to understand what we are talking about, that is the role of awareness-raising and training.

All actors must be involved in this transition; that is the mission of communication.

It is essential to understand the initial situation, this is done with maturity audits and environmental footprint measurements of information systems.

An NR vision + governance + informed and aware actors + structured change management + an overview of the situation: the sum of all this will give a roadmap and an effective action plan as well as impacting “quick-wins”.

To what extent is IT becoming more and more responsible?

Probably out of necessity with the arrival of recent regulations (AGEC law, REEN law) but beyond the restrictive aspects to come, it is also a question of ensuring the sustainability of digital capabilities, because we need digital technology; but a sober digital system that is not exponential.

The scarcity of certain resources, supply problems, geopolitical tensions, geopolitical tensions, energy issues, the costs and impacts of electronic waste, and of course climate issues are all spurs that naturally bring digital technology towards greater sobriety.

The choice we have left is simple; we are constantly delayed in adapting or we anticipate to avoid generating problems that are very expensive for us to solve in the short term.

The future of responsible digital technology

The NR ecosystem is radiant and brilliant in France, I think that we will also make progress when other territories make progress on these subjects and provide other ways to address the challenges and impacts of digital technology. Many people keep an eye and a close ear to what is happening abroad (USA-Americas, Asia-Pacific).

Until then, I think I could say “we did the job”, when the NR is treated systematically at all stages of the digital asset life cycle: equipment, software, networks, data.

Cybersecurity is also a transversal issue that can be found in all organizations (not only in CIOs), no one ignores security anymore.

When NR is integrated into the practices of organizations in the same way as cybersecurity, we will be quite good!