Digitalization and the work against its rebound effects – sustainability as quality characteristic in the product and service life-cycle

The environmental footprint of Information Technology has become an increasingly investigated subject with in the digitalization era. Furthermore, the ever increasing power and ubiquity of computing devices and infrastructures often lead to more convenience and better experience for users, which threatens the effectivity of any sustainability measures through a rebound effect. It is crucial to consider these aspects early in the product and service life cycle to handle them adequately. This article proposes a set of aspects and relevant parameters that can be used as levers contributing to the optimization of the environmental footprint of Information Technology with a long-term perspective on the entire product and service life-cycle. Issued from action research in a large company setting, it distinguishes releases, (software) technology, electronic hardware and product/service life-cycles. In order to facilitate the management of these aspects and their effects, it proposes a set of actionable indicators that have been applied on an experimental basis in the company environment.