For decades, IT has followed a linear model: buy new equipment, use it for a few years, then replace and discard. That cycle is no longer sustainable. Rising costs, stricter regulation, and growing environmental concerns mean businesses can’t afford to treat IT as disposable.
The answer lies in the circular economy: keeping IT assets in use for longer, designing infrastructure that can be upgraded or repurposed, and recovering valuable materials at the end of life. This approach doesn’t just reduce waste and emissions; it also strengthens resilience, lowers total cost of ownership, and makes businesses less dependent on volatile supply chains.
At Roc, we believe IT has a unique responsibility — and opportunity — to lead this shift. Our ESG strategy, built around People, Products and the Planet, underpins our commitment to become a net zero business by 2035. More importantly, it shapes the way we help our customers embed circular thinking into their IT strategies today.
Traditional IT consumption is built around constant refresh. Organisations invest in new hardware, run it for a set cycle, then replace it. For years this worked, but the environmental and financial costs are now too high to ignore.
Shifting to a circular approach delivers multiple benefits:
This is not about compromise. Done well, circular IT is more efficient, more resilient, and better for business.
We don’t just talk about sustainability – we commit to it in the way we work, every day. Our approach combines strategic supply chain choices, innovative recycling and smart lifecycle management to deliver measurable benefits for customers and communities.
Sustainability is often seen as something reserved for large enterprises with big budgets. We disagree. SMEs have just as much to gain – and arguably more. Extending the life of assets, rethinking procurement and embracing smarter recycling reduces costs as well as environmental impact.
By showing what’s possible, Roc helps SMEs build IT strategies that are both sustainable and resilient. Our goal is to make responsible IT the standard, not the exception.
At Roc, we believe sustainable IT is the only viable future. By rethinking how technology is made, used and reused, we can reduce environmental impact and deliver real value to customers at the same time.
This is not a box-ticking exercise. It’s a commitment – one we live every day through the way we run our business, the partners we work with, and the services we deliver.
The world of IT has always been about innovation. Now it’s time to apply that same innovation to protecting our planet. At Roc, we’re proud to be leading that change.
Chief People Officer (CPO)
Debby Dean leads People and Culture at Roc. With 25 years experience across multiple industries including Private Equity, Defence and Construction, she is a passionate advocate for positive employee experience, career development and wellbeing. Away from Roc, Debby is an active member of her local theatre community working on over 50 theatre productions including at Minack, Edinburgh Fringe and the National Theatre.
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