Digital technology has become part of our lives, both privately and in the workplace. We just don’t always think about the impact that our digital activities have on the world around us. Our benchmark study on the state of internal digital media in 2024 also shows that content cleaning can play an important role in limiting this impact.
A cleanup of content on, for example, the intranet leads to a tidy intranet environment. And that… has a lot of advantages! In this article we discuss 5 of them and give you concrete tips to get started with combating digital pollution yourself.
Digital pollution: what is it?
Because we at Evolve are busy implementing and optimizing intranets on a daily basis, it is good to dwell on the theme of ‘digital pollution’. Think of ‘contaminated’ data. An example of this is the preservation of documents that are not current and have multiple versions. For example, if you continue to access it on the intranet, this information makes it difficult for users to find what they are looking for or they are presented with incorrect or outdated information.
Pollution from digital activities is also literally caused by (extra) CO2 emissions. Think of the emissions that are released by the use of energy needed to store data and send emails, but also by the energy used to ask questions to AI systems such as ChatGPT and Copilot.
1. More effective use of AI
Our benchmark research shows that content cleaning is an important basis for the effective use of AI. It is therefore wise to structure and organize your data so that actually relevant data can be processed in AI systems. Because: the quality of the output depends on the quality of the input.
If you enter bad or incorrect data, you can only expect bad or incorrect results back. Garbage in = garbage out.
2. Efficiency for employees
A tidy intranet provides faster access to important information. As a result, employees spend less time searching for documents and can thus spend their working time more efficiently. In addition, a well-organized intranet reduces the likelihood of duplicate versions of files. This gives everyone access to the same, up-to-date information.
3. Consume less energy = emit less CO2
As with personal digital devices, storing files, documents and applications on an intranet also consumes energy. By organizing these, the digital footprint of your organization is reduced. Removing unnecessary data not only helps to use the server/storage space more efficiently, but also contributes to lower energy consumption. Less energy consumption means less CO2 emissions. That ultimately has a less negative impact on the environment.
4. Enhanced security
Deleting outdated and unused files can also improve the security of your intranet. Old files can be vulnerable to cyber attacks because the format may no longer meet the latest security standards. Thus, a tidy intranet helps an organization protect confidential and sensitive information.
5. Avoiding higher data management costs
Storing large amounts of unnecessary files can lead to higher server maintenance and data management costs. By removing unnecessary data, organizations can save on these management and storage costs. This also reduces the need for organizations to purchase additional storage space.
Getting started: what can you do today against digital pollution?
After reading the 5 benefits of keeping your data clean, you are naturally motivated to get started right away.
- Organize a first clean-up operation on the intranet and set it up structurally.
- At the end of your workday or week, take a moment to clean up your downloads, screenshots, and email folder. This immediately ensures a tidy head, so win-win!.
- Delete Unused apps and files, save energy and reduce CO2 emissions.
Want to know more?
Curious about this topic? Or need concrete help with a major cleaning action? We would like to exchange ideas with you. Contact Peter Haan via peter@evolve.eu or +31 6 13 98 14 27.
