Green coding is an important development in the tech world that has gained traction over recent years. It refers to programming sustainable code written with the specific purpose of minimising the energy consumption of software developed. Less energy consumption means less waste, minimising harmful effects and benefiting our environment.

A research paper titled ‘How Green Are Java Best Coding Practices?‘ found there to be two main considerations to understanding green coding and how best to implement it – structural and behavioural.

Structural considerations pertain to energy measures that need to be taken into account with regard to code blocks (also referred to as units of code).

Behavioural considerations relate to how energy consumption varies depending on which user scenarios are being run at that particular time. For example, sending an email or checking social media.  

It can be tricky to highlight particular examples of green coding as their use is subtle and tends to have low footprints.

However, in order to increase an application’s performance through reducing energy consumption, programmers often use a tool called Big O Notation. This tool helps them calculate the efficiency of their coding algorithms, making them more ‘green’.  

Why Green Coding matters: its impact on sustainability

In 2018 alone, online video streaming resulted in the same amount of harmful greenhouse gas emissions as the country of Spain. Data centres use vast quantities of energy just to stay afloat. According to IEA, in 2020 alone, they drew between 260-340 TWh, which equates to approximately 1.1%-1.4 of the total global electricity use. With 7.2 million data centres worldwide, it should come as no surprise that the tech industry is now focusing on more ways to become green as part of its digital transformation strategy. 

At this time of increased digital interactions (thanks to the pandemic), we must search for greener, more energy-efficient solutions to our energy consumption habits.

Tech and software development companies have an important role to play in this move to a sustainable future, not least to reduce their impact on the environment.  

Germany has been a pioneer in the field of green tech in recent years, with its 2030 plan to reduce emissions by 65% and its 2050 plan to be entirely carbon neutral. Other countries and organisations are following suit, with big players such as AWS pledging to run 100% of their operations with renewable energy by 2025. 

The benefits of green coding

Today, businesses face considerable challenges, of which we can mention the excessive use of energy, global warming or the increasing awareness of customers’ purchasing decisions.

Green computing is an essential method of developing sustainable software development and practices, which in turn reduce a company’s carbon emissions. Fewer emissions mean lessening any negative, harmful environmental impact that the software may have.

By refining systems with eco-designed alternatives, we can save huge amounts of unnecessary energy wastage, perhaps as high as 30%. There are many advantages of green coding.

Have a look at some common benefits below.

Reduced energy consumption

Optimising software to use less energy is the fundamental goal of green coding. Given the growing global usage of data centres and their substantial electricity consumption, this is especially crucial as the digital world develops. When software is designed to use less processing power, it can run using less energy and this helps to reduce technology’s negative impact on the environment.

Lower operating costs and enhanced performance

In the realm of green coding, the principle of “using less and spending less” makes perfect sense. It’s crucial to minimise the power consumption of software to better manage operational costs amidst fluctuating and often high energy prices.

This approach, which is central to energy efficiency in software development, provides significant benefits for businesses. By optimising code to consume less power, companies can reduce their energy bills while also improving the functionality of their software systems.

Consequently, green coding has emerged as an attractive option for businesses, offering cost savings and increased productivity through more efficient software performance.

Positive brand image and social responsibility

By implementing green coding and energy efficiency standards, businesses can show they care about the environment and win over an increasingly green-conscious clientele and stakeholder base. Having a code of ethics in business is often consistent with the larger set of CSR objectives, especially for companies working toward zero emissions or lowering their carbon footprint.

Faster page speed

Green coding refers to a technique used in applications to reduce the number of server requests, which in turn leads to an increase in page speed. As a result, users can access content more quickly and are less likely to experience frustration, ultimately leading to higher satisfaction and engagement.

Additionally, the reduction in server requests translates into less energy being consumed, resulting in lower energy usage and less wastage.

Server load is decreased

It’s important to note that implementing green coding practices can potentially decrease server load. This is because optimising applications can reduce the number of server requests, resulting in an overall lower server load.

Furthermore, green coding practices can reduce the amount of bandwidth needed to run web pages and applications, thus increasing efficiency and decreasing waste.

Improved SEO

When applied correctly, green coding helps to improve SEO and increases a website’s ranking. Although not an environmental advantage, it is undeniably an important business benefit.

Read more about ESG and Digital Transformation:

• ESG and Digital Transformation in Business

• Future of ESG and digital transformation: ESG goals and opportunities

• Drive to sustain: exploring the intersection of Formula 1 and sustainable business strategies

How do I make my code greener? Adopting green coding practices

Don’t get us wrong, energy efficient hardware alone will not solve all the issues we have that are related to carbon emissions through energy waste. However, it is an important tool to add to your metaphorical toolbox when it takes positive steps towards a more sustainable world and overall energy consumption.

Clever coding can help utilise more renewable technologies through workload orchestration.

It can enhance the use of silicon-aware coding to reduce tech debt, energy use and it can minimise the amount of data which is transferred over a particular network by optimising its applications. All of these are very worthwhile pursuits.

For companies interested in adopting green coding principles into their operations, here are some key starting points to follow.

Training

Train your staff to make them aware of green coding and its benefits so that they understand what it is and what benefits it offers. This is the first important stage to adopting it in your company culture.

Provide ongoing training and awareness-raising sessions so that everyone works with the same philosophy on their daily tasks. With good training, development teams will be motivated to scale back on superfluous lines of code, optimise their systems and achive sustainability goals.

Provide incentives

It is important to incentivise software developers who leverage green coding practices in their daily tasks. Reward good work and encourage innovation.

Help them to see a valuable reason for pouring their efforts into adopting greed coding and show them real, tangible compensation when they adopt this strategy, reduce energy consumption and hit important milestones.

Encourage a company-wide adoption and accountability strategy

Build the ‘green software’ philosophy into every aspect of the business and digital transformation. After all, it’s not only up to the software engineers to drive their company forward in the fight to become sustainable; every single employee has a shared responsibility.

Build it into the very fabric of your company in a multifaceted manner, as this will be a constant reminder that you want and need this to work for the betterment of our world.

The future of sustainable programming

It’s becoming clear that sustainable programming practices will play a crucial role in influencing the future of the software development sector. As more people become aware of the importance of reducing the adverse effects of coding on the environment, sustainable programming is quickly gaining acceptance.

To ensure environmental sustainability, software product lifecycle management should prioritise eco-friendly choices throughout the development cycle, from conception to disposal. The future of sustainable software engineering also lies in developing user-centred software that has minimal impact on the natural world.

When it comes to developing new solutions, cloud-based alternatives are more energy-efficient than conventional data centres. By improving resource utilisation and reducing energy usage, cloud services are increasingly popular among businesses. This transition not only provides scalability and cost-effectiveness but also contributes to sustainability.

How does Green Coding influence software lifecycle and maintenance?

The environmental problems we are currently facing in the world are not going to be solved overnight with coding optimisation. However, it is a key piece of the puzzle and has an important part to play in reducing emissions and lessening the damage we are unfortunately doing to the planet.

Bit by bit, piece by piece, we are finding ways to work better, faster, more economically and with less energy usage. Sustainable software engineering is an important aspect that, if adopted by the millions of tech organisations and programmers out there, will certainly make a significant impact.

Although it’s a relatively new approach, green coding will be a part of a bigger solution to propel us into a more energy-efficient environment.

For organisations looking to contribute to this vital effort, Future Processing offers expertise and guidance in sustainable programming practices. Contact us to learn how your organisation can be part of this vital change towards a greener future in technology!

One of the main principles to take into consideration when creating a team is that building a team always means building a team. No matter the scale of the organisation you are doing it for, no matter the sector you are in, or the budget you have, the challenges around creating a team of people who are to work together are always the same, or at least very similar. After all, it’s all about dealing with people, about supporting and managing them in the best possible way.

Managing teams across different locations  

In terms of logistics, managing teams based in different locations got a lot easier after the pandemic. Today everyone is working remotely – it became a standard. Beforehand, it was a pretty unusual thing, but the only one that worked if one was to manage teams based on different continents.  

What has not changed at all is the approach. When creating a team based on a certain culture, it’s critical to understand the culture of people you are going to work with. A team based in Hungary will be different from a team based in Poland, from a team based in the UK or from a team based in India. Their problems and motivations will be different, too. If the team building process is to be successful, one needs to get to know the culture and background by doing proper research.

You may be surprised by what you hear: someone will be worried about inflation, someone else about travel (like for example people working from India who often collaborate with companies based in different time zones and need to leave office late at night when there is no public transport).  

The most effective way of learning about those challenges is to have meetings with as many people as possible, to make yourself available to everyone who wants to talk, to interact with people within the organisation you work for. Only that way a manger is able to understand what motivates the team and what impacts the way it works. 

The biggest challenge when building a team 

Building a team always means challenges, and the main one is to make people understand the culture you want to build. To do so, the manager must be clear about the values the team needs to represent and must be able to communicate them so that everyone understands them. And must stick to them at all times, no matter what.  

How to convey such a message? It’s important to take time to speak about it to everyone within the team, to walk around the office (personally if possible, or virtually, by arranging different meetings), or to organise a big team meeting if speaking to everyone in person is physically impossible. All those conversations and meetings will help pass on the message on what’s most important for you and how you want to work.   

After the phase of introduction, it is crucial to be able to explain to people your operating model, to justify why you made certain decisions and why you stick to them even when you are being challenged. This doesn’t mean that you are not listening to other views just that sometimes leadership requires you to make decisions and stick to those decisions.

When building a team, you need to be ready to have difficult conversations and in those moments it’s worth remembering about your KPIs. Human-centered approach is extremely important and should always be at everyone’s heart, but when you are to have a difficult conversation, if someone is undermining your credibility, you need to have facts and KPIs that will speak for you.  

Things to avoid when creating a team  

When you are in a fast-moving environment, it can be tricky to keep the balance between being too rigid and accepting too much criticism. The main advice here would be to never change your mind too quickly, without thinking it through first. There may be some tough moments when people don’t believe in you when they challenge you, but you need to stay firm behind the decisions you made and behind the team you support.  

Too many changes cause destabilisation and people may stop seeing your clear direction. 

Setting up a team from scratch: the shortage of IT professionals  

The first thing you need when you set a team from scratch is the knowledge of who exactly you need: suppliers, managers, service management, data, architecture, security, engineering team, dev ops, and all other different roles.  

Top things to know when building a tech team:  

• choose people with a strong can-do attitude, who can knock down hurdles when they arise;  
  
• always be positive; 
  
• always look for people with the right mindset and cultural fit.  
  

When setting up a tech team you also need to take into consideration the situation in the market. We all know it’s difficult to find IT professionals nowadays, and you may need a lot of them. This is why when creating a team, you should decide on the model you want to go for: either a permanent team of people employed by you or a mix of full-time employees and an outsourcing partner.

If it’s the former solution, decide on the ratio: is it 30 – 70 (30% of your own employees, 70% of outsourced staff) or 70 – 30, or 50 – 50?

Once you know your blend, you need to decide what exactly you are going to outsource and how are you going to do that, which specialists will be from the outsourcing agency, and which will be employed by you. It’s important that you build the model yourself, that you decide what’s the right balance, which parts do you want to do by yourself and which you want others to do.

Cultural differences when outsourcing  

Once you decide about the outsourcing model you want to stick to, it is important to remember that your outsourcing partner should be the right fit for your company. After all, if you don’t get on with people, if the teams are not working together, then even the best contract you sign is totally useless. Getting to know the company you are about to collaborate with – their experience, flexibility, quality – is therefore crucial if your collaboration is to be successful.    

Top competencies in the financial industry from a fintech scale-up point of view  

And lastly, a few words about the competencies needed in the fintech world. While knowledge of the industry is always very important and welcomed, the lack of it should never preclude anyone from hiring someone with a different background. Such an approach may even prove beneficial, as different background usually means different perspective.  

There are some industries that are more closed than others, like health tech, but fintech is a much more open environment, ready to accept people from a variety of other sectors.  

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AI has been transforming healthcare for some time, but the recent pandemic accelerated the process, making things like access to e-health systems not just a commodity but a must-have.

More and more technology is being used for treatments of cancer or heart diseases while elderly people use programs that allow practitioners to monitor them at home, without the need of prolonged hospitalization.   

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The industry is changing rapidly, and its main drivers, as listed by the recent Retail Health & Wellness Tech report by PitchBook, are: 

• COVID-19 pandemic crisis and the need for a robust pandemic preparedness and response infrastructure based on technology, 
  
  
• Doctors focusing more on preventive care and healthy lifestyles, 
  
  
• Increased consumer health awareness and healthy eating index, 
  
  
• Consumer wellness startups partnering with corporations, 
  
  
• Growing elderly population and increased life expectancy,  
  
  
• Digital economy opening door to telehealth, personalized solutions, and fitness applications, 
  
  
• Population increase coupled with lack of medical providers, 
  
  
• Growth of social media, useful in promoting healthy lifestyle, 
  
  
• Consumer and provider demand for healthcare flexibility, 
  
  
• Expanding cost of traditional healthcare, 
  
  
• Advancements in AI and Big Data.  
  

AI in healthcare – best examples  

In the last couple of years, we’ve seen some magnificent examples of how ML and AI are being used in healthcare. Here are some of the most impressive ones:  

• COVID-19 Clinical Severity Predictive Analytics Tool, COVID-19 Early-alerts Signals and Vaccine Hesitance Analytics Tool 

Since COVID-19 outbreak, predictive analytics and AI technology are being used to fight the pandemic by predicting the pandemic curve, tracking misinformation related to vaccines and extracting themes and topics on vaccine hesitancy. They have been of great help to governments and various health systems. 

• Manufacturing and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines 

AI and ML technologies have been used to extract and analyze data needed to reliably scale the vaccine production. Advanced systems have been implemented to help understand when and where to distribute doses of the vaccine so that they get delivered where they should, hugely influencing supply chain and pharma sectors.  

• Live predictive analytics for urgent care system 

Live predictive analytics is used to determine the likelihood of patients developing medical conditions such as cardiac problems, diabetes, or strokes. Business intelligence technologies and predictive analytics are also used to proactively direct ambulance flows to support each other when needed, helping healthcare providers delivering optimal care.  

• Drug development 

In pharma sector, AI based systems are being used to support researchers in their drug development processes. Such an approach saves time and money and allows for a through analysis of all data related to the drugs. New technologies also help with data monitoring and improving patient recruitment into clinical trials. 

• Radiomics

Radiomics is a field of science which aims at development and analysis of biomarkers extracted from medical images. With the potential of uncovering patterns not visible to the naked eye, it is successfully used for disease diagnosis, survival prediction and assessment of response to a treatment.  

• Automated DCE-MRI analysis  

DCE–MRI plays a vital role in brain tumors diagnosis by providing information on tumor prognosis. When done manually, it is prone to mistakes and is very time consuming. A fully automated solution can accelerate diagnosis, ensure reproducibility, and reduce mistakes. 

• Robotics surgery 

Robotics surgery enables doctors to perform complex medical procedures with the highest precision and control. It is usually associated with minimal invasive surgery, although it is now being used also in more traditional surgical procedures. Thanks to its precision (precise cutting and stitching not available through traditional techniques), it minimizes blood loss and risks of infection for patients.  

• Chatbots and administrative assistance 

By offering immediate response and communication with patients, chatbots are a great way to improve primary healthcare and accelerate the process of getting access to the right information. Digital human platforms allow patients to get in touch 24/7 and find answers to questions they may have. Administrative assistance tools on the other hand are the most important and widely used AI applications in healthcare. They help healthcare professionals in their everyday duties, in time management and assessments, saving a huge amount of time and money in the whole industry.   

Platforms for medical AI professionals 

Good places to start looking for more information about the subject and for advice are:  

• SoPE (Society of Physician Entrepreneurs)
  
  A global community of changemakers and entrepreneurs transforming the future of healthcare. Its main purpose is to provide a global community-based platform for biomedical and healthcare entrepreneurs to connect and collaborate. 
  

• MI10 (Medical Intelligence 10)
  
  Trusted AI education and adoption advisors, who teach and train students, trainees, clinicians, patients and stakeholders about artificial intelligence and its adoption. Its highly qualified team of experts has a wide experience in different fields of healthcare and artificial intelligence, including augmented & virtual reality, cloud computing, deep learning, and robotic process automation. MI10 is a place to go for advice, education, and evaluation of your organization’s readiness to implement AI strategy.  
  

•  RYTE
  
  The first all-in-one solution that gathers and analyzes billions of data points on millions of healthcare providers and clinics globally.  
  

The impact of introducing AI in healthcare 

Given its ability to optimize the use of resources, it is predicted that in the nearest future AI will have a huge economic impact on healthcare, making it one of the most innovative sectors and ensuring high-quality medical help.

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 According to a report by Deloitte and MedTech Europe, AI can potentially help save as many as 400 000 lives a year, while freeing up to 1.8 billion working hours annually, which is equivalent of having 500 000 additional full time healthcare professionals.  

These are huge numbers which should not be ignored. The time of AI and ML in healthcare has come and it’s only wise to follow this wave of innovation within all medical related businesses.

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Research by NTT Services confirms that as much as 45% of global corporations plan to increase outsourcing in the recent years.

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The main reasons why companies look for trusted partners and consultants to work on important projects are the cost-effectiveness of such a solution and easy access to the pool of talented and experienced candidates with the new technology it guarantees. The deal is clear, but only if the partners you decide to work with are trustworthy. If not, outsourcing may become a nightmare and you may not get all the benefits. This is why finding the right company to work with is of key importance if you want your projects to be successful.

How to find the best partner for your company?

When thinking about finding the best partner or consultant to work with, the first thing that comes to mind is looking on Google. Sounds easy but google “IT services outsourcing” and you will get so many results there is no way you can go through all of them. You can try to find some articles about the best options available, but many of them are sponsored, so getting credible information is difficult.

Another challenge arises when you look for clients’ reviews: many websites publish just positive ones, and some companies use sponsored publications and paid endorsements, so finding impartial opinions is nearly impossible.

There is also an independent platform that focuses on presenting solution providers and on publishing as much information about them as possible, including reviews. It’s called Clutch.co.

What is Clutch.co and how does it work?

Their team collects genuine clients’ feedback and analyses global industry data, giving businesses access to insights they need to find reliable partners. Clutch.co conducts in-depth interviews through phone calls and online form submissions with clients of each company they list, speaking about the quality of their services and many important aspects of collaboration. All reviews come with a rating displayed next to each company’s profile.

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To find the right company for the project you want to undertake, you can search Clutch.co’s website by the region where you want your partner to be based, by the price of their services or skills they possess. Thanks to Clutch.co’s marketplace, the whole process of finding the partner is smooth, cost effective and there is not much room for mistake. Given the great service they offer, Clutch.co’s website traffic and customer base are increasing each year.

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What do clients say about Clutch.co?

From the clients’ point of view, Clutch.co is a service that saves their time, effort, and money. They use it to find reliable partners, to compare them and check their scorings. From the point of view of companies listed on Clutch.co, it is one of the best platforms to be on.

It drives traffic to their websites and, what’s more important, the quality of the visits it generates is very high.

Why is working with reliable companies important for Clutch.co?

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Clutch.co’s updated mission as of July 2022 is to empower better business decisions as the leading marketplace of B2B service providers. To achieve that, they need a lot of trustworthy companies their clients can browse through.

We are among the companies listed on Clutch.co, and the portal that allows us to share information on our experience and expertise with more potential clients every year. A good place to be at.

There is no doubt Clutch.co is a powerful platform that improves visibly, builds trust, provides transparent and honest feedback, and creates marketing opportunities, thanks to their reports and social media presence. It’s a great tool for companies around the world. But it works both ways.

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Considering an enormously successful wave of seed funding in 2021 and the rate at which innovative digital products and tools are developed these days, industry sources state there are approximately 1,100 start-ups with that status in mid-2022. Roughly 20% of them are in the fintech game.

Here are ten of the American ones we’re keeping a close eye on: from powerful giants to wave-making leprechauns.

Stripe – Payments infrastructure for the internet

Practically every fintech ranking includes Stripe. Because ignoring this groundbreaking start-up would mean not acknowledging the historic example it set for the “unicorn” club. The company was founded in Silicon Valley in 2010. 12 years later, it is the most valuable American private fintech and the fourth one globally.

At Stripe, everything is about effective payment processing online.

Nasdaq chose it because of its robust security and reliability. Urban mobility company Lime, on the other hand, was looking for improved accuracy and speed of financial reconciliation. In January 2022, Spotify partnered with the start-up “to help creators easily monetize subscription content.” And those are only three examples from Stripe’s impressive client list.

Chime – The mobile banking everybody loves

What’s the most annoying thing when keeping your money in the bank? We bet it’s the associated fees (speaking from experience).

Chime‘s founders thought so, too. So they decided to offer free checking (current) accounts instead. They chucked in zero overdraft fees with cash advances in the bundle, too. And you don’t even need a minimum balance to open a free mobile bank account.

Today, it might not sound so unusual anymore. However, when the company was founded ten years ago, it was still very much a novelty.

OpenSea – How many NFTs have you already minted?

If you’re still not well-versed in the NFT subject, can you truly call yourself a 21st-century entrepreneur? The market for this digital asset is growing as quickly as the temperatures are rising in the UK in summer 2022.

OpenSea brags about being the original peer-to-peer platform providing a marketplace for NFT buyers. Its history is fairly recent (it was established in 2017), but it already processes “about $3 billion in NFT transactions monthly.”

While not without its challenges, OpenSea has made a free minting tool available to virtually any user. So if you’ve ever wanted to give it a shot, it’s your once-in-a-lifetime opportunity before everyone is an NFT owner.

GoodLeap – A sustainability marketplace

Renewable energies, and especially solar power, are hot topics these days.

As more businesses and individuals embrace environmentally-friendly initiatives, switching from traditional fossil-fuel sources to more sustainable methods of energy production is a necessity if we want our children to have a future on this planet.

GoodLeap (fka Paramount Equity from 2003-2017 and Loanpal until 2021) is well aware of that. The start-up’s execs bring the combined forces of solar energy generation systems and mortgage broker experience. The company makes it easier for homeowners to secure financing for greening their households. Some eco-friendly solutions they back are battery storage, smart home devices, energy-efficient windows, or water-saving turf.

Deel – International payroll made easy

Before the pandemic, remote work was a privilege. In 2022, it is normality. Businesses have learned that geographically-dispersed teams and hiring experts abroad are no longer obstacles to getting the job done well. Chances are your staff are also partially based elsewhere.

Until Deel came along in 2018, the only challenge remaining was hiring and remunerating overseas employees. The start-up’s comprehensive platform provided a practical solution for that, “built for today’s world of work.”

Deel offers a range of other useful services: ensuring compliance with local laws, non-traditional payment options, including Revolut, PayPal, or cryptocurrencies, facilitating access to health insurance, or helping with visas for foreign workers.

Kraken – A crypto exchange for everyone

If you’re an investor, you know what’s crackin’ anyway. So this leading platform would be your go-to place for 120+ cryptocurrencies, amongst them Bitcoin and Ethereum, that you can exchange for fiat (regular) money.

Not only is it one of the most trusted online marketplaces in the world, but it’s also one of the oldest. Investopedia called it “a good choice for new and experienced crypto investors.” And Forbes Advisor gave it a 4.6-star rating, citing sophisticated features, good customer service options, and relatively low Bitcoin withdrawal fees as its main advantages.

For a company entering its teenage years (11 in July 2022), Kraken has already proved its “wisdom” beyond its age. The start-up doubles down on cybersecurity and is particularly uncompromising about protecting its users from potential hacks.

Cedar – It pays to care

When you recover from being unwell, the last thing you need is another headache related to payments for your treatments.

Enter Cedar, a start-up that strives to alleviate some more pain from that traditionally cumbersome process.

The New York company, started in 2016, is in the business of removing obstacles in “today’s fragmented healthcare system [that] frustrates everyone.” It’s a payment and engagement solution used by hospitals and other medical organizations to interact with their clients.

Cedar’s consumer-friendly platform, labeled “The Cedar Advantage”, takes the clients through the whole process: from pre-service (appointment booking) to post-visit (billing breakdown). Like many other innovative products, it was birthed after the co-founder’s “nightmarish personal journey through the healthcare system led to confusion, frustration, and disappointment.”

Caribou – Car payments under control

Americans love their cars. The country is so big that an automobile is often the best, if not the only, means of transport. Hence, insurance and other car-related payments are probably a common worry for the US population.

Caribou wants to change that. It claims that if “cars offer flexibility and freedom, payments shouldn’t hold you back.” As a result, it aims to make car owners aware that their best deal is not always the best one. Secondly, it wants to educate them on how to make savings next time.

Although the company has only recently joined the “unicorn club”, its innovative angle leverages the value of local lenders. Thanks to that partnership, the start-up can offer its clients a more competitive rate portfolio.

Human Interest – Helping employees save for retirement

In a world driven by purchasing power and hedonism, hardly anybody thinks of retirement. We’re used to spending our earnings here and now. That avocado on toast story, “blaming” the millennials for not knowing how to invest money, might be slightly exaggerated. But the truth is that, as a global society, we’re not very good at saving up for the future.

Human Interest noticed that worrying trend already in 2015. This 401(k) (pension-oriented) has developed a digital retirement benefits platform that allows the employees of small and medium-sized companies “to launch a retirement plan in minutes and put it on autopilot.”

And it seems to have gained the traction it deserves. Since the pandemic has taught people how important it is to have a financial buffer, Human Interest’s client base and revenue have significantly grown in recent years.

You are expecting number ten now, correct? But instead, there’s an honorable mention:

Klarna – Buy now, pay later

While not exactly a US company, we can’t omit this post-purchase payment start-up in this ranking, either.

Established in 2005 in Stockholm, it began operations in the States ten years later. Along with enormous success on the other side of the Atlantic, it is also “Europe’s most valuable private tech company” to date.

The Swedish start-up speaks to every consumer’s dream, regardless of their country of origin. Klarna’s core business ponders the question: Wouldn’t it be nice to buy something but not have to pay for it right away? And the answer is “yes”.

Conclusion

Although they are now public companies, Airbnb, PayPal, and Google are sometimes considered 21st-century “unicorns” as well.

Their story is almost like a fairy tale. It’s a little about fighting dangerous dragons, seeking the advice of wise wizards, and gradually gathering the riches to become “kings” of their respective “territories”.

And if that “fantastic” journey is any indication of where being a “unicorn” can ultimately take a start-up in the future, smart investors should pay even closer attention to progressive fintech companies in 2022. Like the ones we presented above.

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Also known as sustainable software development, green software development is a new and important discipline that applies to software practices and architecture, climate science, data centre and hardware design, and electricity markets.

Green software development refers to software that has been developed with the goal of limiting its negative effects on the environment, particularly in terms of energy consumption. It aims to reduce its subsequent carbon footprint by generating fewer greenhouse gases, making it kinder to our environment and positively impact the world around us by operating as efficiently as possible.

The importance of green software development

The concept of ‘green technology’ has been floating around for the past two decades, but it is only recently that it has begun to build meaningful traction. The green tech and sustainability market was valued globally at $11.2 billion back in 2020, but is expected to climb to $36.6 billion by 2025 with an annual growth rate of 26.6%.

Data centres use huge amounts of energy to run, sadly contributing to the global climate issues that we are experiencing today. Between 2010 and 2020, global data centre electricity use was around 200-250 TWh – 1% of the global energy demand.

It is therefore clear how important it is to curb global energy use in digital technologies given its monumental saturation of the total demand on our planet. Only through continued and sustained efforts within the IT industry will this happen, making green software development and practices more crucial now than it has ever been before in our past.

The principles of green software development

The principles of green software are an established set of fundamental guidelines that engineers must follow when developing and implementing software applications.

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What are the benefits of building sustainable software?

The environmental benefits of green software developments are clear. Greener tech means less energy usage and better efficiency. In turn, this reduces carbon emissions which positively contributes to reducing the damage to our environment. This is a widely accepted concept that everyone is on board with. Everyone in this world has a personal and collective responsibility in fighting climate change within their own personal sphere.

As well as these aforementioned environmental benefits, there are further sustainable software benefits that help to make an excellent case for green software development.

• Less complex architecture
  
  Green software typically runs with less interdependencies, meaning that they are inherently less complex, and therefore, they use less energy to function.
  
  
• Cost effective
  
  Fewer interdependencies means few resources are used, which in turn means that they are cheaper and more cost-effective to run.
  
  
• Faster computing speeds
  
  Similarly, lower complexity in a system means that it can often run much faster.
  
  
• Positive brand recognition
  
  Being seen as an ‘environmentally friendly’ company is hugely positive in today’s global social climate. Making your brand visible as a champion of green tech, pioneering the way in your industry for positive change does wonders for your brand image and will gain you a loyal following of similarly eco-focused customers. Of course, it’s important to ‘walk the walk’ and not only ‘talk the talk’, but that should go without saying.
  

How to build a sustainable software development Team

Green team building is much the same as building any successful tech team, but with a central and continuous focus on ‘sustainable’ practices.

Going through these areas early on will help to cement not only your trust and confirmation in the individuals themselves in terms of how they can successfully impact your green projects, but the employees’ own understanding of your company philosophy and what will be expected of them moving forward.

Lastly, it is really important to encourage the flow of ideas on how to better approach your green software development. Operate with an ‘open door’ policy and build transparency and autonomy into everything you do. If staff members feel that no stage of the tech development is hidden or ‘off the table’, they will feel empowered to bring their thoughts and opinions on how to better improve efficiency and build more sustainability into the project.

How to build a sustainable product roadmap

Building a green product roadmap is the final piece in the puzzle to becoming a truly sustainable-focused tech team. In order to create a successful environmentally friendly roadmap, it’s important to consider the following 4 key aspects:

Environmental impact

First and foremost, the product roadmap should detail where and how it will positively impact the environment. Some key questions to ask yourself at this stage include:

• How will it reduce emissions compared to another approach?
  
  
• How will you build in energy efficient strategies?
  
  
• What materials will you use? Are there other ‘greener’ materials you can use?
  
  
• What supply chains will you rely on? What green strategies do they have in place?
  
  
• Will this strategy be ‘green’ right away or will it take time to develop?
  
  
• Defining the answers to these types of questions early on will help you develop and refine your sustainable product roadmap and act as the framework to which all decisions can be based throughout its lifecycle.

Stakeholders

All your stakeholders will need to share your ‘green’ focus and sustainability efforts to as to maximise the positive impact of your project. This is applicable at every level, from your investors who will provide you with funds to develop your product, to your team members (as discussed previously), right through to the end users. Personnel at each stage will wield social and financial influence on your product so making sure they are all on board and share the same environmentally friendly vision is key.

Sustainability strategies

How will you ensure that sustainability will be built in to all corners of the project? Perhaps you will hold regular meetings with your team to review the sustainability of each aspect of the project, or maybe even regular sustainability reports to help stay on task and keep the end goal in mind. This could also extend to working more closely with suppliers and other third parties to review their own strategies and practices. Whatever form it takes, the devil is in the details.

Measuring success

It’s no good making such a big effort to onboard your team, build a company philosophy of ‘green tech development’ and work tirelessly to reduce your carbon footprint without understanding what that success looks like. Set out clear and measurable goals in your sustainability roadmap, along with achievable time deadlines, and check off those successes one step at a time. Breaking it down developmentally will also allow you reset, readjust and reevaluate in an agile manner, further adding to your chances of success.

Conclusion: How to build green software development and stay competitive in the market

Working in a green-focused mindset with all team members building efficiency into every area of the software product is the key to reducing the global energy expenditure that software development inevitably contributes. On the other hand, it’s crucial that we don’t just jump into these green initiatives with both feet without thinking first.

It needs to provide the same level of functionality to your main competitors (or more), as well as a high level of user satisfaction. It’s no good having a wonderfully sustainable product and company model, only for it to be expensive and perform poorly, as no one will use it. Everything needs to come together symbiotically, and this takes a group of highly focused individuals who share the same passion for sustainable software design and love for the state of the Earth. It can be done, it will be done, let’s do it.