Q&A: Rethinking end-user computing sustainability in government

From “one device” procurement strategies to the growing role of AI-enabled endpoints, sustainability is increasingly shaping how government approaches end-user computing. But reducing environmental impact isn’t just about buying more sustainable hardware – it requires a deeper understanding of device lifecycles, logistics, maintenance and user needs across diverse public sector roles.

In this Q&A, Tariq Hussain, Senior Director, Head of UK Public Sales at Dell Technologies UK explores where current government strategies are working, where they risk oversimplification, and how more holistic planning can help departments meet carbon reduction targets while improving performance and resilience.

Government is increasingly exploring “one device” or consolidated procurement strategies to drive efficiency and value. From a sustainability perspective, what do these initiatives get right – and where do they risk oversimplifying the real cost of end-user computing?

Consolidation can reduce complexity, drive scale efficiencies, and help government take a more strategic view of its end-user estate. Where the risk comes in is assuming that “one device” genuinely fits every role.

Across government, users have very different needs. Field workers in departments like Defra or defence require rugged, resilient devices. Researchers in laboratories or cultural institutions may need high-performance systems for CAD or data-intensive workloads such as genomic analysis. A single standard device rarely serves all of those use cases effectively.

From a sustainability perspective, the real opportunity isn’t just reducing variety, but right-sizing devices to user personas and optimising the full stack – from laptops and workstations to monitors and peripherals. For example, our monitors today are around 33 percent more energy-efficient in ‘on-mode’ than models from five years ago. Looking holistically at that ecosystem delivers far greater environmental benefit than enforcing uniformity for its own sake.

Public sector procurement discussions often focus on upfront specifications and unit price. Why is it important to look beyond “feeds and speeds” and consider the full lifecycle of a device when setting sustainability goals?

If procurement decisions focus purely on upfront price and specifications, it’s very easy to miss the bigger sustainability and value picture. It’s important to consider whether a device is durable, repairable, and well-matched to the workload – all factors that can lead to higher failure rates, more downtime and ultimately more e-waste.

We saw this clearly during Covid. Early procurements focused on the lowest possible unit cost, and some of those devices proved unfit for purpose. When government and suppliers worked together more collaboratively, it became possible to design devices that met price constraints and delivered the durability and longevity required.

Today, many government organisations are rightly trying to extend asset life. But that only works if devices are designed for it, with durability, repairability and future readiness built in. Modern endpoints also provide real-time diagnostics on power and thermal performance, allowing IT teams to manage efficiency proactively. Looking at total cost of ownership and lifecycle impact is essential if sustainability targets are to be met in practice, not just on paper.

Logistics and forward planning don’t always feature prominently in sustainability conversations. How big an impact can decisions like transport mode, refresh timing, and end-of-year purchasing behaviour have on government carbon reporting?

The impact is significant. Transport mode alone can make an enormous difference. Our analysis suggests shipping devices by ocean freight rather than air can reduce transport-related emissions by 85-91 percent, but it requires longer lead times and better planning.

When government can provide visibility of upcoming refresh cycles six months or more in advance, suppliers can consolidate shipments, reduce the number of vehicles on the road, and optimise packaging. Ground transport consolidation can deliver emissions reductions of around 70 percent compared with air freight, while also lowering cost.

Packaging itself is another lever; fewer, larger shipments allow for less material overall. All these factors directly affect Scope 3 emissions reporting, but they only become available when procurement and planning are aligned with sustainability goals from the outset.

Once devices are deployed, maintenance and support become major contributors to both cost and environmental impact. How should government organisations rethink repair, replacement and remote management?

Maintenance has become a much bigger part of the sustainability conversation over the last five or six years. Centralised lifecycle models covering deployment, repair, redeployment and recycling help organisations extract maximum value from devices while minimising waste.

Design choices matter here. Devices built with modular, replaceable components allow repairs to happen without full replacement. Our Dell Pro devices, for example, were the first commercial PCs to feature a Modular USB-C Port that is fixed with screws rather than solder. This increases durability and also enables easier repairs for one of the most commonly-used ports.

Increasingly, components are monitored using intelligent telemetry and AI-driven diagnostics, which can predict failures before they happen. That means fewer engineer visits, less transport and significantly less downtime for users.

The shift is from reactive replacement to predictive maintenance – extending device life while reducing emissions associated with unnecessary logistics and hardware turnover.

As public sector IT teams move towards cloud-managed endpoints, what role do recoverability and remote rebuild capabilities play in sustainability?

Every physical return or on-site visit for a software issue adds avoidable emissions and operational disruption. Cloud-managed endpoints with strong recoverability and remote rebuild capabilities allow many of those issues to be resolved without the device ever leaving the user’s hands.

The goal is simple: keep devices productive, secure and in service for as long as possible. When physical intervention is unavoidable, serviceable designs with customer-replaceable units enable local fixes rather than full device returns. Together, these approaches reduce waste while improving resilience and user experience.

There’s a growing debate around refurbished versus new devices in government. How should leaders approach this trade-off more strategically?

This shouldn’t be viewed as a binary choice. A tiered strategy is far more effective. For AI-intensive or power-user workloads, older hardware can be less efficient as it consumes more energy for lower performance. Our analysis found, for example, that modern AI-capable PCs can operate up to 34 percent cooler and up to 80 percent more energy efficient when running on‑device AI tools, maintaining productivity while reducing energy usage.

Refurbished devices still have a role, particularly for lighter administrative tasks. The key is ensuring secure retirement, refurbishment and reuse processes – something that has historically made some government organisations cautious. With robust asset recovery and data sanitisation services in place, that barrier is reducing, and we’re seeing greater confidence in circular approaches. Our asset recovery services feature industry-leading data sanitation processes, designed to securely erase sensitive information from retired devices. Using advanced tools and techniques, we help ensure compliance with global data security standards, including NIST 800-88 and ISO 27001, providing customers with peace of mind that their data is fully protected.

Against that backdrop, how is Dell evolving the way it designs, delivers and supports end-user devices for the public sector?

We look at this through three lenses.

First is efficient IT – designing energy-efficient client devices, improving shipping and logistics, and providing carbon tracking tools that help organisations cut power use while maintaining performance.

Second is circular IT. We design devices for repair, reuse and modularity, increase the use of recycled and renewable materials, and provide secure asset recovery services to extend hardware life and reduce waste.

Third is AI-driven efficiency. Intelligent telemetry and automation now optimise power and thermal performance in real time, helping organisations reduce emissions while improving reliability. We increasingly see sustainability as a performance advantage, not a trade-off.

Ultimately, increasing efficiency and reducing impact requires collaboration. When public and private sectors work together earlier – sharing timelines, understanding outcomes, and planning procurement more strategically – it becomes possible to deliver technology that is more sustainable, more resilient, and better aligned to the realities of digital government.