The focus on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors has become a critical element in strategic decision-making.

CIOs are increasingly aligning their businesses with sustainability, from reducing carbon footprints to fostering social equity. However, a critical contributor to these goals often goes unnoticed – IT hardware.

Contrary to the perception that used IT equipment is merely e-waste, it holds significant potential to advance ESG objectives.

By leveraging IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) as a strategic tool, businesses can unlock the environmental, social, and governance value hidden within their IT assets while demonstrating leadership in responsible business practices.

ITAD: The key to ESG success

The lifecycle of IT hardware, from procurement to disposal, carries considerable environmental and social implications.

Used IT equipment, when managed responsibly, can help organisations mitigate their carbon footprint, promote circular economy principles, support social responsibility initiatives and mitigate the opportunities for data loss.

CIOs play a pivotal role in this endeavour. While they understand the operational importance of IT hardware, many overlook its potential to drive ESG outcomes.

By adopting sustainable practices throughout the asset lifecycle, CIOs can align IT operations with broader corporate ESG goals.

Chief Sustainability Officers (CSOs) face the daunting task of quantifying their organisation’s ESG impact, particularly regarding IT assets.

Accredited IT Asset Management (ITAM) service providers offer crucial support by gathering Scope 3 carbon sequestration data, tracking social impacts, and ensuring compliance with ESG reporting standards.

ITAD is no longer just about compliance = it’s about creating tangible value. With the ITAD market expected to exceed USD 51 billion by 2030, its role in shaping governance, risk management, and sustainability is undeniable.

Collaborating for sustainable impact

To effectively integrate ITAD into ESG strategies, organisations must adopt a multifaceted approach. Collaboration across departments, from legal and finance to marketing and operations, is essential.

Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are particularly well-positioned to showcase sustainability achievements.

By leveraging verified impact data related to IT hardware, CMOs can craft compelling narratives that highlight the company’s commitment to transparency and accountability.

These stories resonate with environmentally conscious consumers and differentiate the brand in a competitive market.

Going beyond compliance and demonstrating a proactive stance on ESG builds trust with stakeholders. It’s about fostering a culture where sustainability isn’t just a goal but a fundamental part of the business ethos.

Maximising IT hardware’s ESG contribution

Used IT hardware provides a unique opportunity to advance ESG objectives. Partnering with service providers that specialise in ITAM enables organisations to track the lifecycle impacts of their IT assets, including carbon savings and social contributions.

For example, donating refurbished computer equipment to educational or community initiatives not only extends the life of IT assets but also reinforces social equity.

Additionally, by ensuring responsible disposal processes, companies can prevent e-waste pollution, recovery base materials and demonstrate environmental stewardship.

The growing emphasis on ESG is also reflected in investor behaviour. In 2020, 85% of investors considered ESG factors in their decisions, according to a PwC survey.

Furthermore, 76% of clients indicated they would sever ties with companies demonstrating poor treatment of the environment, employees, or communities.

ITAD as a catalyst for transformation

Organisations must recognise ITAD as a strategic enabler, not merely a compliance requirement. By embedding ITAD into their ESG frameworks, companies can achieve:

• Reduced carbon footprints through equipment re-use before recycling
• Enhanced corporate reputation by showcasing measurable sustainability efforts
• Increased stakeholder trust through transparency and accountability

Amid today’s escalating business challenges, ITAD stands out as a symbol of responsible corporate conduct, steering enterprises toward a future defined by sustainability, adaptability, and collective prosperity.

Beyond compliance

To avoid the pitfalls of greenwashing and ensure genuine impact, organisations must prioritise data accuracy and transparency in their ESG reporting.

Partnering with accredited service providers not only streamlines this process but also strengthens the credibility of their sustainability claims.

The time is now for CIOs, CSOs, and CMOs to harness the untapped potential of IT hardware.

By integrating ITAD into a comprehensive ESG strategy, businesses can lead by example, fostering environmental stewardship and building a foundation of trust and loyalty among clients, employees, and investors alike.

ITAD is not just a process – it’s a movement. A movement that transforms used IT hardware from an operational necessity into a powerful force for positive environmental and social change.

Yet many Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) still face an uphill battle when trying to convince their Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) that marketing is not merely a cost centre, but a strategic revenue generator. In regions like sub-Saharan Africa, this disconnect is even more pronounced.

With 40 percent of all advertising spending in Nigeria expected to shift to digital channels by 2029, the pressure is on for marketing leaders to demonstrate clear, quantifiable business value.

In my journey working with diverse marketing teams, I’ve found that a handful of targeted, actionable steps can improve communication between CMOs and CFOs.

Here are practical tips and tools that have proven effective in enhancing marketing strategies and demonstrating true business value—turning initiatives into measurable drivers without claiming to have all the answers.

1. Rethinking Measurement: From Clicks to Conversions

For many, the success of a marketing campaign has traditionally been measured in impressions, click-throughs, or video views. While these metrics offer insight into reach and engagement, the action of a video view may not necessarily lead to revenue for the business.

Modern marketing demands a measurement framework that goes beyond surface-level data. This is where a combination of incrementality, attribution, and marketing mix modelling (MMM) comes into play.

Incrementality is the process of determining how much a particular marketing effort boosts sales that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.

Think of it this way: if you invest in a billboard or an online ad, incrementality testing (using tools like Campaign Experiments, Conversion Lift, or Search Lift) can reveal whether that campaign genuinely contributed to increased purchases or merely captured sales that would have occurred regardless.

Attribution works like detective work. It tracks the steps a customer takes along their journey—from seeing an ad to making a purchase—and assigns credit to each interaction.

Modern attribution models, such as data-driven attribution in Google Ads, help pinpoint which specific ad or interaction influenced the final decision.

This insight is crucial because it allows you to understand which channels or touchpoints are most effective in driving results.

Marketing Mix Modelling (MMM) involves analysing a range of data sources to understand how different marketing activities collectively contribute to business goals. Google’s very own MMM solution, set to be available soon to marketers, promises to simplify this process by offering deeper insights into the overall impact of your marketing mix.

When you combine these three elements—incrementality, attribution, and MMM—you create a robust framework that not only measures performance more accurately but also builds a compelling case for marketing as a key business driver.

2. Speaking the Language of Value

Once you’ve set up a modern measurement framework, the next step is communication. Too often, the dialogue between CMOs and CFOs is hampered by jargon or a focus on vanity metrics that don’t directly link to business outcomes. To bridge this gap, marketing leaders must “speak the language of value.”

1. Align Marketing with Business Goals:
   Start every campaign with a clear business objective—whether it’s boosting sales, enhancing brand loyalty. Ensure that every marketing activity, from the platforms you choose to the messaging you craft, directly supports that objective.
2. Clarify ROI at Every Stage:
   Recognise that different stages of the marketing funnel deliver different types of value. For example, while brand awareness campaigns might not yield immediate sales, they lay the groundwork for future revenue by building trust and favourability. Setting clear ROI expectations at each stage helps CFOs understand how early investments translate into long-term gains.
3. Map the Consumer Journey:
   Document the customer’s path from awareness to purchase. This mapping justifies your media choices and budget allocations by clearly linking each marketing action to a step in the consumer journey.
4. Monitor and Report Continuously:
   Keep your CFO in the loop with regular updates that tie marketing activities back to your business objectives. Establish benchmarks from the outset so that performance can be tracked and strategies adjusted as needed.

3. Reframing Your Marketing Strategy for Greater Impact

Despite the best efforts of CMOs, many marketing teams struggle to demonstrate the full impact of their campaigns.

Only 41% of marketing leaders believe their companies are mature in performance measurement, highlighting a significant gap in strategy.

To overcome this, it’s time to reframe your marketing approach from the ground up. Start with your company’s overarching business objective and then translate that into measurable key performance indicators (KPIs).

This top-down approach ensures that every campaign, whether it’s on Search, YouTube, social media, or other digital channels, is designed with the end goal in mind.

For instance, if your company’s objective is to increase market share, your marketing strategy should include targeted campaigns that focus on both broad brand awareness and specific conversion metrics.

Each channel should have tailored messaging and clearly defined ROI metrics that can be easily explained to your finance team.

In practice, this means understanding the unique characteristics of each platform. For example, the audience on YouTube might respond to engaging, visual storytelling, while users on Search might be more responsive to direct calls-to-action.

By framing your marketing strategy around clear business goals and measurable outcomes, you transform marketing from a cost centre into a proven revenue driver.

This shift not only helps in gaining the trust of CFOs but also sets the stage for more strategic decision-making across the organisation.

4. Leveraging the Right Tools for Performance Tracking

No modern measurement framework is complete without the right set of performance tracking tools. Having accurate and timely data is paramount to demonstrating marketing effectiveness.

Tools to improve your conversion tracking right now:

• Track conversions, such as website purchases, form submissions, or event registration, using Google Ads Conversion Tags, Floodlight Tags and Google Analytics Key Events. These tools not only track the conversion, but also other details about the customer, such as the path to purchase, location, if they are a new or returning customer, or if the conversion met a value-based goal.

• Add offline conversion tracking to include the data from conversion events that can be harder to track otherwise, for example in-store purchases, interactions with call centres, or events on the way to a conversion such as moving through the sale process for car insurance.

Why measurement is a necessity for marketers in sub-Saharan Africa in 2025

The industry’s current climate feels like shifting tectonic plates: marketing budgets are shrinking, customer interactions across marketing channels are increasing and changing, and consumer behaviour is ever-evolving.

CMOs in sub-Saharan Africa have an opportunity to rebrand themselves as business critical in the eyes of the C-suite with a renewed ability to prove that marketing is aligned with business goals.

By embracing this transformation, you’ll not only earn your CFO’s confidence but also establish a future where every marketing decision is grounded in data, insights, and clear business value.