Greening IT
“Greening IT” is becoming a mantra to many these days. To some it is merely marketing, to others it is a way to reduce costs and reinvest those savings into more valuable IT pursuits. Prior to the recent economic woes, there were even those who simply wanted to do right by the environment. Although they have most likely switched their business cases to be more cost focused by now.
Of late, it has been top of mind for me…
Since early this year, I have been working on a large, multi-customer research project called Redefining Employee Computing. We have been delving into how Web 2.0, cloud computing, social networking, Gen Ys entering the workforce, the economy, globalization and other converging forces are redefining the way in which IT enables its users. Our scope is broad in that it includes desktops, mobile devices, security, data management, access, identity, collaboration, etc. Our research is not focused on “green”, but because of the broadness of scope and the complexity of many of our members’ environments, our hypotheses and results are not only describing cost, flexibility and innovation benefits, but “green benefits” as well. For example, the new EC models will include more telecommuting, less travel and fewer, big, energy inefficient facilities.
I recently commented on a great post by Esteban Herrera of NovaSphere Group on how IT outsourcing providers need to step up to this particular plate to ensure they are able to survive in the long term. Additionally, those who do so quickly should be able to undercut the prices of their competitors who haven’t in the short term.
And just yesterday, I was reading Treehugger and came across its summarization of a recent Capgemini study, the Green IT Report 2008, which is “a study of the IT industry’s green credentials and an assessment of how industry leaders, EMC, HP, IBM, Google and Sun Microsystems are dealing with the topics of environmental responsibility, sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility.” The study suggests that some leading IT companies are serious about their green initiatives and are making measurable progress. Given the few included and limited participation by some in the study, however, we still have a ways to go.
I’m hopeful that we’re beginning to move from insulting marketing ploys into the real world of making it happen.
NovaSphere Blog said,
October 24, 2008 at 10:57 am
Kimberly, has a “green leader” in the IT industry emerged? Trends always catch on faster when we have someone to follow. I am sure there are plenty of positive-business case green initiatives out there, but unless you are looking for them, they can be a little hard to find. I would love to be able to provde to my clients the return they will receive for green decisions with hard data.
kimberlyanna said,
October 24, 2008 at 11:15 am
Esteban, an excellent question! There have been a few big initiatives that are out there and tangible but they are buried within a mess of nonsense marketing. So, I don’t doubt those leaders and real examples are hard to find.
The first example that comes to mind is from Google. In their quest to “do no evil,” they have quickly realized they are using an astronomical amount of energy and producing an equally astonishing amount of heat as waste in the massive data centers they own/run. They have begun massive solar installations and new ways of reusing the excess heat to power and/or heat buildings, etc.
Another example, though I do not have specifics yet, is on the manufacturing side. Many of the major technology manufacturers are coming out with new products which use less or no toxic materials, use less energy or have energy saving modes and, as in Cisco’s Telepresence case, could completely negate the need for travel.
I think I will delve further into this issue for my next post!