Sustainability is proving to be a bit of a tricky concept to handle for many companies. It appears to be wrought by equal measures of risk and opportunities for the IT departments.A continually changing situation related to sustainability and green IT in terms of political will, consumer awareness, and CIOs' goals and priorities, is creating increasing business risk for organisations. If they don't position themselves to include sustainability or green technology as a strategy, they may face reputational backlash.On the other hand, tendencies to overstate the green credentials of products and services or "green washing”, and the difficulty in seeing apparent return on investments has made many IT decision makers wary of buying into the green hype.Yet, from several fronts we are hearing of a possible change in attitude towards green IT as a driver towards corporate savings, rather than just being a smart marketing phrase.According to research institute Gartner, 2011 and 2012 will be an important period for the CIO and IT management team, because it will mark a transitional period during which their awareness of the implications of the corporate and economic sustainable transformation will need to develop rapidly, requiring changes to their processes, people and technology.Analyst Simon Mingay from Gartner released a report in March 2011, where he says this transformation will impact all areas of IT activities from governance processes and enterprise architecture, through strategic planning, business development, infrastructure and operations, to application development."CIOs and the IT management team find themselves in a transitional period during which their maturity of awareness of sustainability will drive the implications of the corporate and economic sustainable transformation,” says Mingay.He expects IT executives will be concerned about claims from technology and service providers of solutions providing reductions in energy consumption, embodied energy analysis, "technology miles" (the phases in which technology travels from processing and distribution to where it is purchased by consumers), reuse, recycling, packaging, upgradability, pollution and contamination, the environmental total cost of ownership, the environmental value of IT, the use of sustainable materials and the reduction of consumables."A well-informed, environmentally aware enterprise, under detailed scrutiny and increasing pressure from informed consumers, will likely make different choices compared with the relatively uninformed enterprise of today. The transition from one to the other could happen quickly,” the report states.Mingay warns that organisations and consumers will become sceptical about the environmental credentials of vendors whose programmes are simply focused on power reduction, or whose strategies are focused on carbon offsets. Vendors that have tried to address environmental issues for years will finally find the enterprise and consumer door opening, with "greenness" becoming a differentiator with a potential price premium.He says it is important that an environmentally friendly solution will:
- Benefit the environment
- Attract new business
- Potentially cut business costs
Leading the chaseThe attitude in New Zealand still seems to be different from large organisations to the small and medium sized companies, with the larger corporations leading the chase towards greener pastures.Fuji Xerox is a company which has had sustainability as a specific part of their company policy for decades, but it is now also starting to see more demand for greener solutions from their larger New Zealand customers."When we work with larger companies, sustainability matters are now becoming a core part of what they are asking of us. This has changed from being just questions relating to their compliance requirements, as was the case three to four years ago, to much more detailed questions about supply chain management and end-of-life disposal of products,” says Steven Caunce, corporate affairs manager for Fuji Xerox New Zealand.He says many of these companies now have managers in charge of sustainability, and they are actively looking for ways to be more efficient. From being a "nice to do" element, choosing green solutions has now become much more of an incorporated part of an overall strategy.The smaller companies are still mainly concerned about cost, he finds, and while many of them want to be environmentally friendly, they more often focus on looking for the cheapest options."A solution or product that is ‘green’, but at the same time cost efficient, is ideal. For some of these smaller companies, little initiatives such as a conscious choice to save paper can be a great way to save money, while at the same time having a more positive impact on the environment."The challenge is to change attitudes so that companies realise sustainability is not just about compliance, but also something that is good for the company itself through lower costs,” says Caunce.The appetite for greener solutions has for many companies been diminished by concerns about the financial climate. Matthew Johnson, who has worked with Green IT solutions for more than a decade as director for the New Zealand based company Transend Ltd, has felt this pinch among his customers."Most customers are really keen to talk, and are interested in delivering more sustainable solutions, but quite often Green IT initiatives are put on the back-burner due to other more pressing business requirements,” he says."Unless there are wider business directives to have sustainability or Green IT as a non-financial business metric or key performance indicator and part of an overall organisation scorecard, little progress is made.”Yet, he thinks most companies would find greener solutions to be cost effective, and often leading to savings."Sustainability has a huge impact on strategy, especially within IT. Customers deciding on their future IT environment, if thinking sustainably would ‘have’ to be thinking of cloud based services, thin client technologies, outsourcing and desktop virtualisation."I believe that we will start seeing real business benefits, efficiency and Green IT cost saving solutions delivered to the market, and when customers start seeing the real benefits and understand the cost savings that’s when attitudes will change,” says Johnson.E-waste awarenessDisposing of IT equipment in a sustainable way at the end of its lifetime, rather than letting this e-waste end up in landfills, is another side of Green IT, which seems to be catching on.The New Zealand based leasing company Equico commissioned the independent research company UMR Research to survey the attitude to sustainability and e-waste recycling among New Zealand companies.The findings from the 281 companies included in the survey shows three quarters of businesses citing sustainable disposal of IT equipment as an important issue. 40% of respondents mentioned they dispose of their IT equipment through a recycling organisation and 28% used a specialist IT waste disposal organisation. Despite this broad commitment, one in five businesses was unsure how they disposed of their IT equipment."Despite businesses having to operate in tighter economic conditions, this research reinforces that responsible disposal of technology is a must-do for many businesses,” says Paul Beattie, managing director, Equico.Beattie says the survey confirmed his impression of corporate attitudes to recycling, which has been reflected in his company’s own commitment to either reusing or sending to an accredited recycling partner when the leases of their products come to an end."Our customers more and more often want an end-to-end solution that is sustainable. They are very keen to know what becomes of their equipment after the lease.”The reason for the interest in how vendors or leasing suppliers dispose of the equipment could be a way of taking responsibility for sustainability by consciously placing the responsibility with those suppliers."In some European countries vendors are required to place a levy on products, which covers the cost of taking back the product for recycling at the end of the lifespan. In New Zealand the onus is still on the user, but especially larger companies are choosing to place this responsibility with their supplier instead, and thereby making sure they live up to policies on sustainability,” says Beattie.Changing perceptionsLooking ahead, analyst Simon Mingay from Gartner says IT executives and CIOs will need to continue the work they have begun in Green IT in terms of improving the environmental performance of the IT services themselves."They will need to work more closely and in partnership with groups around the organisation managing the operational technology, including facilities management and process and production engineering, as well as supporting services such as HR and travel.”Transend’s Matthew Johnson agrees with the need for a change in perception, and thinks once organisations start to seriously measure their environmental impact right throughout their supply chain and have a score card which includes the Green IT element, then attitudes will change."When organisations get serious about their environmental responsibilities and stop paying lip service to it, then they will eventually realise how IT can help as enablers for a low-carbon economy,” he says.
