IT managers cynical about Green IT
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IT professionals are increasingly sceptical of suppliers’ claims on green technology.
A survey by hosting firm Iomart found that 72% of the 3,000 IT managers questioned felt they were being misled by manufacturers over the environmental benefits of certain technologies.
Despite this, 90% said the environment was “important” to their operations, while two-thirds said they did not think manufacturers supplied enough “green products”.
The majority see green initiatives as benefiting the bottom line: 66% said “going green” would cut costs.
However, taking the lead for being friendlier to the environment is seen as largely the responsibility of suppliers. A staggering 95% of IT managers said they had never seen their organisation’s electricity bill.
“There seems to be a real contradiction within the IT industry,” says Iomart CEO Angus MacSween. “Most IT managers and directors say they are concerned about the environment but very few have taken the time to formulate a green policy.”
MacSween highlighted the potential cost savings of many so-called “green” initiatives: “The advance of things like virtualisation allow more to be done with less, so it’s incumbent on all of us involved in the industry to put new technology to best use so we can benefit from the environmental, not to mention the financial, rewards.”
Green credentials
Every organisation is under increasing pressure from customers, employees, shareholders and government to be more environmentally aware. But the green bandwagon has proved too tempting for some organisations looking to boost ethical credentials via headline grabbing policies way before they have achieved tangible change. The increasing pressure on UK businesses for green credentials will create a significant cost for them unless organisations get their asset registers in order.
Assessment of environmental practices and reporting is certainly on the increase for business and generic statements about green strategies – from procurement to recycling, carbon footprint to flexible working – will not suffice in the long term: organisations will have to prove their commitment through information transparency and auditable policies.
At the heart of such transparency will be consistent, detailed information about the life cycle of every asset - from country of origin through maintenance schedules to final disposal.
Existing green policies such as the WEEE directive and measuring carbon footprints assume a level of asset management far beyond that achieved by the majority of UK business. How many UK businesses can accurately identify the location of their WEEE equipment within the organisation and confirm when it was purchased and from whom? By linking the asset register to a document management system organisations can create the required audit trail, gaining valuable insight into their own assets and adapting to the ‘green economy’.
Yours faithfully,
Karen Conneely
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