The Green Agenda: A Business Guide

Climate change can be an emotive issue. This book takes a cool look at the subject and shows you what makes it relevant to your business. A big part of the answer is energy. Computers consume a lot of energy, and energy costs money. The cost of powering and cooling data servers over three years is currently 1.5 times the cost of purchasing the server hardware. Over the next two decades, global demand for energy is predicted to rise by 50%, which means that your long-term energy costs are also likely to increase. In the end, if your organisation’s energy costs are high, it makes sense for you to focus on ways to reduce energy consumption. Improving the efficiency of data centre power supplies and reducing IT power requirements in the office are examples of how Green IT can yield a substantial return on investment.

This business guide to Green IT was written to introduce, to a business audience, the opposing groups and the key climate change concepts, to provide an overview of a Green IT strategy and to set out a straightforward, bottom-line orientated Green IT action plan.

Benefits to business of a Green IT strategy:

• Cut costs
  A Green IT strategy, including such measures as switching off PCs at night, or introducing Cloud Computing, will enable you to reduce the amount of energy that your organisation consumes and, therefore, to cut costs. 
• Improve sales
  Products that can demonstrate their green credentials are more attractive to consumers. As organisations pursue more ambitious environmental objectives, they are putting their suppliers under increasing pressure to improve their own environmental record. Meanwhile, the public sector has adopted rigorous standards for Green procurement. With Green IT you can help your company to reach more customers and to win new business.
• Enhance your organisation’s reputation
  The environment is an emotional issue, and environmental concerns affect the way your company is perceived by consumers. Green IT will support your company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategy by reducing the environmental impact of your operations. The evidence suggests that the market rewards companies whose practices are environmentally responsible.  
• Conform to regulations and standards
  New regulations, such as the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, aim to reduce the effects on the environment resulting from the use and disposal of IT equipment. Such regulations apply in many different countries, so compliance will help your business to operate at an international level.

Green social responsibility

Consumers have a more positive view of a company that takes its corporate social responsibility seriously, and addressing environmental concerns is now an important component of any organisation’s CSR. In the UK, the Companies Act 2006 introduced a statutory requirement for public companies to report on social and environmental matters. Thanks to the growing interest in ethical investment, CSR is also becoming a higher priority in terms of investor relations. All organisations in the developed world now use information technology. They should, therefore, plan to reduce the environmental impacts of their IT use within the framework of their overall CSR policy.

This book offers a practical, balanced assessment, which will enable company directors and executives to appreciate the business benefits of a Green IT strategy.

Buy this book to find out how a Green IT strategy can benefit your bottom line!

About the author:

Alan Calder is the founder director of IT Governance Ltd. His long executive career has spanned both the private and public sectors. He writes, speaks and consults widely on IT governance, compliance and information security.