There has been plenty of talk recently about the need to
appreciate the environmental impact of what we do in our day to day
lives.
Much has been said on green taxes, renewable resources and being
carbon-neutral, and 2007 is likely to be the year that green issues
start to take hold in business.
Green is beginning to appear on the management radar. The
challenge is how to promote a sound environmental policy while
remaining competitive in the face of a torrent of new challenges
and opportunities, not just in the UK, but in emerging markets and
China.
So what is a green strategy and why is it so important to have
one? Can IT make a difference? Can the CIO take charge of a green
strategy?
Certainly, the IT department can start by taking small steps,
such as configuring PCs, monitors and printers to power-down
automatically when not in use. This can have a significant impact,
but for a CIO to truly drive a green strategy, it is necessary to
demonstrate tangible benefits to the business.
Ken Harvey, global CIO at HSBC, has gone as far as taking the
bank's chief executive into a telepresence suite to demonstrate the
effectiveness of videoconferencing as an alternative to flying to
meetings (Interview:
How to make money by going green).
This provided evidence of the potential for real monetary
savings that would add to the bank's bottom line. The fact that
videoconferencing has a small carbon footprint was a bonus in
business terms.
Following this example, for 2007, IT directors should look to
demonstrate leadership in environmental issues by investigating how
green IT can add to the bottom line. It is a golden opportunity:
save the planet and boost IT's reputation on the board.
www.computerweekly.com/environment
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