Less is more
Lowering corporate risk and increasing competitiveness through better environmental practice

One of the new and rapidly emerging risks to organisations is the quality of their environmental performance.  Risk in terms of inefficiency and waste; risk in terms of inability to comply to tighter and more demanding legislation; and risk from the fact that private and public stakeholders are putting an ever higher premium on businesses that deliver high environmental standards, and disassociating themselves where it does not.

Organisations need to reduce risk from all these factors through better environmental performance, yet the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems on which businesses depend are producing ever rising carbon emissions.

ICT systems are essential for processing information and connecting people so that they can exchange knowledge and ideas freely, anywhere, 24 hours a day. To do this, vast infrastructures have been created: application servers; computing storage and backup systems; wired and wireless communications networks; anti-virus servers; internet firewalls; email servers; web servers; PDAs; BlackBerry devices; mobile phones; the list goes on.

And we keep investing. In the ten years between 1993 and 2002, global ICT investment – at $2,400 billion – was almost twice what it was in the previous decade. The scale of this growth – 8 per cent a year - has created a surging demand for power in order to keep information flowing throughout the global, digital economy.

The fact is that we can’t re-cork the genie. And more so, we recognise that ICT systems can also be key to delivering enhanced environmental responsibility. But this need not - and cannot - be at the expense of organisational performance.

More from Moore
So while we would not wish to halt the march of the innovation that underlies growth, all organisations need to find ways of doing more, whilst consuming less. It’s not just about a moral responsibility to reduce pollution; the era of cheap power is over.

According to Moore’s law, processors double in performance and halve in cost every 18 months. Power consumption, it seems, rises inexorably.  If current trends continue, we could reasonably expect that in future, the powerful server that guides your every move might cost £500 to buy, but the power to keep it working over its lifetime could cost £5000. So must we scale down our use of ICT to save costs and sacrifice business performance, for the sake of the environment?

Not necessarily. In deploying ICT to make themselves fast, streamlined, agile and resilient, organisations can automatically become more responsible ICT users.  They can create smaller carbon footprints as they examine their IT infrastructures and discover new sources of competitive advantage.

But where to start?  Logicalis believes there are three key areas that should be addressed.

Virtualise and consolidate
First, we can look hard at our infrastructures.  The key here is server and storage virtualisation, and server, storage and device consolidation.

Virtualisation is one of the prime ways to deliver drastically more efficient systems, and has massive advantages in accelerating the speed of new systems deployment. It also allows an ICT team, for instance, to reduce the number of servers in use, sometimes by significant numbers, particularly as many Intel/AMD-based servers are functioning at 10 per cent of capacity or less.  This means less equipment, less cost, less power for processing and cooling, less carbon emissions - all whilst ensuring organisations can be quicker off the mark and more able to respond to change.

Second, the buildings that house the people and equipment must become smarter, as energy costs rise, and new, stricter building regulations are enforced. Newer generations of building management systems are now connecting heating, power, lighting and cooling systems into the communications network, allowing buildings to conserve energy and resources not just on their own, but by working together. If a building is too hot and it’s cooler outside, why not open or shade the windows automatically, to allow in cooler air rather than turning on the air conditioning system?

Third, we must also harness the use of ICT in the social fabric to lower the overall carbon footprint, by adopting new working practices such as home working, collaboration and video and web conferencing.

An ICT strategy that seamlessly connects people anywhere, any time, means less traffic on our roads, fewer power-hungry devices, less reliance on centralised resources and an opportunity to exploit computing and communications to make organisations more efficient and agile.  And, of course, its helps protect the planet at the same time.

Top down versus bottom up
Of course, despite the fact that a technology-driven strategy can drastically affect an organisation's green profile.  There are things that can be done right now that can have an immediate effect on its carbon footprint and contribution to sustainability.

Anyone can remember to switch off devices or not leave them on standby. Removing devices from chargers as they are charged is no great task, as is switching off lights – even after incandescent light bulbs have been changed for fluorescent low-energy models.

And, of course, if a company is taking advantage of home working, employees should be encouraged to be energy efficient through the same practices as at work, and pay attention to home insulation levels too, otherwise efficiency may not necessarily be matched by economy. This is an area where government has a role to play in recognising that an organisation’s facilities in future will be much more that its own offices.  It must use the carrot and stick of grants and taxation to encourage energy efficiency throughout the whole of the extended enterprise.

Other practices can make a difference too, no matter where the employee is located.  Using recyclable consumables wherever possible; reducing paper usage by electronic storage and transmission of documents, and consuming paper with a high recycled content when you have to - the list goes on.

WEEE things matter
The EC is taking recycling seriously and the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) initiative will bite increasingly as more organisations are now bound by the directive to recycle more, and have to invest in more energy efficient manufacturing processes and products.

Green is good
We are entering a time when an organisation that is seen to be green is more attractive to business partners, consumers and stakeholders of all kinds, who are increasingly conscious of the environmental impact of the products and services they use.

It’s clear that smart technology deployment and management, as well as its more innovative use to drive social changes, could result in significant global carbon reductions.

Organisations too will increasingly promote their carbon friendly ICT strategy as a key business differentiator, whilst gaining huge productivity and competitive advantages. The strategy can also generate new income streams. Why not trade your saved carbon emissions with those businesses that must have power, in return for goods, services – even cash?

So, to be truly successful, responsible ICT calls for a shift in strategic thinking – an approach that drives more efficient business processes through the goal of environmental conservation and vice versa. In that way, any initiative for green ICT has the highest chance, adding real value to the operations of any organisation.

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