By Gemma Simpson, 19 July 2007 10:38
NEWS
UK companies are failing to choose eco-friendly IT and are more concerned with getting cheap and secure technology, research reveals.
More than 60 per cent of companies continue to regard cost as the key factor in IT purchasing decisions and 35 per cent view security as the primary concern, according to the survey of 100 UK IT managers.
Environmental concerns ranked third, with just three per cent of respondents citing this as a priority, research from Windows management software company 1E reveals.
It also found that more than two-thirds of companies surveyed have no formal policy for shutting down company computers during the evening and weekends.
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Sumir Karayi, CEO of 1E, said given the ever-increasing focus on corporate carbon footprints, the findings indicate the need to raise awareness of IT power consumption issues.
But the UK is slowly cottoning on to green IT options with 63 per cent of companies surveyed planning to review the power consumption of their technology infrastructure.
Employees who leave their PCs on overnight are costing their companies £70 per year, according to research from the National Energy Foundation.
Comments
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1. Brian Murray
doesn't this seem obvious?
Two things stand out though ...
1/ CIOs need to adopt sufficient vision to consider the longer term savings at least as much as the 'quick wins' - including the strategic advantages for the company.
2/ We need to ensure companies are financially motivated to be more Green. This needs to be as much in terms of 'carrot' as 'stick' - i.e. not just penalising those who fall short on environmental compliance or through green taxes, but also through tax rewards, accreditations, increased market access, etc.
2. anonymous
I saw that BP was testing a scheme to subsidise user purchases and not bother buying traveling users laptops.
Seemd wise as they reduce their TCO and users can get the device that suits their own unique tastes. Seems very green to only get one Pc rather that a work and home PC.
Problem is how does It secure their network from a whole host of inidivual machines.
3. Simon
Brian Murray makes a valid point, too many (so called) managers do not consider anything past the purchase price. I know it's often hard to quantify, but I've generally tried to consider the running costs when selecting options - and present that along with the capex.
But it seems all too common (both anecdotally and from personal experience) for the bean counters to demand the lowest purchase price<period>.
4. Jerona Noonan
The fact that cost and security remain top of mind when companies are considering IT investment should come as no surprise in a tough economic climate in which businesses face an unprecedented range of external threats.
Yet there is growing evidence that environmental concerns are increasingly hitting the corporate radar, whether in response to external legislative, customer or shareholder pressures or from a sense of corporate social responsibility in wishing to be seen as a good corporate citizen.
In the case of collaboration technologies, for example, a survey of UK employees sponsored by analysts Frost & Sullivan recently endorsed our own research, which found that of all factors under their company’s control, 88 per cent of respondents considered business travel via car or plane to be number one in terms of its negative impact on the environment.
At the same time, two-thirds believe that using web collaboration for virtual meetings to reduce travel can have a significant effect in reducing this damage.
The other factor driving a more positive response is that individuals and companies can now measure the carbon savings they can make, demonstrating how they can ‘make a difference’ in what would otherwise appear to as remote and meaningless global statistics. Using carbon calculators, it becomes possible to accurately determine the cost in terms of CO2 emissions, travel miles and man-hours of physically attending a meeting compared to holding a virtual meeting.
And, because you can measure it, you can start to control it.