Green IT has a lot of moving pieces and dependencies – In the broadest sense Green IT will include the power grid, smart buildings, telepresence, telecommuting, virtualization, product design, environmental control systems, and on...
It’s still mostly about energy efficiency or product disposal - Good corporate citizens like Dell, HP, IBM, Cisco and others have had product take back programs for years, but the movement hasn’t really progressed beyond that.
You can’t go out and buy a “Green IT” – Our industry does very well when it has a definitive product and a clear message. When it doesn’t, even the best salespeople flounders and customers know it.
The cost savings are tough to calculate – Using virtualization has clear demonstrable bottom line benefits. We know how much a server costs, but how many businesses know how much they pay for the energy their servers consume?
There’s a big “free rider” problem – Green IT is one of those things everyone thinks others are addressing. This belief lowers the pressure on individuals to do something about it themselves.
There are numerous other reasons I could have listed because it is a complex marketing task, but we have to start somewhere. To me, the best way to generate better understanding of Green IT is by looking at the ecosystem within which your company and your customers currently operate. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Are you using telepresence to cut travel?
- Is virtualization deployed in your server room?
- Do you encourage telecommuting?
- Have notebooks replaced “always on” desktops?
- Are powerful handheld devices replacing notebooks?
- Do you encourage double-sided printing?
If you answered “yes” to most of these questions...congratulations!
You’re part of the Green IT movement.
