|
Far
from being the sole preserve of left-leaning environmentalists, green methodologies
are increasingly being embraced by the world’s leading CIOs to both cut costs
and drive new business.
Lower energy costs, a more streamlined
supply chain, greater customer approval: you don’t have to believe in climate
change to see that there are substantial benefits for companies that apply
environmental-driven common sense to IT strategies and procurement.
Green IT is all about eliminating wasted
energy, wasted space and wasted materials – and a growing army of IT
professionals are recognizing the benefits of a more sustainable IT approach.
In fact, financial motivation – not environmental motivation – is increasingly
the driving force behind the pursuit of greener IT.
According to leading Forrester Research,
sustainability initiatives – including green computing – are emerging as
the next driver of business innovation and growth for many companies, driven by
rising regulatory and customer pressures, the need to enhance their brands, and
competitive differentiation. Recent research by the technology analysis firm
suggests the sustainability consulting services market alone will reach US$9.6
billion by 2015.
CIOs at some of the world’s biggest firms
are already sold on the concept of going green. For instance, Mike Yorwerth,
Head of Global Technology and Architecture at retail giant Tesco, believes IT
has a big role to play in meeting sustainability targets. “If you look at IT as
a proportion of the carbon footprint of Tesco as a whole, it’s only somewhere
in the order of 2-3 percent,” he says. “However, it plays a critical role in
reducing the carbon footprint of the other 98 percent.”
As a result, Yorwerth’s team is focused on
what it can do to help Tesco reduce its carbon footprint across the
organisation as a whole. The opportunities are numerous, as he explains. “We
look from a design, an architectural and an infrastructure point-of-view at how
we can minimise the carbon footprint of a particular project or programme, and
then we measure it once it’s gone in and set a carbon budget for the year for
the department based on those measurements.”
He’s not alone. Over 68 percent of IT
chiefs in a recent CIO.com survey said they either already have a green IT
program in place or are starting to address the issue.
Some see the Asia Pacific region
– with its booming economies, population and demand for energy – as
the perfect breeding ground for the proliferation of green IT. While
traditional leaders in the US and Europe struggle to balance cost, risk and
growth with only a small increase in spend, Asia is positioned to take-off over
the next 12 months with growth estimated at six percent – higher than any other
region in the world. Even more promising is the forecast for technology
investment in Asia: IT spend is predicted to top a monumental US$312 billion in
2011 alone, according to figures from Gartner. The opportunity is therefore
ripe for companies offering green IT solutions that save money and provide
long-term value.
“Now more than ever, CIOs will only respond
and commit to those solution providers who can link tangible cost benefits with
the solutions they provide,” says Nick York, Director of the CIO Summit APAC
2011, produced by GDS International. “Green computing solutions increasingly
provide this link, but getting the implementation right and finding the right
partner often means the difference between the success and failure of a green
computing initiative. The CIO Asia Summit will provide a vital means of
communication and provide an ideal framework for new business relationships to
flourish.”
The future of the green computing is just
one of the topics up for discussion at CIO Summit APAC 2011, which takes
place from 4-6 October at the Golden Palm Tree Resort & Spa, Kuala Lumpur.
This closed-door summit will feature some of the leading voices in the technology
management sector, including Benedict Tan, Group CIO for Singapore Health
Services; Virendra Kumar Bansal, Group CIO of Luminous Power Technologies; Ram
Dalal Malav, VP Corporate IT at Jindal Group; and Mukund Prasad, Director &
Group CIO at Welspun.
Alongside consideration of the key
challenges currently facing IT departments, other key topics for discussion
include dealing with an increasingly mobile workforce;
embracing the cloud as a means of cutting infrastructure costs and refocusing
on innovation; and how to improve response times to changing market scenarios.
CIO SummitAPAC
2011 is an exclusive C-level event reserved for 100 participants that
includes expert workshops, facilitated roundtables, peer-to-peer networks and
co-ordinated meetings.
For more information, visit http://www.ciosummit.asia
Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register. |
