infoTECH Feature

February 17, 2009

Report: eCommerce Companies Lack Leadership When Implementing Green Initiatives

By Nitya Prashant
Do IT professionals recognize the need for sustainability imperatives? A new study conducted by The BPM Forum and its Global Renewable Energy and Environmental Network (GREEN) in conjunction with Rackable Systems and Intel (News - Alert) has the answers.
According to the results of the study, 97 percent of IT professionals feel that it is important for their Internet and eCommerce related businesses to reduce their carbon footprint. While 83 percent of the respondents say their organizations are more sensitized to ecological considerations, they also believe that not enough is being done to adopt eco-logical processes and practices.
Entitled, “Think Eco-Logical – IT Sustainability Imperatives in Internet and eCommerce Business,” the report is part of a Think Eco-Logical initiative to alert companies on the need to address both the environmental side (Eco) of IT sustainability imperatives and the economics (Logical) of achieving environmental efficiencies in the data center.
With the EPA stating that power failures and limits on availability will stop operations at more than 90 percent of data centers over the next five years, environmental initiatives acquire great urgency. Yet, according to the study, more than 43 percent of companies don't have or don't know if they have a corporate sustainability agenda in place.
The top challenge to environmental sustainability is the lack of awareness of business benefits, the report notes.
IT professionals are showing active involvement in ecological issues with 89 percent believing they are acting ecological to some extent.
90 percent of those surveyed said they attach importance to their servers being environmentally friendly and cited reducing energy costs, satisfying CSR (News - Alert), and positive PR from green initiatives as top benefits.
However the report points out that these positive intentions have not resulted in pioneering green initiatives and practices.
Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the BPM Forum states, "Faced with a myriad of forces and factors, including a severely challenged economy and peer pressure to become more sustainable, IT executives must drive ecological action, not just rhetoric."
As the demand for Internet services such as online shopping, video downloads, social networks and massive search queries increases, energy infrastructure is under pressure, the study notes. As companies feel the pinch, they are looking at cutting back on lighting, power, and cooling costs as part of the Thinking Eco-Logical initiative.
The survey shows that three out of four of the top ecological plans over the next year to realize these cost improvements involve improved server solutions, namely, virtualization, consolidation, and server efficiency.
George Skaff, vice president of marketing at Rackable Systems (News - Alert) notes with more companies thinking of green initiatives, there is a real need for leadership and best practices.  
Skaff adds, "By building additional awareness and offering better solutions around Think Eco-Logical, we are helping more organizations improve data center productivity while reducing costs and carbon footprint."
The report’s findings are based on a comprehensive online survey and executive dialogs including insights from over 275 IT professionals. The report also gathers perspectives from search providers, online retailers, SaaS (News - Alert) companies, and other Internet service providers on ways to reduce carbon footprint, improve efficiencies, and achieve greater business gain from environmental practices in the data center.
Don’t forget to check out TMCnet’s White Paper Library, which provides a selection of in-depth information on relevant topics affecting the IP Communications industry. The library offers white papers, case studies and other documents which are free to registered users. Today’s featured white paper is Fixed Service Strategies for Mobile Network Operators, brought to you by Comverse (News - Alert).

Nitya Prashant is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Nitya's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Michelle Robart
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