Target Key Areas for Maximum Impact
Though according to some estimates today IT contributes to around 4-5% of Global Carbon Emissions and we need to control that, IT has the potential and power to impact the remaining 95% as well. The critical element in this entire journey is the Green IT intervention strategy where the decision makers agree on areas where IT could influence the environment.Actions Speak Louder Than Plans
Here are some Green IT Initiatives that we have taken or are underway at Hero MotoCorp:- Green IT as a focus area in the IT Policy
- New, energy efficient datacenter with power management features
- Virtualization and server consolidation
- Use of TFTs in place of CRTs for displays
- Reduction of printers
- Video conferencing / Collaboration tools - to reduce travel
- Buying of energy certified equipment - replacing old inefficient equipment
- Creating Awareness in organisation
- Usage of e-learning to reduce trainee or trainer travel
- New IT initiatives to cut paper consumption such as;
- converting our paper based customer loyalty program to an online card based program
- cutting down on printing of cheques in a big way and going for electronic fund transfer
- digitization of workflows needing approvals, e-fax to get fax on email and many others
Reaping Benefits
Implementing Green IT initiatives benefits not only the environment but the enterprise as well. Here are some positive outcomes that we saw after embarking on our Green IT mission:- Focus on Green IT provided excellent means for opportunity to care for the society and environment
- For the employees, it gave a sense of satisfaction and ownership as they feel that they are also trying to contribute at their level in saving the environment
- Many initiatives also helped to improve productivity in the organisation - e.g. video conferencing, workflow automation, customer loyalty program automation, electronic transfer of funds etc
- Green IT has helped the IT team in day to day management - e.g. number of servers to be managed reduced as we used virtualization, or number of printers to be managed have reduced
- There were direct savings in power consumption and cost thereof - whether at datacenter or at user end it was not just considering power consumption by equipment but also considering lower heat generation as the room requires reduced air-conditioning
- Other savings include space, power and administrative cost savings at the datacenter, reduced paper consumption costs, etc.
An enterprise is bound to face challenges while trying to put a Green IT plan into action. For instance, we faced some challenges with disposal and recycling of existing equipment - as to how to dispose off CRTs to replace them with TFTs with least possible damage to the environment. We had to look for a vendor who would take back the existing CRTs and recycle them. But the pros of practicing Green IT clearly outnumber the cons.
All benefits and challenges aside, saving the environment is something that touches every heart today. Each and every employee can contribute to this initiative with the CIO leading the way to a cleaner, greener planet.
