IT Sustainability

Organisations are become increasing aware of and adopting more sustainable business practices due to:

• legislative changes
• desire to improve corporate responsibility
• recognising the benefits of a sustainable business approach
  

"CIOs need to be aware of the environmental impact of the whole organisation, and whether their ICT helps or hinders green efforts." Gartner, Dec 2007

Effectus is committed to assisting IT teams to adopt sustainable IT practices to realise the financial, environmental and social benefits of sustainability. IT has a key enablement role to support sustainable practices across organisations but it first has to put its own house in order.

There are a number of key challenges facing the IT industry:

• Increasing demands on IT functions
  In 2007, there were 1 billion computers in use worldwide. This is expected to QUADRUPLE by 2020.
  "In just 2 years time, the world's data storage needs will DOUBLE every 11 hours" IBM Global Tech
• Energy costs and supply constraints
  Demand for power and increases in cost of energy are both rising at 10% each year.
  "By 2010, more than 70% of enterprise data centres will face tangible disruptions related to floor space, energy consumption and costs." Gartner, 2007
• Legislation and compliance requirements
  Regulations relating to power efficiency ratings, certifications for the responsible disposal of end-of-life electronic equipment, waste minimisation procedures and carbon mitigation requirements
• Market pressures to demonstrate corporate social responsibilities
  Expectations on businesses by supply chain partners, consumers and employees to demonstrate their corporate social responsibilities through tangible procedures which benefit the whole environment.
  ICT already generates more CO2-e gases into our atmosphere, than the entire aviation industry.
  Indonesia loses 300 rugby fields of prime natural forest - EVERY HOUR.

Implementing Sustainable IT Practice

In line with the Effectus vision -"To drive and champion the adoption of sustainable IT business practices within New Zealand" - Effectus has developed a comprehensive IT sustainability framework, the IT Footprint (ITF) Assessment process, to assist organisations to plan, implement and measure progress.

This process:

• Reviews and benchmarks the current maturity level of IT sustainable practice
• Sets IT sustainability goals to lift the maturity level in key activity areas
• Includes a reassessment process to review progress against the plan and reflect changes to key organisational strategies and goals

Effectus can also deliver a pragmatic carbon emission assessment and monitoring programme in conjunction with the ITF Assessment, through our key partner, Carbon South. Carbon South also provides a service to formally off-set unavoidable carbon emissions.

Benefits of an ITF Assessment

• Deliver IT performance improvement
• Identify opportunities to reduce IT costs
• Stay ahead of regulatory compliance
• Free-up valuable data centre resources
• Obtain competitive advantage
• Reduced levels of waste and pollution
• Improved asset management and equipment decommissioning practices
• Reduced CO2 footprint attributed to the organisation
• Enable IT to deliver on corporate responsibility goals

Why use the Effectus approach?

• Proven sustainability assessment methodology aligned with international best practice
• Effectus is a leading participant in IT sustainability, with links to associated organisations and international research including:
  • SBN - Sustainable Business Network of NZ
  • Carbon South Ltd - carbon mitigation specialists
  • Remarkit Solutions Ltd. - experienced recyclers and remarketers of electronic equipment
• Independent consulting advice
• We provide experienced IT consultants committed to delivering pragmatic business results.