Are Solution Providers, VARs and IT Consultants Ready for Environmental Certifications?
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Anyone who has bought an appliance in recent years surely has come
across the Energy Star designation, which assures buyers the dishwasher
or air-condition unit they choose has achieved a certain standard of
energy efficiency.
The same goes for computer products such as power supplies, desktops
and monitors. But what if you’re a solution provider that wants to show
your customers that you operate your business according to the best
green practices?
Right now, you might explain the efficiency of the products you sell
and how the processes you use to deliver the technology were designed
to disturb the environment as little as possible. It could take a fair
amount of time to go over which products have some recycled and
renewable materials, or which devices cut power use when idle.
But eventually, you might just be able to show your customer a green IT
certification—some sort of seal or document to prove that how you run
your business and the products you deliver conform with the ideals of
environmental friendliness. In a paper published in May, research firm
Gartner suggested the current lack of an industrywide certification may
hinder the efforts of small solution providers pushing green IT
solutions.
“At some point during the next five years, most purchasers of
technology will start vetting the green credentials of their suppliers
against their own requirements to find the appropriate match,”
according to the Gartner paper, “Dataquest Insight: What Green IT Means
to the Channel,” authored by analysts Rakesh Kumar and Tiffani Bova.
“This will not only involve an assessment of the products or services
being sold, but also an appraisal of the environmental responsibility,
policies and practices assumed by the channel organization selling the
goods.”
Bova and Kumar aren’t alone in positing that customers will start demanding green credentials from suppliers.
“Information Technology is a critical part of every company's supply
chain and is beginning to come under scrutiny and becoming part of the
buying criteria for many companies,” says Jeff Wacker, corporate
futurist at Electronic Data Systems.
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