Green IT initiatives will take on added importance in the next few
years as more organizations commit financial resources and develop
comprehensive strategies, according to a study released this week by
CompTIA, the non-profit association for the IT
industry. CompTIA’s study was based on an online survey of 650 IT and
business executives involved in green initiatives or strategies in the
United States, United Kingdom and Germany.
Among organizational priorities, green IT initiatives tend to rank
around the middle. But CompTIA’s Second Annual Green IT and Insights
study suggests the trend line is headed upward. In 2009 only nine
percent of firms rated green IT as an upper-half organizational
priority. That figure stands at 37 percent in 2011 and is expected to
rise to 54 percent in 2013 – a nearly five-fold increase from 2009.
One in five firms currently has dedicated budget allocated for green
IT initiatives, but 44 percent indicate they are moving in that
direction, according to the research. The report concluded that is
potentially good news for the IT industry, as it may indicate there is
a growing market opportunity for technology products and services that
have a green component.
The CompTIA study also revealed that 35 percent of organizations report
having a comprehensive green strategy for practices such as reducing
energy consumption, equipment usage/design, recycling/product disposal,
carbon footprint and employee behaviors. Additionally, 42 percent have
a partial green strategy, while 24 percent have no strategy in place,
though these firms may still engage in some green behaviors.
Looking ahead, among firms without a comprehensive green strategy 48
percent expect to have one within two years. The remaining firms either
expect a longer time horizon for adopting a strategy or are uncertain.
The report suggested many organizations continue to wrestle with the
return on investment in green initiatives.
“Given the intense cost‐cutting focus during the tough economic times
of the past few years as well as periods of high energy costs, it’s
likely many firms eyed green strategies as a means to help the bottom
line,” said Tim Herbert, vice president of research for CompTIA, but
noted part of the challenge is defining exactly what’s meant by the
term green IT. “Green IT remains a fuzzy concept for many,” said
Herbert. “Use of the term and its interpretation vary widely.”
Reducing energy consumption – cited by 67 percent of respondents –
and the recycling of obsolete IT products or e-waste (63 percent) are
the practices most strongly associated with green initiatives,
according to the CompTIA study. “While technologies such as
virtualization or cloud computing may go a long way towards optimizing
resource use, fewer respondents currently make the association with
green,” Herbert noted. “IT executives and respondents from large firms,
those with more than 500 employees, are slightly more likely to view
virtualization as a green strategy.