Study: Enterprises have the will, lack the funds to go green

A study into "Green IT" within Australian and New Zealand organizations reveals that a majority have a strong mandate from the executive to reduce the environmental impact of IT but not that many are offering a budget for IT to achieve this.

Research company IBRS conducted the survey in April. It says that while there was a small sample size, the answers were sufficiently differentiated so as to be statistically valid.

One third of green IT strategies were owned by the board or CEO, and one quarter by the CIO. However, only 24 percent of IT organizations had a budget for green IT projects, and only 23 percent a formal strategy and/or programs for green IT.

IBRS researcher Kevin McIsaac says this indicates a significant disconnect between the executives' green strategy and the ability of IT to execute that strategy.

He says it fits anecdotal evidence that IT organizations are focusing on green IT projects which reduce IT costs and have a short pay-back period.

When questioned about the drivers for adopting green IT, reducing operational costs and reducing the environmental footprint were equal top reasons.

Meeting current environmental regulations scored the lowest; there was much greater concern about future regulations.

IBRS drilled down to the status of green IT projects, focusing on printers, desktops and the data center. McIsaac says two thirds of organizations had not yet started green projects in those areas, a reflection of the lack of budget.

The question that generated the most comment was satisfaction with vendors' green IT offerings. Only 3 percent said they were very satisfied, 14 percent said they were quite satisfied, 45 percent were satisfied, and 38 percent were dissatisfied.

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