Opportunities in Lean, Green and Sustainable IT

In this article, we describe the high-level business case for sustainability initiatives and then discuss the opportunities for IT to contribute to sustainability initiatives and to the bottom line.

What is Sustainability?
Sustainability in business is a strategy to ensure that an organization’s operations contribute positively to society not only in terms of profits but also in the way it conducts business.  This includes managing and taking responsibility for environmental impacts.  Sustainability is generally described in terms of meeting the requirements of society (people), the environment (planet) and the economy (profits).  In a broader societal sense, sustainability means that we are able to meet the needs of today’s society without endangering the survival of future generations. The term ‘Green IT’ is used to describe projects initiated to positively contribute to a sustainability business strategy. Standard Business Drivers
Businesses are generally motivated to take on sustainability initiatives for one or more of the following reasons;

1. Public Relations,
2. Business Economics, and,
3. Social License to Operate. 

Public Relations
Initiatives motivated by public relations driver are aimed to gain competitive advantage in the eyes of consumers, meeting stakeholders’ demands and helping an organization attract and retain the best and brightest employees.  According to Bob Willard, the author of “The Sustainability Advantage” and “The Next Sustainability Wave”, small businesses can benefit from reduced attrition and recruitment costs as well as increased employee productivity as a result of sustainability initiatives¹. 

For Green IT initiatives undertaken by organizations where the IT department is a supporting department, it is particularly important to consider the implications of publicizing Green IT initiatives if the rest of the business is not participating and has not considered their own sustainability implications. 

Organizations that take a purely public relations approach have been accused of ‘greenwashing’ when they advertise environmental practises without actually implementing sound practises. 

Business Economics
Many sustainable IT initiatives have been started on the basis of traditional cost-benefit analysis.  In the case of reducing energy consumption, projects such as active power management can be inexpensive to implement and provide immediate cost savings.
Many organizations also now believe that regulation is inevitable.  As such organizations taking on sustainable IT initiatives now are ahead of the curve and have more opportunities to innovate and choose their own solutions.  However, it is critical that benchmarks be set and that progress is tracked to ensure that new regulations do not penalize progress already made.

Social License to Operate
All around the world government regulations are developing and are expected to become more and more stringent in requiring businesses to take responsibility for their environmental impact.  Businesses have the opportunity to be ahead of the curve if they act now to avoid expensive retrofits or time lines they cannot meet once regulations are established.

In addition to meeting government regulations, organizations are increasingly talking about sustainability in terms maintaining their ‘social license to operate’.  The concept of a social license to operate signifies a business’ understanding that the support of the communities in which it operates is critical for success regardless of whether or not the operation meets government regulations.  This concept is particularly important for mining, extraction and resource-intensive manufacturing companies where there are direct impacts on the local population that, if not attended to, can hinder and completely derail a business’ operations.  In a broader sense, if organizations do not take responsibility for their actions, they can lose their support from the public².  To quote Esty and Winston in “Green to Gold”, “the logic of corporate environmental stewardship need not stem from personal belief that caring for the natural world is the right thing to do.  If critical stakeholders believe the environment matter, then it’s the right thing to do for you business.²” 

In addition to the standard business drivers for sustainability, small businesses may also be driven by the personal values of the executives or founder. 

Defining the Opportunities in IT
The terms “Green IT” and “Lean IT” and “Sustainable IT” are used prolifically these days and often inter-changeably.  The three areas are the focus of exciting innovation the IT industry these days are significantly impacting IT operations departments both large and small and are described below.  Lean IT focuses on reducing hardware, green IT builds on lean IT to reduce consumption and sustainable IT builds on green IT to reduce impact on economy, society and the environment.  For more information on the practises applicable in each section, download our Green IT Guide for Sustainable Business.

Lean IT
Lean IT refers to innovations that attempt to consolidate IT resources into the most efficient, high-performance configuration possible.  Generally, lean IT efforts are focused on reducing the amount of hardware required by an organization to support their operations.  Lean IT initiatives are generally driven by costs savings such as energy cost savings, lower support costs, smaller square footage in rented spaces, easier backup management, etc.  With rising energy costs, this is the low-hanging fruit. While some lean IT projects may positively contribute to environmental impact goals, that is not generally the intention and other side effects (continued usage of toxic substances in manufacturing) can offset any gains in that area.  Examples of lean IT are;

• server virtualization (where multiple independent applications can be housed on the same piece of hardware without interfering with one another),
• consolidation (combining functions such as replacing a fax, printer and photocopier with a multi-function device that handles all three functions more efficiently)
• hosting arrangements (where hardware is managed by a service provider and can be shared by many clients),
• code-efficient software (coding software so that it requires fewer resources to run),
• Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) models, and
• smaller equipment to reduce facility requirements. 

Green IT
Green IT refers to the many innovations that attempt to reduce the impact of IT operations on the environment.  Green IT projects may have other benefits however are generally geared towards showing measurable improvements in energy efficiency.  Green IT initiatives tend to focus on short-term goals with immediate impacts such as implementing power management software, swapping hardware for more energy efficient hardware, using power bars to cut down on draws during idle times, etc.  Green IT initiatives include;

• reducing the amount of toxic materials used in manufacturing and packaging,
• ensuring recycling methods meet international standards,
• meeting and exceeding Energy Star rankings, and
• assessing your IT footprint (eg carbon emissions and energy draw). 

Sustainable IT
Sustainable IT combines all of the benefits gained through in lean IT and green IT and takes it one step further to look at the long-term impacts of IT operations on society and the environment.  Sustainable IT is a strategy-based approach to managing IT operations.  Sustainable IT plans that consider the full life-cycle of IT products rather than short-term benefits alone. In short, Sustainable IT looks at all three areas of sustainability; environment, economic and social impacts.  Sustainable IT initiatives include;

• responsible purchasing practises,
• resource (paper, toner, etc) usage reduction,
• programs to increase the lifespan of existing assets,
• waste and disposal management policies, and,
• supporting sustainable business initiatives. 

Opportunities Exist
There are many opportunities for IT departments to contribute to sustainability initiatives and many of the opportunities above can be cost saving measures.  As the organizations around us begin to take sustainability seriously, either for marketing, regulatory or mission-driven reasons, IT departments must be ready to support and contribute to this work. 

To get started, download our Green IT Guide for Sustainable Business.

Resources
1.    Willard, Bob. “The Next Sustainability Wave: Building Boardroom Buy-in.” Gabriola Island: New Society Publishers, 2005.
2.    Esty, Daniel C., Winston, Andrew S. "Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage."  New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.