Green IT And More (Part III) – Greening Your Organisation
In the third of a series of articles, David Tebbutt explains how IT can help companies become greener by using computers to reduce emissions and other undesirable effects outside of IT
Other articles in the series:
Green IT And More (Part I) – Gearing Up To Go Green
Green IT And More (Part II) – Cleaning Up IT
Green IT And More (Part IV) – Changing Staff Attitudes and Taking Action
Air Smiles: Transportation
If your business naturally involves a lot of air or road travel then you can achieve immediate savings and lessen your impact on the environment by trying to take fewer journeys and using electronic communication instead. Videoconferencing doesn’t have to cost a fortune and it can repay its cost with the savings in long distance flights and hotel stays very quickly. It won’t replace all face-to-face situations but videoconferencing is especially effective in smaller meetings of up to about 12 people, when the participants already know each other. Once installed, you can use it for those ad hoc meetings that oil the organisational wheels but would never be considered if travel were required. The same goes for the lower-tech, but no less useful, web meetings and webinars, where people can share content and interact with each other through their webcams and PC screens.
If home working or flexible working is possible, you can reduce the emissions associated with the daily commute and give staff a better lifestyle. Such flexibility tends to result in staff who are more content with their work-life balance (as home-working often fits in well around family life) and, as a consequence, tend to stay longer in their posts as well as being more productive.
Companies have found that they can cut desks, and therefore office space, heating, lighting, power and so on, when significant numbers of staff work away from the office for at least three days a week.
The whole idea of replacing physical movement with electronic communications like videoconferencing reduces environmental impacts, not to mention associated costs. This also applies to how you manage your business processes. Consider distributing information electronically rather than printing it first and then distributing it. This ‘print on demand’ approach saves transport and unnecessary copies, not to mention saving money!
Companies with transport and logistics operations can reduce emissions by using software applications to optimise routes and eliminate wasted journeys.
Solutions can range from simple sat-nav devices to more complex transportation management systems which coordinate multiple vehicles and routes, saving both time and fuel, and providing more predictable customer service too.
