By Susan J. Campbell, TMCnet Contributing Editor
What is the role of IT in this aim to create sustainable business and who cares about sustainability? In truth, there are stakeholders across the corporation who care, or will care about sustainability in the long run. They are seeking to mitigate risk, reduce cost, grow revenue and deliver shareholder value.
At the recent Panduit UPI Virtual Symposium, Chris Mines of Forrester (News – Alert) Research presented “The Role of IT in Creating Sustainable Business Performance” to provide a clear path for IT in driving a new approach to sustainability.
Throughout the global industry, there are industry leaders who are making strategic commitments to sustainability, included GE, TESCO, Wal-Mart, Electrolux, Abbott, Bombardier and more. These companies have made sustainability a priority because it cuts across all business functions and organizations as it is a business process and business performance issue.
Mines highlighted that IT organizations will be both exemplar and enablers of more sustainable business operations. To do so, they first have to get their own house in order; second, they must partner with other business process leaders; and finally they must position IT as a leader in this initiative.
If you were to take a closer look at sustainability goals, you will find that they actually align directly with business performance goals. The sustainable goal of creating a greener product and service portfolio aligns with an effort to accelerate revenue growth; a reduction in energy consumption and resulting carbon footprint aligns with reducing operating costs; and compliance with executive or regulatory mandates align with efforts to mitigate business risk through an increase in operational transparency.
Green initiatives can be done in a number of ways, including server virtualization, application portfolio management, PC power management, remote collaboration, enterprise carbon and energy management and a common physical infrastructure. To achieve success in these areas, however, business process skills must migrate from IT into other operational domains as business process leaders jump into technology design, procurement and operation.
Those companies making measurable changes have implemented environmental procurement criteria, such as greener manufacturing, operation and/or disposal in the evaluation and selection of its IT purchases. One clear example is in the purchase of enterprise carbon and energy management systems. For companies taking a proactive approach to sustainability, 19 percent already have such systems in place.
According to Mines, business processes and IT combine to create smart computing. This means the implementation of new technologies, next-generation analytics, expanding existing products and leveraging existing products. When audits are conducted, the company should be able to identify new capabilities.
In essence, the role of IT in creating sustainable business performance is to lead the way for everyone else within the company. There is too much to do to put it all on the shoulders of IT, but they can certainly set the pace.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Erin Harrison
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