Britain falling behind Europe on green IT
By Matt Chapman,
UK businesses are falling behind their European counterparts when it comes to sustainable IT purchasing, according to a study by HP.
Research that questioned 2,000 interviewees across Europe found that only 16 per cent of UK businesses have a formal policy in place.
That figure compares with an average of 29 per cent of firms within Europe, with France leading the way thanks to the 46 per cent of French small businesses and large enterprises that have a green procurement policy.
“One of the things we found in the UK specifically is that those in charge of procurement don’t really look for environmental factors a lot of the time,” said Bruno Zago, HP’s environment manager for UK and Ireland.
Zago said that a lot of the large enterprises HP deals with send out questionnaires asking about his company’s environmental policy, its attitude to carbon and how it is managing the supply chain.
“However, when you ask them how heavily they weight that, the heaviest I’ve ever seen is about 10 per cent in a contract. It’s usually five per cent or below and that goes across enterprise and public sector as well,” he added.
The UK’s poor showing seems to contradict a Microsoft-backed study that claims UK IT professionals are stealing a march on their US and German counterparts when it comes to green issues.
Also, the 45 per cent of European companies who are taking environmental issues into account when it comes to their spending, shows that the issue has remained static over the past couple of years.
A similar study carried out by HP in 2007 found that 43 per cent of companies had a green procurement policy in place, just two per cent lower than the 2009 research.
Zago said that even decisions taken for their green benefits may not actually see the big results companies expected.
“The ability to print double sided seems to be a very important purchasing decision,” he said.
“But actually, when you start to talk to the users - because the survey was split into two, it was done on decision makers and users - only about 50 per cent of them are actually using double sided.”
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Increasing pressure for green credentials will create a significant unless organisations get their asset registers in order.
Assessment of environmental practices and reporting is certainly on the increase for business and generic statements about green strategies – from procurement to recycling, carbon footprint to flexible working – will not suffice in the long term: organisations will have to prove their commitment through information transparency and auditable policies. At the heart of such transparency will be consistent, detailed information about the life cycle of every asset - from country of origin through maintenance schedules to final disposal. Existing green policies such as the WEEE directive and measuring carbon footprints assume a level of asset management far beyond that achieved by the majority of UK business. How many UK businesses can accurately identify the location of their WEEE equipment within the organisation and confirm when it was purchased and from whom? By linking the asset register to a document management system organisations can create the required audit trail, gaining valuable insight into their own assets and adapting to the ‘green economy’. Yours faithfully, Karen Conneely Group Commercial Manager Real Asset Management www.realassetmgt.co.uk
By Ip_olivean9b2a7c on Thursday Jun 25
Increasing pressure for green credentials will create a significant cost for businesses unless organisations get their asset registers in order.
Assessment of environmental practices and reporting is certainly on the increase for business and generic statements about green strategies – from procurement to recycling, carbon footprint to flexible working – will not suffice in the long term: organisations will have to prove their commitment through information transparency and auditable policies. At the heart of such transparency will be consistent, detailed information about the life cycle of every asset - from country of origin through maintenance schedules to final disposal. Existing green policies such as the WEEE directive and measuring carbon footprints assume a level of asset management far beyond that achieved by the majority of UK business. How many UK businesses can accurately identify the location of their WEEE equipment within the organisation and confirm when it was purchased and from whom? By linking the asset register to a document management system organisations can create the required audit trail, gaining valuable insight into their own assets and adapting to the ‘green economy’. Yours faithfully, Karen Conneely Group Commercial Manager Real Asset Management www.realassetmgt.co.uk
By Ip_olivean9b2a7c on Thursday Jun 25