How can... we apply carbon-cutting measures to our IT department?

Companies are becoming more adept at dealing with key environmental issues. But one area of green business many have yet to tackle is IT sustainability.

Warren Services, a precision engineering manufacturer based in Thetford, near Norwich, is working towards reducing its carbon footprint and energy bills. The company, with a staff of 60 and a turnover approaching £6m, is among hundreds of Norfolk businesses signed up to REV ACTive, a regional development scheme to help firms cut energy costs and CO2 emissions.

Among innovations already in place at Warren Services are induction heating and a lighting system that responds to staff entering and leaving rooms. IT consultant Mathew Green is looking for ways to apply carbon-cutting measures to the IT department, specifically to extend the life of the firm's 30 PCs, most of which are housed in a factory that runs for 24 hours.

"PCs are big energy users, and while newer machines are more energy-efficient, replacing all our computers would mean a major investment," he says. "The plan is to run the machines for five years instead of the typical three."

Measures include turning off screens, throttling input power to minimum, and adapting working practices. Users on the factory floor batch-process data to minimise PC usage, improve efficiency and save power. The next step could be a move towards server virtualisation or cloud computing. But Green says: "Moving to a cloud environment will reduce costs and carbon emissions, and would allow better access to the system. The problem is our location; remote access to a Web-based system relies on BT, and its service in Norfolk is not good enough. We need a solution."
We ask three experts...

John Blackwell, chief executive, JBA Associates
Your objective is to reduce energy costs and environmental footprint, so you need to keep this in sight and not be side-tracked by smaller footprint issues.

A crucial first step should be to assess the business for overall energy usage, business-wide CO2 footprint, and staff effectiveness. In a generic CO2 footprint, around five per cent is derived from desktop PCs, whereas personal items, such as mobile phone chargers, contribute three per cent. A further three per cent is from lighting, and ancillary items-printers, copiers, coffee machines-add around two per cent.

The largest environmental and cost gains will come from changing the work practices of your 60 employees, but unless you can show how this will improve efficiency and productivity, it will be a lost cause, and staff will revert to old practices.

Andy Rigby, general manager, EMEA Virtustream
Cloud computing and server virtualisation offer potentially good solutions. In most companies where physical servers are installed they are hugely underutilised, so by consolidating these machines and making them more efficient, you can reduce costs.

If operating in a cloud environment, there are solutions to the remote access restrictions in the form of wide area network accelerator applications. These are widely used where access to broadband services is limited.

While you are using virtual servers or operating in the cloud, your PCs are doing less processing and therefore using less power. When they reach the end of their natural life they can be replaced by a thin client, a computer that functions as an access device on a network, and is less costly and more energy-efficient.

Colin Ashurst, senior teaching fellow, Durham Business School
Look at the reliability of your existing systems or support arrangements. In many organisations the help desk is there to fix things when they're broken, with no focus on optimising the capabilities of existing systems. When focusing on IT sustainability and improving business performance, getting more out of existing systems and information is the place to start. There will be opportunities for quick wins, such as better analysis of customer data to focus on high-value customers, and improved management of machine usage. Invest time in getting experts among the staff to share more of their knowledge of key systems. Focus on the value; not just the costs.

Business Clinic is published in association with IBM ibm.com/engines/uk