Moore - IT sustainability for business advantage

IT Sustainability for

Business Advantage

IT Sustainability for

Business Advantage

Brian Moore

IT Sustainability for Business Advantage

Copyright Business Expert Press, LLC, 2013.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the prior permission of the publisher.

First published in 2013 by

Business Expert Press, LLC

222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017

www.businessexpertpress.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-60649-415-8 (paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-1-60649-416-5 (e-book)

Business Expert Press Environmental and Social Sustainability for Business Advantage collection

Collection ISSN: 2327-333x (print)

Collection ISSN: 2327-3348 (electronic)

Cover and interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd., Chennai, India

First edition: 2013

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America.

To my wonderful wife, Professor Marta Moore.

You sustain me.

Abstract

IT Sustainability for Business Advantage speaks to modern managers in all functions as well as to IT professionals. Implementing an effective IT sustainability strategy is essential for organizations pursuing sustainability as a means of business advantage and this book shows how to do it. The critical first step is getting clear about the ends of the IT sustainability programthe mission must be to further the companys sustainability objectives and strategic intents should include: (a) making IT operations as sustainable as possible; (b) partnering with other functions to leverage IT in making their business processes more sustainable and to grow the business; and (c) building a culture of sustainability within the IT organization.

The next step is to implement strategies to achieve these ends and the book explores the ways and means of doing this. These include industry best practices on how to apply the processes, techniques, and technologies related to Green IT and IT for sustainability (ITfS). They also include techniques for change management and building social capital, as listed below.

Provides the basis for creating a compelling case for action in your company.

Shows how various functions can and must participate in the IT strategy.

Shows how and why IT can help formulate company-level sustainability strategy

Provides a framework that can be customized for different sizes of companies including smallmedium businesses, different industries, etc.

Shows how to leverage lean, six sigma, and other similar programs in a company.

Evaluates the potential value of a full spectrum of information technologies including cloud computing, carbon and water accounting, supply chain analytics, smart buildings, telepresence, and personal dashboards.

Presents case studies from the authors own program and from other industry-leading programs.

Keywords

Green IT, sustainability, data centers, climate change, energy use, carbon, e-waste, smallmedium businesses (SMB/SME), conflict minerals, life cycle accounting (LCA), change management, strategy, sustainability platform, environmental management system (EMS), intelligent buildings, IT for sustainability (ITfS), smart city, smart grid, smart building, green ICT, Green Grid, Green Datacenter, Lean IT, Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Global Reporting Initiative (GRI)

Brian Moore is a sustainability strategist, enterprise architect, and lean six sigma expert at a Fortune 100 company where he leads an industry-recognized IT sustainability program. Since he co-created the program in 2008, it has generated more than $33 million in annual cost savings, reduced electrical power demand by over 3 megawatts, and addressed the full life cycle of IT equipment. With Brians leadership, the program also built relationships between IT and other functions including supply chain, facilities, environmental health and safety, engineering, and communications; and leveraged the companies lean six sigma, cloud computing, and social networking initiatives. Because of its significant results and comprehensive strategy, the program has been featured in a segment on CNBC and in articles in CIO and Computerworld magazines; had its strategy recognized as a best practice by Forrester and ICEX, and won five industry awards:

2011 Computerworld Top Green Organizations

2010 InfoWorld Green 15

2010 Homeland Security Today Green Information Technology Award

2009 Uptime Institute Green Enterprise IT Award

2009 InfoWorld Green 15

In addition to leading the program that won these awards, Brian has been an invited speaker at green IT conferences, has spoken at other IT industry events, and was a contributor to the book Business Model Generation.

His sustainability leadership also extends beyond IT. He helped form his companys cross-function sustainability strategy team, helped create its current governance model, and facilitated business segment teams that created segment-level sustainability strategies and business cases. He also works with non-profit organizations on visioning and sustainable business model innovation. He has a masters degree in interdisciplinary studies, and a bachelors degree in chemical engineering. This breadth and depth of experience uniquely qualify Brian to write on IT sustainability as an enabler of business advantage. His online profile is available at www.linkedin.com/in/brianjaymoore/

Sustainability is not a problem to be solved, but a future to be created.

Peter Senge

Im up early, writing this in my home office before the beginning of my workday, while the rest of my family sleeps. As I write, the hard drive in my new Apple Mac mini hums quietly, but I am hardly aware of its sound or of the electricity it is using. My monitor is on and displaying this text, but were I not writing about it I wouldnt be giving a second thought to the power it is using as it does so. On a table behind the monitor I can see the laptop that I use for work and I note that a small blue light on it is pulsing to indicate that it is in sleep mode, and so drawing power though at a lower level than when up and running. Behind the laptop, I can see more lights twinkling on the wireless router that connects our various devices with the Internet. It has been running all night even as we slept and will run all day even as my family and I are at school or office.

In the next room, my wifes computer is most likely in sleep mode, but there is a chance it is running at full speed, because sometimes it does not power down properly. Next to it is our printer, drawing a small bit of power while in sleep mode with its wireless connection up and on the ready. Downstairs, in our family room, my sons laptop also has a pulsing blue light and so is using a bit of power. On the other side of the room, our computer-like digital video recorder (DVR) is drawing 35 wattsmy son did a science project on vampire power and measured the energy used by devices around the house; we learned that the DVR uses the same amount of energy whether or not anybody is watching TV. Thinking about this reminds me of the various phones and e-book readers that are likely using a small of amount of electricity as they charge somewhere in the house. Not in the house any longer are the desktop computers that my son had before he got the laptop and that I had before I got my new Mac. A few weeks ago we took them to an electronics-recycling event provided by our city, so I trust that the lead, cadmium, and other heavy metals that were in it are not damaging the environment or making people sick as they break it down.