"IT departments have a great opportunity to be the catalyst for environmentally and fiscally responsible initiatives," noted Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the Business Performance Management (BPM) Forum. However, seizing that opportunity hasn't been easy. "We found that organizations understand the concepts but are having a hard time with implementation and measurement," said George Skaff, vice president of marketing at Rackable Systems.
To help IT professionals bridge the gap between understanding why they should implement green IT initiatives and actually implementing them, the BPM Forum, Rackable Systems, Intel, and the Global Renewable Energy and Environmental Network (GREEN) have joined forces to provide the Think Eco-Logical program. The Think Eco-Logical website will provide a place where IT professionals can find information on how to deal with the challenges in becoming environmentally responsible. The information, which will be available free of charge, will include original content gathered from surveys, case studies, and insights from leading industry influencers.
"Think Eco-Logical cuts through the eco-hype by going deep into vertical markets to uncover real-world business drivers and pain points specific to those industries and offering impactful best practices that can be implemented today," said Neale-May. Think Eco-Logical is starting by examining the film industry (i.e., digital media and entertainment industry) and the Internet industry (including e-commerce).
"The film industry is second only to the oil industry as California’s largest environmental polluters," said Skaff. "And more than a billion watt-hours of energy are consumed daily just for Internet searches on Google alone." Other industries targeted for examination include the oil and gas industry, the telecommunications industry, government, and education.
Think Eco-Logical has commissioned surveys to measure and quantify the current needs, concerns and attitudes of the film and Internet industries. IT professionals who work in those industries can participate in the survey by going to the Think Eco-Logical website and clicking the In Your Internet Business or In Your Media and Entertainment Related Business survey link.
Think Eco-Logical is also assembling strategic advisory board partners. If you’re interested in being a partner, see the information in the Current and Potential Partners web page.
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