IS CSR and Green IT 1

Introduction  Climate Change is a significant driver of green initiatives  This may be most obvious at the individual level  We are asked to turn off lights and to buy carbon credits when we fly  Earth Hour is another popular appeal to what we might call Personal Social Responsibility (PSR)  But there are also significant organisational issues and interests in the broader area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) 2

Motives  Why do organisations care?  Economic incentives?  Tax credits?  Green is cheaper?  Green is more profitable?  Moral incentives?  Appeal to ‘do the right thing’ for society?  Political incentives?  Government pressure  Preparation for future legislation?  Consumer / society pressure?  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Initiatives 3

Green Drivers  From a recent survey of IT Executives:  57% green > cost savings  43% green > better public image  42% sense of social responsibility > green  24% their customers demand green  17% green can help secure competitive advantage 4

Economic Positives  Going green can:  Save space  When employees telecommute, virtual teams  Improve systems efficiency  Reduce power consumption  Because greener computers are more efficient  Up to 50% of power >> heat in PCs  Cloud computing also helps significantly  All these reduce costs and carbon emissions 5

The Cost & CO2 Benefits of Migrating to the Cloud  Accenture reports that for larger firms migrating IT services to the cloud can cut energy use and carbon emissions by 30 to 60%.  For mid-sized firms, the reduction can be 60 to 90%  For smaller firms, typical reduction exceeds 90%. 6

Calculating a Carbon Footprint  There are many tools that you can use to calculate carbon footprints  Here are a few examples  /WWF-Reveals-the-Latest-Carbon-Footprint- Data /WWF-Reveals-the-Latest-Carbon-Footprint- Data  eer_calculator.php eer_calculator.php 7

Energy Losses  Energy is lost when servers are idle – consuming power but not processing data  Cloud servers may be running all the time, but for multiple clients, who are each sharing part of the load.  Data centres are heavy consumers of power.  15% of total UK power consumption is for office equipment. 8

Consumer-Focused Initiatives  EnergyStar is a US-based initiative  Products can be labelled if they are certified as low power consuming devices  In the EU, the Ecolabel is found  Others (not energy) include the FSC (for paper), MSC for seafood  In Hong Kong, the Energy Label from the EMSD of HK Govt 9

Industry Initiatives  The Climate Savers Computing Initiative (WWF) aims to reduce the electric power consumption of PCs in active and inactive states  The Green Electronics Council offers the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool to assist in the purchase of "greener" computing systems.  The Green Grid is a global consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centres and business computing ecosystems. 10

Case in point: Coca-Cola  Plans to monitor energy consumption data from devices continuously  The software will identify devices connected to the company's network  Both for office equipment  And for data centres  In effect, this will be a dashboard to highlight, in real time, where energy consumption is taking place  Coca-Cola CSR Video:

Case in point: Greenpeace  Greenpeace outsources its data processing to a Dutch firm, Evoswitch  Evoswitch uses 100% renewable energy, with 50% from a Dutch windfarm  Green organisations in particular feel the need to burnish their green credentials  See the WWF’s Green Initiatives for its HQ here:  green-headquarters green-headquarters 12

Case in point: Green Power Partnership  This is a US Govt Initiative to promote Green Power  It seems to work with major electricity consumers to help them access green power suppliers 

Telecommuting  Working at home  AT&T increased the number of sales people working from home; 15-20% more time with customers, saving US$550M.  IBM saved US$100M in one US unit through telecommuting.  Perkin-Elmer encouraged telecommuting and shut 35 branch offices altogether.  Air conditioning (hot and cold) and lighting account for 70% of a building’s energy consumption.  But, it only makes a major difference if corporate offices get smaller or disappear. If the office is unused/empty, there is less effect. 14

Virtual Teams  Are characterised by  Distributed members (city, region, country)  Longitudinal tasks (days to months)  A strong need for Collaboration, Cooperation & Control  But not all people like to work like this – and not all organisations permit such work  Further, there can be serious barriers to effective virtual team work 15

But We Prefer Proximity…  Biologically, humans are coded for it  Food tastes better when eaten with others  Our blood pressure rises and heart beat quickens when close to others  We also conform more when with others than when alone  Social habits are often group related – cohesive groups sit together, socialise, … 16

MRO’s Regional Software Sales  Sales Managers & Executives spread around SE Asia / Greater China  Living in one place, but responsible for a broad area (e.g. TW+HK+MO+HI or SG+MY or GD)  No office space provided – work from home, road, i-café, hotel, airport, …  Boss is in Shanghai – see him once a year, or less.  Colleagues, data, information are ‘virtually there’ with Lotus SameTime or MS Groove. 17

MRO – It Works, but…  Success depends on  The right technology, people, attitude  Success involves  A new style of work, thinking, sense of responsibility  Success is measured with  Results, sales … not hours or seniority  A successful culture has to be created and maintained  So, it can be green, but green may not be for everyone 18

Technology Support  Globally accessible web-based resources that support virtual work  eRoom, SameTime, Groove, GSS, Google Docs/Apps, Wiki, G+, …  Interorganisational Systems, e.g. TradeLink, connecting clients with:  Banks, insurance, govt depts, trade agents, port authorities, customs & excise, shipping companies, etc 19

Technology CSFs  Speed of connection (inc. bandwidth)  Freedom of access to information  Internet censorship of key public resources  Political Green Lights  No corporate censorship or blocking of IT applications  Functionality and Ease of Use  Security, Privacy and Integrity 20

3 Barriers to Going Green I. Misaligned Incentives II. Competing Priorities III. Lack of Expertise 21

I. Misaligned Incentives  The IT Dept/CIO decides how to manage networks, but does not pay the electricity bill  Any solution means bringing together the CIO, the CFO and whoever is responsible for CSR  How much could be saved? Is there a role for an energy efficiency expert? 22

II. Competing Priorities  An IT Manager / CIO is primarily concerned to keep all the computers up and running.  The need respond to security threats, viruses, malware, hardware failures and software upgrades occupy almost all the available resources.  Everything else, e.g. being Lean, Green and Efficient, is a low priority 23

III. Lack of Expertise  It is very rare for IT Professionals to be trained in issues related to energy efficiency  If they need to acquire this knowledge on the job, well, there will not be enough time.  Who else in the organisation has the skills – and the ear of the CGO? 24

Nevertheless…  Consulting firms recognise the opportunity to create value (for themselves as well as their clients)  Given the lack of expertise and the tensions in the firm, consultants may rebrand themselves as CSR experts and seek both to advise on process and sell their products. 25

Measuring Green  IBM reports that “leading companies are beginning to capture & report energy, water, waste and GHG emissions information”.  Discover what information is needed, at what frequency so as to drive change.  Ensure that the right investments are being made to meet long-term commitments  IBM suggests that “smarter” companies will track this kind of information on a daily, real-time basis and send it to "smarter" people who are trained and rewarded to drive continuous improvement. 26

GreenSigma TM :  “The adaption of Lean Six Sigma to environmental and climate protection”  “The Green Sigma™ Dashboard for Energy proactively monitors KPI data, alerts and trends, and enables drill-down analysis…”  “The Green Sigma™ Dashboard for Water monitors KPI data, alerts and trends to drive Water related benefits” 27

GreenSigma TM Energy Dashboard 28

GreenSigma TM as a CSR Enabler?  The charts are simple but they only work if you have the data  They can highlight challenges by  Illustrating patterns over time  Breaking down data by function  They can also help with analysis  Where is energy, water, gas being used and when?  But they can’t solve problems directly  Human interpretation of the data is still essential 29

Enforcement of Policy Issues  Reduction of consumption  Extension of product lifetime  Power is needed to manufacture IT  The longer an object is used, the more value is obtained from that energy  How often do you change your phone?  How frequently does your company change IT hardware?  IT waste is a significant problem – 50 million tons a year is dumped, not recycled, and much of it is highly toxic 30

 Operates many green initiatives  Reduce, reuse, recycle  When an old photocopier is replaced, all reusable parts are reused in the same customer’s new photocopier  Toner cartridges always reused  Did you notice that CityU encourages recycling of toner cartridges?  In future, no toner cartridges at all – solid ink sticks instead! Case in point: Xerox 31

32 Your Green Future?  Enabling a low carbon economy  Reducing CO2 emissions  Environmentally friendly (or less unfriendly) applications  Domestic, industrial, government  Propose a Green Technology Strategy for some aspect of Hong Kong life  (6 slides max)  Be creative, bold and set strict (but achievable) targets)  Focus on technology please!!!