Green and Sustainable Technology Strategy

I just finished watching a very important video on anti-consumerism called The Story of Stuff. It’s a powerful piece and I’d recommend it to anyone. Certainly it’s useful in explaining a global crisis that we all face. It’s also a practical exploration of the sustainability challenges that are facing small to mid-range business. Then I got to thinking: how I could apply some of these ideas to a viable technology strategy for the small to mid-range business?

Interested in trying to bunk some of these curves and to build a more sustainable, greener approach to managing information systems? So am I! Here are eleven of my ideas:

1. Re-use/Extend. Planned obsolesce is designed into every chip, every motherboard, and every piece of software you buy. The useful life of a PC asset is about three years. After that, software introduced into the marketplace demand even higher performance capabilities. Then, we’re forced to upgrade to buy increasingly expensive software and hardware to do… what? The same things like word process, email, browse the web, and manage security. Open Source software offers an alternative to this pattern of consumption. Designed to be lightweight and efficient, free Open Source solutions are great for extending the life of these assets at little to no cost. Instead of thinking about asset retirement, I’m trying to think about how clients can reuse their existing machines as kiosks or as low-end stations for a workforce doing regular, simple, predictable tasks. Instead of retirement, how can we reuse and extend PC assets instead of purchase new ones?

2. Consider Capability Over Design. I think we too often get caught up in purchasing the latest shiny and new machine, device, peripheral, or software because it looks cool. Windows 7, for example, may look cool, but what does it help you do? Well, the same things that Windows Vista did, and Windows XP did, and Windows 2000 did, and so on. The latest Mac and iPod looks cool.The latest Dell laptop looks shiny and sporty. The latest mini-PC really wets the appetite. Yet, don’t they provide the same capabilities of your existing “stuff”? What is the value of zero additional capability to you or your business? Think about that the next time you feel like upgrading.

3. Skip a Cycle. Products and software in technology are released in 18-24 month increments as a part of planned obsolesce marketing. Instead of falling for that trap, skip a cycle. Wait four or five years prior to the next purchase or upgrade. Show a discipline in your IT spending that recognizes that the “latest and greatest” doesn’t yield additional capability and is meant to simply drain your resources.

4. Recycle. Unfortunately, even when using Cloud Computing or Open Source, there will come a time where the asset must be disposed of. Don’t allow the asset to simply linger in the back room, and most states have anti-dumping laws that prohibit electronics from being submitted to landfills. They must be disposed of in an appropriate fashion. Luckily there are plenty of outfits near you that’ll take the asset and recycle its components for use in refurbished machines, or they’ll take care of the toxins (lead and mercury) for you. Be conscious of your own recycling behaviors with all manner of software, media, peripherals, monitors, and hardware.

5. Centralize and Outsource. Consolidating databases, applications, and backend services to more scaled platforms (moving from microcomputers to mid-range machines, for example) allows the firm to reduce the Total Cost of Ownership associated with operating many cheaper boxes, but it also allows us to conserve electricity and generate less heat. How can we reduce the footprint of our data center – either through consolidation or outsourcing to hosted applications and services? Cloud computing offers many practical solutions that achieve a higher economy of scale than what you could produce on your own. This is a great conservation and maintenance question but it’s also a strategic question: how can you convert your floorspace to revenue-generating activity, or, eliminate your IT floorspace entirely?

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6. Think Green. If you’re going to purchase new assets and peripherals, what can you do to reduce the impact to the environment as a whole? Well, if you’re a decision-maker in your firm for IT spending, you should bookmark PC Magazine’s Special Coverage on Green Technology. This gives you brands, models, vendors, and solutions that could be the better choice for the socially-conscious IT consumer. And not just hardware but software. Maybe, though, your known-brands have a green alternative or a plan to address this requirement coming from socially-conscious consumers? Look into it. How can you measure the outcomes of your decisions in terms relevant to the environmental movement or anti-consumerism?

7. Say No to Shrink Wrap. Still buying software off of the shelf and installing it from discs? Instead, purchase online – download the product and install it on the target machine. Avoid the shrink-wrap, packaging, and whole oil-infested distribution model that brought it to the retail store to begin with!

8. Telecommute. Ten years ago, 16-percent of the domestic US population did some form of telecommuting; today, more than 29-percent of the domestic US workforce engage in telecommuting. This means that your competitors are reducing the amount of energy needed to warm/cool a building, or, needed to move an employee to an office place. They have shifted the cost for energy consumption away from themselves and to the backs of their employees, but at a far less scale of consumption than in a skyscraper or business park. They’ve taken advantage of tax incentives offered by municipal and state governments to get more cars off the road. They’ve built stronger relationships with valued employees without increasing compensation dramatically, so that employees can enjoy greater work/life balance. They’ve reduced the floorspace and all of the costs needed to maintain it: energy, taxes, utilities, janitorial expenses, insurance. They’re doing this and reaping huge rewards. The question is then: why aren’t you? I’d like you to imagine a world ten years into the future that owning or leasing floorspace is an albatross to your cash flow and a competitive liability. Dude, today: how can you ditch the bird?!

9. Kill/Destroy All Meetings. There is nothing worse than the time-suck associated with meetings in my opinion. The floorspace necessary to have them, the distraction to critical knowledge workers who’re mature and self-directed anyway, the loss of efficiency and productivity, or the energy/time that it takes to get to them – whether they’re across town or across campus. Meetings suck. They represent a by-gone era of managerial pride, arrogance, rank materialism to impress vendors and clients, and pointless communication wrapped around one or two important facts. Going back to telepresence: this would be a great technology solution to minimize/eliminate the role of meetings in your life, but also, collaboration software like Google Apps or Zoho Project would be an awesome way to keep everybody on the same page without wasting everybody’s time, energy, and resources. What about podcasts, vidcasts, wiki’s, or blogs? Heck, they’re free! If anything, what can you do to reduce the number of meetings you must have by half using common microcomputer technology available to you today?

10. Turn Off the Asset. I’m beginning to rethink an age-old idea that PC’s should be left on during non-peak times so that maintenance can be performed on them in the evening. Still trying to formulate a strategy for this one – it’s difficult to suggest that people turn their PC’s down at night because, in the IT universe, we need them online to conduct remote access, pass them patches, upgrades, and to perform routine scans of their hard disk for malware and viruses. Servers are measured by 24x7x365 reliability. Generally, though: what can we do to turn off assets that aren’t in use? That may take a more creative approach to reduce energy consumption.

11. Use IT/Tell People About IT! Hey, all of this is marketable! If you can measure what you’re doing as a small business to reduce a carbon footprint or tackle socially challenging issues like consumerism, that’s an opportunity to tell your employees and stakeholders about the strategic importance of changing the way you’re doing business. This is a great opportunity for you to market your company – or even your decisions – as a means of positively affecting broader societal problems.

Now, these are just a couple of ideas. What are yours? Anything else that should be added to this list?

And you know what? It doesn’t matter if you can’t do all of them tomorrow – pick five, heck, pick three – and concentrate exclusively on executing those elements of change. Three smaller steps are better than none, and could bring us just a few steps closer to being better stewards of the scarce resources afforded to our small businesses.

R

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