Benefits of Green IT

Author: Mike Lovell
Date: February 1, 2009

Here is a short list of great reasons for any organization to start developing a Green IT strategy.

Start saving energy immediately with no startup costs

Any organization with computers can begin saving energy immediately. By incorporating easy to do Green Computing techniques and policies, a company can make significant savings directly affect its bottom line. no equipment purchases or changes in IT infrastructure required. Also, find out about government programs that you can take advantage of while incorporating Green technologies into your business.

Become more environmentally friendly

Business partners, clients, customers and employees can take pride in the fact that the organization is doing all it can to be more environmentally conscious. Employees will enjoy taking an active role in reducing their company's carbon footprint.

Save on hardware and software costs

Many energy efficient computers are cheaper and can use alternative operating systems to run. If an organization builds its IT infrastructure to allow for cloud/grid computing and workstation/server/application virtualization, less hardware and software is needed to do the same tasks. These changes can be brought in organically as part of your company's current upgrade plan.

Reduce heat and noise in the office

Energy efficient computers produce less heat and noise. Therefore, an organization using low energy computers in the workplace can generate huge savings from using less air conditioning. Also, less cooling of the individual computers is required. This allows computers to have less and/or quieter fans which helps reduce noise in the workplace.

Develop an easier to maintain IT

Consolidation of resources and virtualization make an organization's network, workstations, and servers easier to maintain, backup, and upgrade.

Increase security

By consolidating an organizations IT resources and data into a more centralized structure, data is rarely saved on individual workstations and laptops. This helps prevent data loss through misplaced/stolen equipment while allowing information to be shared more effectively.

Gain better remote access

Employees will be able to access their information, work, and programs easier within the organization's network as well as at home or on the road.