The adoption of document software products and the emergence of much more efficient data centers are examples of what has been named “Green IT”
All over history society in general has mastered all forms of changes and those that have motivated more improvement and alterations in the population have been, indeed, related to the way by which we think. The bare fact that Galileo proclaimed the earth turned around the sun was refused as silliness by a lot of of his contemporaries, nonetheless astronomy progressed in virtue of the opening of minds experienced by later generations.
Society has been formed the direction it is thanks to this kind of bickering. Controversies that have stimulated all fields of science, technology, philosophy, and many more sectors. From time to time, notwithstanding, we are inclined to be fairly skeptical and we desire evidence proving what visionaries have presaged to commence to take action and correct our attitude.
That is in all respects what has occurred concerning the ecosystem. Until we have been direct witnesses of the adverse effects of climate change, we deemed warnings from environmentalists, scientists and all sorts of experts as crazy.
Nonetheless, a couple of years ago, recycling passed the bar and became common in many homes, currently we worry more about the water we use and corporations have begun to put into effect plans of Corporate Social Responsibility contemplating actions to help with reducing energy usage and prevent the transmission of CO2 into the atmosphere.
The fact that companies are betting intensely on this sort of policy has a whole lot to do with the demands of buyers, who are increasingly aware that goods or services acquired from a manufacturer should offer environmentally responsible conditions.
Green IT – The Answer to a Public Outcry
Logically these customer demands have stimulated the world of Information Technologies, which has long been endeavoring to build greener technologies. The answer to this necessity has arosen as a concept: Green IT. This strand aims to compound all those applications that improve the internal processes of an company and make it more productive at the same time it promotes a responsible use of resources.
The adoption of virtual environments, the adoption of software as a service (SaaS) and the emergence of even more efficient data centers are examples of what has been named Green IT. But there are many technologies that have existed for years, and if enforced, they could contribute in a powerful way to preserving our natural environment.
One of them is related to document systems. According to IDC, European companies spend an average of 300 euros annually per employee in printing and scanning services. Nonetheless, in certain sectors this number increases to 740 euros.
This economic data also has an effect on the nature. Only in Spain the use of paper per consumer is 176 kg. a year, exceeding by 21 percent the average of the European Union, which does not go beyond 139 kg. per individual.
Taking care of this situation is easier than it will probably seem at first. Document application implementations are today extremely budget-friendly and within reach of organizations of any size to support them adopting Green IT policies. As if this wasn’t good enough, the ROI that comes with them is in effect immediate, as the reduction of paper usage involves a substantial expense reduction.
Green IT – Environmental Policies and Procedures which Improve Savings
All businesses are currently cutting their budgets, but they do not usually pay much attention to the proportion of paper they require and the associated expenses that this means for the company.
There are excellent sustainable practices that require a change of mentality by the employees and do not represent any cost whatsoever to the company or organization: double sided printing, using black and white cartridges and printing in color only when really important, and making sure that the printing hardware fulfill the organizational needs may appear to be quite easy. Irregardless, such ideas quite often fail, as a result of the reality that the consumer is not perceptive enough, and may use company resources for very own tasks, or they at best do not worry at all what the corporation they work for spends on paper.
Document technology avoids these temptations as a result of document and print administration systems, making it possible to establish print quotas for users or departments, to set a particular number of copies per month and uncover first hand how the devices in enterpise are operating. Visibly with these mechanisms, enterprises can make savings of upto 30 percent in the account expenditure committed to this subject of thought.
Even better the savings go much further. Once you regulate the printing jobs, you can see if the functioning of the facility you use is adequate, if you utilize more printers than you should have, and if in fact it would be the very best for the company or organization to sacrifice a few of them and have better multifunctional equipment, as the reduction in the quantity of devices would as well suggest a significant decrease in energy consumption.
A Photo Is Worth More Than A Thousand Words
Printing control packages are not the only part that push forward savings and facilitate better consumption, Green IT policies and procedures. The creation of documents on the Internet or the ability to fill in any sort of form taking advantage of the Web are forcing a lot of businesses to substantially bring down the existence of paper in their businesses.
Understandably document software solutions present companies the possibilty for implementing “Green IT” policies to be more environmentally friendly, while cutting costs. But the truth is the benefits of this technology go even further. When we help with reducing the use of paper and computerize documents, we attain even more flexibility and this contributes to the improvement of internal procedures within the company or organization and grows employee productivity.
A better quality internal operation all the time results in a positive influence on the customer or end useruser since the speed of the service being given improves and also a much more personalized attention is given. A happy client contributes to keeping a good corporate image of the organization and hence often contributes to growing economic benefits.