(10-Sept-10) Analysts from Info-Tech Research Group recently examined green IT initiatives, seeking to determine what contributed to their success—or failure. Four factors helped initiatives succeed: a strong and well-communicated adoption rationale, an urgent need to comply with environmental laws, the presence of sufficient resources to back up the initiatives, and stakeholder support—especially at high levels.

Info-Tech identified nine key initiatives, dividing them into three groups: low-hanging fruit, which are quick, easy wins that result in direct cost savings; significant cost-cutting initiatives, which are those that result in direct cost savings but require a longer and more costly implementation; and future savings initiatives, which are complex projects that can cut future operational costs.

Four initiatives were characterized as low-hanging fruit: IT equipment recycling, printer consolidation and reduction, end-user device power management, and telecommuting. Three others were determined to be more difficult to implement but resulted in significant cost-cutting for the enterprise: remote conferencing and collaboration, storage consolidation, and server virtualization and consolidation. Finally, two more initiatives were designated as complex, long-term investments: server room build or renovation and IT energy measurement tools and techniques.

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