When it comes to the products themselves, the common perception that greener, more energy efficient products are invariably more costly is a false one.
The new approach is expected to save time and money, as well as streamline current processes.
With the growing prioritisation of sustainability within the public sector, civil servants with responsibility for procurement are under increasing pressure to find IT solutions that help reduce emissions levels.
Green IT is an important feature of the Transformational Government agenda and with £12.4bn spent on government IT every year, the scale of the challenge is striking. The government’s computer systems are operational in 144 countries and they include the world’s biggest virtual private broadband network in health. Statistics suggest that worldwide, information technology is responsible for about one billion tonnes of CO2 emissions each year - that’s between two and four per cent of global energy. A United Nations University report from 2004 found a PC required 10 times its weight in raw materials at the manufacturing stage.
However, the debate should no longer reside solely on Green IT products, as there needs to be consideration of every facet of the supply of Green IT. Procurement is a major process that can have huge impact upon sustainable business and is now falling within the Green IT debate.
And as the government agrees, public sector now has a responsibility to prioritise sustainability in procurement.
But there are a multitude of things to consider when attempting to 'green' the IT buying process. As well as the efficiency of the product itself, the sustainability of the manufacturing process and the delivery of the product are also vitally important. Green procurement is about much more than supplying recycled paper and involves paying attention to the environmental impact of the entire production and transportation cycle.
Moreover, true sustainability can only be attained by paying attention to economic, social and environmental consequences at every stage of the process. For example, in the same way the concept of 'food miles' has become widely understood as an indicator of the amount of CO2 emitted in getting food from origin to plate, the notion of 'procurement miles' should become common currency among public sector IT buyers.
The challenge for the IT marketplace and efficient electronic procurement solutions is in providing buyers with all this information on a product-by-product basis to ensure best value is achieved - minimum time spent securing the best and most appropriate product at the best price. This is all about aggregating information into an easy to consume format that ensures swift and correct buying decisions. But taking account of all these new elements of information as part of the buying decision is clearly a burden unless Best Practice tools that electronic procurement is so often proffering, seen by many as the devil’s challenge.
Moving towards truly sustainable IT will rely on genuine culture change among civil servants, a perennial challenge for all public sector leaders. Overcoming ingrained habits among public sector procurers can be as difficult as getting people to embrace more energy saving habits in their own home. These difficulties can range from encouraging workers to turn off hardware at the end of the day to convincing procurers to end established relationships with suppliers who will not guarantee improvements in sustainability.
Procurement professionals truly need to consider sustainability at every stage of the buying process. For example, they need to help themselves by accurately forecasting their organisation’s IT needs. This allows larger single orders, cutting down on unnecessary deliveries and procurement miles - and usually saving money. This is a habitual change from regular small quantity orders on an unstructured ad hoc basis to more planned and structured buying for better value. This change in habits is essential if the UK is going to meet its aim of leading the EU in sustainable procurement by 2009.
A Mercato spokesperson said: "Any organisations looking for best practice should find that an electronic solution that streamlines the process and reduces duplication of effort is a more sustainable approach. Solutions like theitindex.co.uk/gov are one example which condenses the IT procurement process and allows users to make an informed choice that suits their organisations sustainability strategy."
"It offers over 150,000 branded product lines as a solution that actually shortens product lifecycle and helps manufacturers get greener products to market faster. It helps buyers get greener product faster and saves time and money in the process."
Manufacturers too are beginning to realise the economic necessity of delivering greener IT for public sector customers. Their challenge lies in educating end users as to what is or is not ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’. Web sites like www.DestinationGreenIT.com reveal the growing commitment to the green agenda from within the IT industry, with leading companies such as IBM, Hewlett Packard, Brother and Fujitsu-Siemens eager to communicate new and sustainable developments in their product lines. Public sector IT managers now have a quick and straightforward resource that allows them not only to procure sustainably, but also keep abreast of the latest developments in the entire green IT agenda.
When it comes to the products themselves, the common perception that greener, more energy efficient products are invariably more costly is a false one. While the purchase price of a more efficient product may be higher, the long term savings through energy efficiency more than compensate for the up-front cost. Of course, a green IT product is also one that is sustainably produced, packaged and delivered, as well as being energy efficient.
But how do you get the best price for these ‘green’ products? Again, the debate comes back to procurement process. But embedding green habits in the practices of procurement professionals is about more than just buying efficient products, it is about asking procurers to think about sustainability at every stage of the buying process.
