IT's social mission: Beyond power plays and trash talk

November 11, 2008, 12:00 AM — Kevin Roddy, vice president of information technology for 3rd Federal Bank in Newtown, Pa., didn't specifically set out to create a socially responsible IT department, but common sense technology and business practices led him in that direction anyway. "The IT decisions we make are designed to help us better serve our customers, and they usually turn out to be beneficial to a wider community as well," he says. 

Like Roddy, a growing number of IT executives and managers are discovering that creating and running a socially responsible IT department can be good for both their business and the world at large. IT activities that are respectful of important social issues, including the environment and human rights, typically turn out to be smart business practices, says Shane Aubel, partner and co-founder of Accent Global System Architects, an IT architecture and management consulting firm located in Silver Spring, Md. "It's mostly a matter of doing a variety of things in a balanced and integrated fashion," he notes. (For more on what socially responsible steps IT can take, see Ten tips for a more socially responsible IT department .)

Photo by net_efekt

For example, according to Sonoma, Calif.-based sustainability services provider Green IT, current and emerging technologies can reduce power consumption in data centers by 50-80 percent and required floor space by 65 percent "Green makes business sense as well as being socially responsible," Aubel says.

Power Play
IT departments that make a commitment to social responsibility typically focus on practices such as energy conservation, equipment recycling, thoughtful "consumables" disposal and making sure that the products and services they use come from companies that treat their workers fairly and respectfully. "IT departments and the people in them have as much of a social contract with the nation and the world and our fellow citizens as any individual does," says Laura Folden, IT director for the Washington-headquartered Humane Society of the U.S.

For Roddy, as for other IT managers, a socially responsible IT department includes a commitment to deploy and use energy-thrifty hardware, including servers, PCs, printers and various other devices. "We want to cut energy usage wherever we can, since it's the intelligent thing to do," he says.

An October 2008 study by Framingham, Mass.-based market research firm IDC, Beyond Power: IT's Roadmap to Sustainable Computing, observes that energy-conscious managers need to look beyond traditional IT metrics in order to find power-smart systems. Products that feature Energy Star 4.x, 80Plus and EPEAT standards are generally more energy efficient than comparable products lacking these certifications.

Beyond acquiring energy-efficient hardware, Roddy also wants to use technology that will help him drive more efficiency out of existing systems. That's why his department is moving toward server virtualization, which promises potentially significant energy savings by reducing the number of required physical servers. "It's a direction we're moving in," he says.