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

by John Edwards

November 11, 2008 —

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.Â

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.

While technology like virtualization is a leading-edge, high-profile move, smaller conservation steps are just as important -- perhaps even more crucial -- to meaningful energy reduction, observes Aubel. "The biggest energy usage within an organization are things like lights and heating," he notes. "While virtualization gets a lot of attention, simply turning off the lights and turning off unnecessary computers when you go home is probably the single biggest way of conserving energy."

Seeking Sustainability
For many IT departments, energy savings is a launching point for a wider commitment to social responsibility. "Pushing beyond a sole focus on power consumption, enterprises are now deploying more far-reaching optimization strategies to achieve a broader reduction of their carbon footprint and expand their corporate social responsibilities, all without necessarily incurring additional cost," says Bob Houghton, president and CEO of Redemtech, a Columbus, Ohio-based company that helps enterprises dispose of unwanted hardware.

As they seek sustainability, Houghton recommends that managers assess the lifecycles of every technology in their IT infrastructure. "Such assessments should consider the way systems are manufactured and delivered, deployed and utilized, all the way to the manner in which they are retired at the end of their life," he says.

According to the IDC study, extending system life whenever possible can slash total cost of ownership (TCO) "by reducing the cost of new procurement for replacement systems, retirement of existing assets and labor cost for transition activities such as reimaging, deployment and testing."

Extended lifecycles combined with a well-managed technology refresh cycle, can also boost asset return on investment (ROI). "Reduced cash requirements for procurement can have short-term benefits for the company's cash flow and reduce the need to secure financing," the IDC study observes.

Trash Talk
Even an IT department that reaches an optimum sustainability level occasionally needs to throw some stuff out, including equipment and consumables. Although recycling isn't a new concept, IT departments didn't really begin embracing the practice until a few years ago, when stricter state and local environmental regulations began forcing more businesses to focus on recycling, Aubel says.

Atefeh Razi, CIO of Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide, the New York-based advertising and public relations firm, says she strives to optimize her department's recycling impact by purchasing equipment from vendors that also provide end-of-life hardware disposal services. "Right now, when we buy products, we pay extra [money to] the company that sells it to us to take it away and get rid of it in a responsible way," she says. Razi is dubious of dealing with recycling companies that promise to handle discarded products in a responsible manner. "We can go and try to certify some of these [recycling] companies that do it as a business, but it's too much work," she says. "I think it's better to just go with HP and Dell and IBM and Apple and say, 'Look, here's extra money to do this.'"

Razi says it's also a good idea when acquiring new products to look to manufacturers that promise a commitment to rely on environmentally friendly processes and materials. The IDC study points out that products should be selected to "meet specific environmental design standards that include the reduction or elimination of toxic elements such as lead and cadmium."

People, Too
Social responsibility doesn't begin and end with green issues. The concept also extends to various human rights challenges, both domestically and internationally, including pay rates, working conditions and child labor.

While IT departments in developed nations must adhere to a labor laws that have been progressively enacted over several decades, the same is not true in many nations where industrialization remains a relatively new development. In too many places, people work under conditions, and at pay rates, that are more evocative of 19th century sweatshops than 21st century tech facilities. This situation encompasses hardware manufacturers and software developers, as well as help desks and other service-oriented facilities.

"We've been hearing some rather unfortunate stories about the 24-hour call centers," says Christine Bullen, president of the Global Sourcing Council, a New York-based organization that focuses on the economic and social effects of outsourcing. "These [reports] particularly have come out of India, where they've got young people working all through the night there because it's daytime here," she says. "Some of the women have been reporting very serious sexual harassment issues -- there's even been a study that says that the incidents of HIV positive people have increased, and they're connecting this to sexual activity that's taking place in these call centers."

Ensuring that IT products and services are produced under conditions that respect human dignity isn't easy unless one can personally inspect vendor sites, an ability few IT managers have. Short of this, Bullen recommends carefully screening vendors by asking them directly about how they treat their employees. She also suggests checking with industry watchdogs, such as the Global Sourcing Council, to see if any firms under consideration have appeared on industry warning lists.

Human rights also becomes a factor whenever IT throws away broken and obsolete hardware. Houghton notes that the asset disposal industry has long been plagued by "representatives that have utilized, and in many instances still utilize, practices considered unethical and socially questionable." Among the least monitored practices is the use of prison labor, which some asset disposal companies use to keep their costs down, he says. "As companies become more aware of the impact of their disposal practices, and document progress in their corporate and social responsibility policies, they should work to ensure that such practices are not used," Houghton states.

Seeking Support
IT managers looking to increase their department's social awareness level must look to enterprise leaders for both morale and financial support. Fortunately, growing awareness has made bringing social responsibility practices to IT a much more achievable goal than in years gone by, Houghton says. "The best corporate sustainability goals are part of the organization's overarching corporate strategy," he adds.

While upper management buy-in is crucial, Folden notes that it's also vital to encourage employees at all levels to become more socially conscious. "Engage them, educate them and converse with them, because they've got a lot of good ideas as well," she says. "I think the best thing any IT department can do in being environmentally and socially responsible is working with and educating users."

Houghton adds that enterprises shouldn't be timid about trumpeting their IT responsibility successes to customers and employees. The positive news will encourage other IT managers to launch their own initiatives. "If your organization meets its goals, be sure to talk about the sustainability and operating efficiency achievements in your organization's communication outlets, such as newsletters, emails and annual reports," he says.