Climate-compatible IT. Transforming information technologies today.
GREEN IT – Das Systemhaus supports companies in managing their technical infrastructure holistically and developing smart solution concepts for everyday office life. Together with THE CLIMATE CHOICE, the company has conducted the Climate Performance Assessment and is now part of the Climate Intelligence Platform, which enables companies to collect climate-focused supplier data for successful decarbonization along the supply chain.
In an interview with THE CLIMATE CHOICE, Thomas Lesser, managing director, shareholder and co-founder of GREEN IT shares Best Practices in information technology and shows how climate-compatible IT works for every company.
What does climate-compatible IT mean and why is it important for companies?
The need to “act green” is more relevant than ever. Companies increasingly take into account sustainability topics and pursue a climate-relevant ways of doing business.
Information technology also plays an important role in this. The term “Green IT” stands for green, climate-compatible IT. On the one hand, this means using hardware in a way that conserves resources. On the other hand, it means reducing CO2 emissions during the production and use of IT solutions. We achieve climate-compatible IT, for example by reducing the energy consumption of systems and data centers. This is possible through special, energy-saving software solutions and the use of renewable energies for IT operations.
How does GREEN IT solve challenges for companies to become a climate-compatible business?
Since our founding in 2013, our goal has been to cleverly and sensibly combine economy and ecology. With this idea, however, we were still among the trendsetters eight years ago. At first, many IT managers shook their heads at our green credentials. Today, sustainability is an integral part of our everyday lives, and environmentally-friendly IT solutions are more in demand than ever.
Tackling challenges
We help companies to holistically manage its IT landscape. Together, we uncover potential for saving resources, and evaluate energy efficiency and innovation. We do this in the areas of IT services, print services, communications and document management. A clear advantage for our customers is that we are vendor-independent and operate nationwide. This means that we do not have to commit ourselves to a specific product; on the contrary, we focus entirely on our customers’ wishes.
What drives companies to reduce emissions in the IT and print sector?
The transformation of the working world is ushering in a new IT era. More than ever, a stable, climate-compatible IT infrastructure defines the efficiency and success of corporate processes. At the same time, responsible use of resources is increasingly becoming a corporate obligation.
As a result of digitization, the environmental impact of the IT infrastructure is also becoming increasingly relevant. More data means more computing power, for example. The electricity required for this should ideally be produced cleanly – i.e., without emissions. The use of hardware and consumables such as laptops, smartphones, toner and paper is also increasing. Here, selected materials and adapted consumption and recycling concepts can reduce waste and save valuable resources such as wood, water and oil.
In addition, almost all companies and IT managers today have to cut costs. Contrary to the prejudice that “green equals expensive”, they can do exactly that with climate-compatible IT solutions. With modern and sustainable IT concepts, we optimize the technical infrastructure, relieve the environment and achieve significant reduction in demanded costs. In short, we create a win-win situation – for companies and for the environment.
Where will we be in 10 years’ time in terms of climate-compatible IT?
The digitization of processes is advancing in leaps and bounds. At the same time, there is a massive trend toward mobile working, also reinforced by the Corona pandemic. The topic of climate-compatible IT, including solutions for IT security, is thus clearly gaining priority.
Our vision is the CO2-neutral workplace of the future
This can only be achieved with climate-friendly, secure IT. In the future, for example, all conceivable approval processes will be paperless. Printed vacation requests, invoices, presentations will be a thing of the past. This means that the degree of resource conservation is growing extremely fast. At the same time, however, power consumption is also rising rapidly – because digital processes consume energy. The use of energy-efficient, green software will therefore be just as “state of the art” in ten years as the use of renewable energies to supply IT consumers and data centers.
How do you help companies get there?
With our green thumb, we design holistic and sustainable IT concepts for our customers’ everyday digital office life. Every year, many companies incur hidden costs in the six-figure range caused by inadequate IT management. As the first green IT system house, we want to change this and at the same time make a positive contribution to our environment. For us, this means looking at all areas of an IT landscape: From the server and storage structure, security concepts and communication tools, document management, to the printer and copier fleet. We analyze the systems, processes and devices in use, identify potential for optimization and take care of the procurement, installation and maintenance of improved, resource-saving products. In doing so, we act in four fields of action: Renewable Energies, Hardware, Awareness and Process Optimization.
Individual challenges require individual solutions
Every industry and every company operates differently. We analyze specific needs and provide advice on the digitization of processes with the aim of saving CO2 emissions and resources in the IT infrastructure and thus reducing the environmental impact.
With our concepts such as the GREEN IT Cloud and smart flower, we drive the intelligent use of renewable energies to supply IT consumers and provide an important building block on the way to zero emission, climate-compatible IT. During implementation, we pay attention to the use of energy-efficient hardware and focus on sustainable client lifecycle management: from manufacturing processes to recycling and disposal. With our Print GREEN solutions, we help customers reduce waste and minimize their environmental impact by printing more intelligently and less at the same time. In addition, we provide training courses to sensitize users to the sustainable and energy-efficient use of the systems in use.
What are your Best Practices? How can companies save resources quickly and efficiently?
Best Practices in Printing
A tangible example is the technology shift from laser printing to ink systems, such as from the manufacturer Epson. Clear advantages of the systems: 92% less CO2 emissions, 0% ozone emissions and 94% less waste. At the same time, companies can save 96% of system-related electricity costs.
In addition, businesses can use special software solutions in printing. This enables printouts to be managed efficiently and ecologically. This reduces paper and ink consumption, for example, by selecting special print modes. Rule-based printing and follow-me-solutions avoids unnecessary printing while ensuring data security. The gradual reduction of paper consumption is enormously important, because just 500 sheets of A4 office paper less can save up to 7.5 kg of wood, 130 liters of water and 2.6 kg of CO2.
Last but not least: Electronic document management reduces paper and printing costs enormously. Digital invoicing serves as an example. Invoices are simply sent and received via online portals or by e-mail. This can completely eliminate paper-based processes.
Reducing CO2
Another way of operating IT sustainably is reflected in the idea of zero emission IT. Our goal is to offer zero-emission IT for companies throughout Germany. To achieve this, we work with innovative, highly efficient concept solutions whose basis is the use of renewable energy. And this should ideally be used directly at the generation site. This means that the electricity for the IT infrastructure is usable without any detours. Examples are the smart flower, an all-in-one photovoltaic system, or the GREEN IT Cloud Services – which are provided directly from the windCORES, a data center in a wind turbine of our partner WestfalenWIND IT. This is real green power – without transport routes, but with maximum flexibility. With these solutions, we provide IT consumers with an important building block on the road to zero-emission IT. It doesn’t get any greener than this.
Do you also want to get a better overview of your company’s climate-related opportunities and risks? Then sign up with us and request information on the Climate Performance Assessment.
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