UNIT: V

CASE STUDIES

Syllabus:

The Environmentally Responsible Business strategies (ERBS) – Case study scenarios for
trial runs – case studies – applying Green IT strategies and applications to a home, hospital,
packaging industry and telecom sector.

5.1 THE ENVIRONMENTALLY RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS STRATTEGIES (ERBS):

The objective of this study is to understand the contribution of ICT in environmental strategies of
a business and its sustainable management. This includes understanding organizational and individual
attitudes and policies towards Green ICT, wasteful and emissive processes, enablement of efficient use of
organizational resources, metrics for monitoring and justification of the greening of the organization and
implementation of environmental strategies in business.

The data collected through this survey will be analyzed and processed for the development and
validation of a model for ―Environmentally Responsible Business Strategy (ERBS).‖ This survey respects
the privacy of the individuals and the confidentiality of the organizations. As such, the answers you
provide here will only be discussed and analyzed collectively in seminars and publications. A short white
paper of our results will be provided on your (optionally provided) contact details as a m ark of our
gratitude.
Questions: (To Enable)

Respondent Demographics:
5.2 CASE STUDY SCENARIOS FOR TRIAL RUNS:

New Bank Carbon Scenario:

New Bank is a hypothetical bank with head office in a large city on the Eastern coast of Australia.
The bank has a large and established customer base, a 24,000 strong work force and a reputation to be
proud of. The organization is supported with sophisticated suite of enterprise resource planning (ERP)
software (including a SAP implementation, as also a powerful front-end customer relationship
management (CRM)). Its past history indicates the bank has traditionally had close ties with the
government. The senior management of the bank is keen to incorporate ―Green IT‖ as an integral part of
its business strategy.

Following Is the Result of the Initial Green IT Audit Undertaken by the Bank:

Desktop Machines:

 Numbers (total across the organization): 2 0,000 (12,000 conventional; 7,500 = laptops; 500 =
thin clients)
 Value (current $): $1,200,000
 Status (how old/new, etc.): Most conventional PCs are between 2 and 3 years old
 Emissions data (as a rough estimate based on spreadsheet): 1,777,500 watts per hour
 Conventional = 12,000 × 110 w = 1,320,000
 Laptops = 7,500 × 60 w = 450,000
 Thin clients = 500 × 15 w = 7500

Mobile Devices:

 Numbers (total across the organization): 2 6,000 ( 2000 owned by the organization, rest
individual)
 Value (current $): $250,000
 Status ( how old/new, etc.): those by individuals are new, the bank owned are averaging 2.5 years
 Emissions data (estimate): 10 w per day × 26,000 = 260,000 watts per day
Printers and peripherals:

 Numbers (total across the organization): 1000

 Value (current $): 500,000
 Status (how old/new, etc.): average age 4 years
 Emissions data: could not be estimated during the Green IT audit

Data center IT and Communication Equipment:

 Numbers (total across the organization): 12 + 4 = 16

 Value (current $): N/A
 Status (how old/new, etc.): 2-year old equipment
 Emissions data (if available—or estimate): 16 × 0.5 kW ph × 24 = 192 kw per day

Network Devices: Routers

 10 devices
 50 routers
 20 switches

Challenge: Apply Green IT strategies to New Bank to transition it to a green bank—with stated goals of
10% carbon reduction over every previous year for 3 years.

Blue waters Travel Agency Carbon Scenario:

Bluewaters is a small to medium travel agency operating out of New York. The company has an
excellent, elite client base. The company is well-controlled and well-managed single-owner enterprise
with approximately 25 employees. At any one time, the company has about eight computers running,
together with associated paraphernalia. In addition, there are copiers, faxes, and shredders in the main
office. Some employees do occasional telework, especially when they don’t have to face a client.

OpenAir Airline Carbon Scenario:

OpenAir is a medium, regional airline operating out of the Asian region. The airline has been
vulnerable to oil costs during most of its operation. However, with improved opportunities to fly to
further destinations than the local region comes the challenge of controlling, reporting, and reducing the
carbon footprint. Following are the notes based on an initial investigation commissioned by the corporate
board of OpenAir, in the context of carbon emissions.

 Economic viability of OpenAir is no longer independent of its carbon footprint.

 Passengers are expecting a much greater role from OpenAir in terms of carbon reduction than
merely offering carbon off sets to passengers, especially as it expands beyond the Asian region.
 While electronic ticketing and check in has been introduced with some success, the board sees a
need for mobile ticketing and check in.
 Need for sophisticated IT systems on the rise, especially in supporting the growth in passenger
travels, especially in the business market.
 Fuel efficiency metrics are not tied to carbon metrics.
 Scheduling of flights, variations to those schedules, and rostering of staff (pilots, stewards) is not
optimized. Besides, there is practically no telework culture within the organization.
 There is some understanding within the organization about carbon emissions from airline fuel, but
hardly any acknowledgment and understanding of internal IT emissions.
 OpenAir has about 2000 desktop computers, 300 laptops provided by the organization to the
employees, and unaccounted mobile devices. There is a single data Centre catering to all the IT
systems requirements, with a non-real time off site backup that is a major risk to the airline’s
business.

5.3 APPLYING GREEN IT STRATEGIES

Applications to Home:

Peering through a green lens at your home office:

The basic principles of greening involve reducing your consumption reusing what you can , and
recycling the rest. This approach works not just for technology but also for the surrounding environment
that supports. The following lists of questions help us look at the needs for office space through a green
lens.

Reduce:

 Can you consolidate the area you use to create a compact but comfortable workspace?
 How can you use natural lighting to reduce the amount of electricity pumping into that area?

Reuse:
  How can you share resources in a way that benefits the rest of the house?
 What items in the attic could be given a second life in a home workspace?

Recycle:

 Are you planning to recycle all office supplies you can? Tonner, inkjet cartridges, paper, books
and more.

Choosing your office Location:

 You do not need a huge space for a green home office.

 In general, as you choose the spot for your workspace, keep these ideas in mind.
 Your computer and peripherals need access to power, a router and each other.
 Create your workspace in an area that is well ventilated and gets fresh air
whenever possible.

Talking Green Furnishing:

 A desk, a chair, and maybe a bookshelf

 A small printer / router etc..
 Lighting
 Windows

Find the Chair:

 Use materials that are safe and healthy for the environment.
 Employ materials that can be reused, recycled, or composed.
 Use renewable energy in the manufacturing of the chair.
 Maximize energy efficiency in manufacturing.

Bookcase and more:

 Wood is beautiful and warm, and it adds beauty to the room. But if you had the option of looking
at the beautiful tree growing outside your window or seeing that same tree across the room
holding your books, which would you prefer?
 Today’s green furniture designers dis agree cutting down of trees. They use cardboard shelves.
The cardboard design company uses a honey comb cell shape to create furniture that is very
sturdy and light weight as well.
Lighting:

 The lighting in your workspace may have a lot to do with. Using natural blinds both helps reduce
glare and reflection of light into the room.
 Painting the walls in light color helps to brighten the room and makes use of natural light.

Plants:

 Decades ago research showed that plants have feelings and respond to other life forms in their
environment.
 The lady palm has a fan like leaf that can get very large. It is resistant to insects and cleans the air
very effectively.
 The bamboo tree cleans the air of toxins such as formaldehyde and humidifies the air.

Sustaining Green Practices:

Part of keeping your workspace green involves making sure your daily work practices stay green
as well.

 A print plan : Only , print items that you review on the page and only use paper with a high
percentage of post-consumer recycled material.
 An Energy use plan: Set your computer and all peripherals to shut off instead of hibernating or
sleeping, if you plan to be gone for more than two hours.
 An energy acquisition plan : Buy renewable energy if you can. Your local utility company may
have an option that enables you to purchase a certain amount of your electricity from renewable
resources.
 A Resource use plan : Use rechargeable batteries whenever possible for devices.

HOSPITAL:

Good Mead Hospital:

Good Mead is a hypothetical large hospital in a metro city, providing public sector medical
services. These services cover various areas of health including the standard outpatient department
providing regular consultation to patients, as also various specialties such as pediatric, gynecology and
obstetrics, orthopedics, radiology, sports medicine, and so on. As a result of the recent preliminary Green
IT audit of the hospital, it has been revealed that the hospital had a significant carbon footprint.
Significant reviews of patient management processes, management of electronic patient records ( EPR),
laboratory equipment management, medical drugs and material management, and management of
equipment’s and buildings were undertaken.

Initial opinion of the auditors and that of the tentatively appointed chief green officer (CGO) was
that significant optimization was possible in all these areas of the hospital that will reduce its carbon
footprint. The cost-effectiveness and efficiency of the hospital’s service processes is as important as its
carbon efficiency. Further to the attention on processes in terms of their carbon reduction, the initial
investigation also highlighted that Good Mead has a significant investment in a data center. The building
and infrastructure of this data center is now more than 10 years old, and the server machines themselves
are averaging 4 years in use. The audit also revealed that the hospital, by undertaking a Green enterprise
transformation (GET), would be able to influence many of its partnering organizations. These are the labs,
pharmacies, and suppliers.

Preliminary Green Investigation:

Following is a list of the noteworthy findings from the preliminary Green IT audit of Good Mead
hospital:

 The hospital being a large, public sector hospital, has to undertake action in terms of measuring,
reporting, and reducing its carbon emissions.
 The hospital has significant opportunity to influence its partnering organizations.
 The OPD (out-patient department) of the hospital is a large and complex department that operates
out of its own separate building and infrastructure. This department is serviced by 220 stationary
desktop machines, 100 mobile laptops and PDAs carried personally by the staff and numerous
supporting IT peripherals—such as printers. accounts for 60 to 65 KT (kilo Tonnes) of carbon
emissions of the hospital.
 The hospital has additional desktops, printers, laptops, and PDAs that are in the other departments
such as surgical and laboratories. These devices amount to 20 kT of emissions at this stage.
 Printers are heavily used for writing of scripts, printing of patient records and reports and related
documentation (such as a referral). On an average, the hospital prints 5,000 pages of normal paper
and consumes corresponding ink and printer time.
 Scheduling system for patient appointments, surgical procedures and human relation (HR) (e.g.,
doctor vacation) is also not optimized and requires a major upgrade. Scheduling patient
consultations, scheduling work rosters for nurses and administrative staff is many a times
happening manually.
 Green Business Objectives:

The green business objectives of Good Mead hospital are based on the results of the preliminary
investigations into its Green IT maturity level.

On the left is the description of the ―as is‖ state of the hospital from the environmental perspective.
On the right is the ―to be‖ or desired state of the hospital. This ―to be‖ state of the hospital is based on
the formation of green objectives of the organization.

Following are the important objectives of Good Mead in undertaking the GET:

 Reduction in carbon emissions across all departments and processes of the organization.
 Compliance with carbon legislations and related carbon initiatives of the government.
 Be a leader in carbon management and, thereby, influence many business partners in reducing
their emissions.
 Undertake electronic collaborations with partners, government regulatory bodies for
monitoring and reporting.
 Undertake comprehensive Green BPM program that will enable result in modeling,
optimization, and merger/elimination of processes.
 Aim for a comprehensive and holistic GET that is futuristic.
 Create positive green attitude across the entire staff through Green HR.

SWOT of Good Mead Hospital:

SWOT analysis is helpful in understanding the approach that can be taken for the GET. A SWOT
analysis makes it easier to understand how to capitalize on the inherent strengths of the hospital.
Following understanding develops as a result of the SWOT analysis of Good Mead hospital in its ―As is‖
state:

Strengths:

 Well-known public sector hospital. This is popularity of the hospital is an important impetus for
the hospital to undertake GET. The impact of such transformation will be far reaching, beyond
the hospital. There is significant support to the hospital in terms of patients and corporate.
 Financially well supported by government. Good Mead has been a flagship hospital in the
region, with sufficient funding from the government over the last decade, enabling it to undertake
its services, together with its research and training.
 Green IT budget. A recently elected government has provided additional, specific grant to the
hospital to enable it to improve its environmental credentials.
 Reputed teaching and research hospital. There is an atmosphere of research and experimentation.
Therefore, the hospital will be ideally placed to experiment with carbon reduction and wastage
reduction across its various departments and processes. Besides, the staff it highly skilled in what
it does—including medical, administrative, and IT support.
 Weaknesses:

 Aging IT infrastructure. The preliminary Green IT audit finds that the data center is more
than 10 years old and the average server is 4 years in use. This implies a rapidly aging
infrastructure that is not able to capitalize on the benefits of newer server designs and
techniques for cooling. Furthermore, such infrastructure also implies high overhead costs for
its operation.
 Attitude not conducive to Green IT. A preliminary survey carried out during the audit, and
one-on-one interviews with a few volunteer staff indicated clearly that the attitude within
Good Mead was not positive toward Green IT. Understandably there was skepticism for the
initiative—particularly from the medical staff who considered IT-related carbon savings as
not substantial.
 Carbon inefficient processes. Numerous processes were identified at the organization level
that was carbon inefficient. These processes included patient management, inventory
management, and staff rosters. The IT systems supporting these systems were also not carbon
efficient. There were no technology innovations within the systems such as use of Cloud
computing or web services.
 IT inexperience (new technologies). While the hospital was advanced in research and
training in the medical field, it was lagging behind in terms of experience with new and
upcoming information technologies. Therefore, there was little initiative from the current IT
management to undertake major changes relating to carbon reduction.

Opportunities:

 New leadership (CEO, CIO). One of the most significant opportunity Good mead has to develop
and implement environmentally responsible business strategies are the formation of the new
leadership team.
 Government focus on environment. The regulatory bodies are now getting a push through
government initiatives on carbon reduction. As a result, new legislative requirements are about to
be implemented, making it mandatory for large organizations in particular, to calculate and report
their carbon emissions.
 Green portals integrated with regulatory portals. The push from the government for carbon
reduction is not only an opportunity for the hospital to transform its business models, portfolios,
and data centers, but also upgrades its IT systems and portals with carbon data and information.

Threats:
  Uncertainty of focus. While the senior management of the hospital is committed to a green
hospital, there is occasional shift in the focus due to the changing nature of the technology
domain.
 Patient privacy risks exposure. Privacy and confidentiality requirements of the patient’s
information needs to be protected as the transformation of technical systems and data
warehouses takes place.
 Infrastructure/change management. Due to the aging and underdeveloped nature of the
technical environment, it may be hard to implement some of the technological solutions in
which reliability of the service is crucial.

Strategic Concerns of Management:

SWOT analysis provides significant input in identifying the drivers for environmentally
responsible business strategy (ERBS) and vice versa. The senior management can start with a general
understanding of the drivers for ERBS which, later, get formalized as the SWOT analysis is undertaken.

Social political pressure, and enlightened self-interest as the two key drivers for ERBS. These two drivers
are described as follows:

 Sociopolitical pressure: The hospital has a substantial standing in the community. Besides, it is
also a flagship hospital within the region. There is significant social and political pressure on the
hospital to demonstrate its environmental credentials. This pressure comes from the general
 community that views the hospital as a symbol of good service-based organization and cross-
section of patients (e.g., youngsters, sports-people).
 Enlightened self-interest: The senior management of the hospital, the leaders/decision makers is
keen to take up the challenge of changing their processes and internal social attitude to a positive,
green attitude.

Steps in Developing a Hospital’s ERBS:

Here the figure not only serves as a reminder for the steps in developing an ERBS for the hospital, but
also shows the key drivers, dimensions, risks, and metrics for this Good Mead ERBS.

 The business objectives of the hospital in becoming a green hospital were identified earlier on.
These objectives and visions provide the initial direction for the hospital in its strategy
formulation. The drivers for the objectives are enlightened self-interest and sociopolitical pressure
on the hospital.
 Green IT strategies: These are the medium terms (3–5 year) strategies that are driven by the
CGO and that are based on the drivers and objectives of the organization. Strategies for Green IT
also contain elements of risks or threats, as were identified during the SWOT.
 Green IT policies and preconditions: These are the policies that are formed at the departmental
level and are implemented in practice by the departmental heads and/or process owners.
 Green IT resource plans: These include details of resources required in undertaking
transformation.
  Green transformation plans: These are the business transformation and change management
plans that will focus on the dimensions and the work areas.

Green Transformational Elements:

 The major dimension along with the GET will take place. This is the process dimension also
supported by the social dimension for transformation.
 The demographics of the organization can play a role in deciding on the type of transformation,
its budgets, and its resources. In case of Good Mead hospital, these demographics are large-sized
service organization in a metropolitan city of a developed region.
 Maturity of Good Mead in terms of its Green IT performance is very basic.

Once these aforementioned aspects of Good Mead are ascertained, the transformation of the hospital can
be undertaken as follows:

 User devices—Measuring, upgrading, and recycling monitors, PCs, laptops, and mobile phones;
desktop virtualization; centralized green services.
 Data center—Virtualization, optimization; self-healing networks; network topology, database
design, hardware and software components, security issues, and backup strategies. Redesign of
data center to include flexibility and agility to enable easy upgrades of future infrastructure.
 Systems and lifecycle—IT systems supporting hospital processes like booking, consultation,
diagnosis, treatment, prescription, and education; Equipment procurement, installation and usage;
 integration of supply chain with local as well as overseas pharmacies and drug suppliers.
Interaction with government and other regulatory bodies should also be enabled electronically.
 Wastage—Electronic waste resulting from unused or broken devices; also, due consideration is
given to areas of bio waste.
 Attitude—Undertaking training and consulting programs for staff (doctors, nurses, admin) and
promoting it amongst patients and business partners. Internet-based system to facilitate global
management of the administration, rosters as well as the most HR (human relations—People)
functions. Change management for telework and teleHealth.

Case Study in applying Green IT Strategies to the Packaging industry:

AuPack Scenario:

AuPack is a hypothetical organization in the business of manufacturing packages and containers

that, in turn, are used by other manufacturers of goods and products. Medium in size in the context of the
developing nation from where it operates, AuPack has established itself over the last decade as a reliable,
honest organization. AuPack has around 10,000 workers and a forward looking corporate board led by a
recently appointed young CEO. AuPack is keen to move forward in the area of Green IT. The carbon
emissions from its production lines are on the rise, and also the electronic and other wastages. The
wastages, in particular, are not just restricted to the organization but are occurring at an alarmingly high
rate with the end-users of the contents of the packages. The local regulatory authorities are also showing
interest in AuPack’s carbon footprint. The products of AuPack include variety of packages that are made
up of materials such a s cardboard, foam, plastic, choir, and rubber. These packages or containers are sold
to other manufacturers who use them to wrap, store, and distribute their own products, including food
(raw, finished, liquids), medical drugs, equipment’s, and electronic goods (such as TV, computers, toys).
The containers produced by AuPack, therefore, need to range from boxes, tubes, and bubble-wraps
through to tin cans and jars—to name but a few. Customization of these packaging products for specific
customers is a regular occurrence.

Manufacturing of the packages requires materials to be sourced, planning of the production

process, inventory of produced packages, and a customer management system. These are business
processes that are a combination of manual, paper-based, and electronic (local, spreadsheet based, and
system supported) processes.

A recent internal audit revealed that the organization has around 350 desktop machines, close to
100 laptops, and two large data servers in a small, backend data center. Most PCs have been in use for 5
or more years, have cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors, and are used by accountants, production shift
managers, and administrators. Connectivity for most machines is provided through internal LANs and
WANs and externally using a combination of virtual private network (VPN) (especially with dedicated
corporate clients) and the Internet. The hardware of the organization is used to run variety of applications
including AuPack’s assets and inventory management, customer service, financial management,
procurement, and HR/Payroll. Data corresponding to these applications is stored in the underlying data
warehouse of AuPack on the two servers. A significant part of the production and inventory data is
collected from the shop floor automatically and updated in the data warehouse.

Following are the current observations of the CEO together with the internal auditor in terms of
AuPack’s situation from environmental sustainability viewpoint:

 Raw materials for packaging are available in abundance.

 Workers are dedicated to the company. However, most workers have had very basic
education, and in some case no education at all.
 Wide customer base from both developed and developing region with the business from
the developing regions on the rise.
 Network of transporters who partner with AuPack to bring in raw materials as well as
deliver blank, ready-to-go container packages, typically to the corporate customers.
 Continuously changing needs of customers.
 Other departments of AuPack, that are under the direct influence of these changing
requirements are sales (as the orders keep changing regularly), financial (as it is a
challenge to ascertain the exact cost and, therefore, the way in which the product should
be priced), customer service (in terms of current management of expectation and future
handling of issues arising from nonstandard packaging) and, eventually, legal department
(as the packaging products are sold worldwide)

The following figure summarizes the overall approach to Green enterprise transformation (GET) of
AuPack. The ―as is‖ state is ascertained through an initial investigation based on an early, approximate
Green IT audit. The ―to be‖ or desired state, according to the initial vision statement of the CEO, is for
AuPack to be a lean-green organization. This term indicates that the organization is interested in both cost
and carbon issues and not one over the other.
AuPack’s Green IT Strategies:

As a result of the initial audit, the CEO has appointed a new CGO—the chief green officer. This
lady, with an IT background, currently leads the computer-aided design (CAD) department of AuPack.
This department has been heavily involved in the use of computers to create new packaging design based
on customer requirements. The CGO has gone through the initial Green IT audit report, discussed it with
the auditors and also with the CEO and has immediately formed a working group. This working group
will become the GET team that will undertake the change. The approach taken by the CGO is
summarized in the following Figure.

 Immediate focus on use and capitalization of technologies with the creation of a Green IT portal.
  Launching of a GET program that is going to enable compliance with ISO 14001 standards;
however, this program has to work alongside the existing ISO 9001 compliance and certification
program of Au Pack.
 Understand the growing environmental awareness of all its customers—with the input derived
from the customers (especially corporate customers) through the Green IT portal itself.
 Extend the current process optimization initiative to make it a formal Lean process
implementation that will also be measured and reporting for corresponding greenness.
 Develop a green market that will be specifically based on the lean-green processes (e.g.,
optimized package designs, use of biodegradable materials in packaging and take back of
discarded/consumed packaging material through a reverse supply chain).
 Form a consortium of like-minded businesses in the region and provide leadership through initial
experience of GET.
 Influence and be influenced by customers and suppliers in terms of carbon compliance.

SWOT of Au Pack in Green Context:

SWOT analysis, however, is with a particular focus on Green IT. The strategic approach,
undertaken by the CGO, indicates that this analysis will eventually be part of the overall strategic
approach of the business itself. Currently, however, this SWOT analysis shows Au Pack’s Green IT
challenges and capabilities.

Green IT Strengths:

 The incoming CEO realizes that for Au Pack to survive and prosper in the carbon
economy there is a need to create and implement a comprehensive Green IT strategy.
This visionary leadership in itself is strength of the organization and is recognized by the
CGO who is able to work closely with the CEO.
 Au Pack is progressing well financially with its business and its profit margins are on the
rise. This growth is a positive opportunity for its Green IT initiatives, as there is a budget
for the GET.
 Material-savvy region, with more than a decade of experience in packaging/container
production. The processes associated with procurement of raw materials are manual, but
the processes are working well. Careful automation will create opportunities for
optimization and, thereby, reduce both carbon and costs.
  Strong distribution network for the packages and containers produced by AuPack. This
distribution network includes strong partnership with local and overseas transporters.

Green IT Weaknesses:

 The technical infrastructure of the organization is aging. Almost all desktop computers are 5 or
more years old, and the laptop computers are also more than 3 years in use. In the context of
Green IT, this implies computing hardware that has not had the benefits of new, low carbon
emitting designs.
 The software systems for Au Pack have proliferated as there was little control over the purchase
and installation of computers.
 The workforce of the organization is highly experienced in production of various types of
packages and containers. However, many of the production processes are manual—making use of
whiteboards, paper, and the supporting IT systems. The shift managers are the only people from
the shop floor who make use of the IT systems for production planning.
 Most workers of Au Pack are not serious about environmental issues. This is not their personal
weakness, as the socioeconomic background from where they come had little opportunity to
consider the environment.
 Noticeable wastage in packaging products and IT—this wastage is derived from the non-
optimized production processes that are unable to capitalize on the production planning and
execution systems of the organization.
Green IT Opportunities:

 Leadership of Au Pack in the design and development of packaging products provides it with
excellent opportunity to understand, improve, and optimize its designs, including the use of
biodegradable materials and recycling of used packaging products.
 Potential to leap frog in terms of computing technologies by directly using the latest, low carbon
emitting machines and servers.
 Acceptance of ideas by partners—customers and suppliers—thereby creating leadership in the
Green IT/carbon compliance space.

Green IT Threats:

 Attitude of majority of staff is not serious about Green IT. This was ascertained during the spot-
surveys of some staff sampled from the various departments of the organization.
 Differences in compliance requirements of the developing region versus the developed regions
where customers are located.
 Inexperience i n undertaking GE T in the region—there is hardly a known organization in the
developing region where Au Pack is located, that has undertaken successful GET. Therefore,
there are risks associated with this transformation.

Diagnosis in Au Pack:

The initial investigation of AuPack in terms of its green credentials, and the SWOT analysis provides
impetus to carry out the full GET. Formal diagnosis of AuPack will lead to a detailed understanding and
formalization of the drivers and the ensuing dimensions of GET.

 The CEO of AuPack realizes that the reduction in costs and optimization of processes will be an
ideal driver for the Green IT initiative of the organization. Carbon reduction for its own sake may
not provide sufficient motivation for the organization. Thus, a good sustainable approach for
AuPack will include optimization of processes, consolidation of its information technology
hardware and software and thereby reduce its costs and carbon together.
 Regional environmental legislation requires AuPack to monitor and report its overall carbon
emissions. The regulatory requirements are being specified on a recently launched government
portal and AuPack plans to monitor, measure and report directly on that government portal.
 AuPack has many partner organizations—both locally in the geographical region of the
developing country where it operates and overseas, where its customer base is growing rapidly.
 The visionary leadership of AuPack is keen to capitalize on these myriad associations with its
collaborating organizations and influence them in terms of their carbon footprint.

Planning for GET:

 Customers and partners. Changes to these relationships will be based on changes to the way
improving the customer information systems to get ongoing sales from customers.
 IT systems and applications. Upgrade of CAD/CAM computers to high powered computers that
are networked in a way to reduce the interactions required through the various systems and
applications.
 A new Carbon Emission Management Software (CEMS) together with an optimized
manufacturing system that would support new and existing business.
 Changes to Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with partners as the organization transitions as also
changes to governance structures with greater focus on environment (green governance).
 External and internal business processes supporting the manufacturing as well as sales/
distribution of the packaging products will be optimized.
 Operational organization and green HR resulting from changes to the people structure as a result
of green initiative.

APPLYING GREEN IT STRATEGIES AND APPLICATIONS TO THE TELECOM SECTOR:

ZeeTel Telecom Scenario:

ZeeTel is a hypothetical, large telecom company operating in the African region. ZeeTel is
responsible for the core telecom infrastructure in the region, in addition to offering some land-based and
mobile services. Main focus of ZeeTel’s business has been the creation of the telecom platform that
provides the backbone for communications infrastructure in that geographical region.

ZeeTel’s customers are mostly corporate customers that use ZeeTel’s telecom platform to vend
their contents (e.g., sports or entertainment providers) or are direct, large-scale users of ZeeTel’s services
(e.g., banks or airlines). There are very few direct end users of ZeeTel—except, of course, its employees
who use the IT systems to provide business services. Occasionally, some employee households are also
involved as small time end-users. However, with the operational independence of the organization, and
the receipt of a government directive on climate change, ZeeTel is now seriously considering extending,
embellishing, and putting into practice its environmental plans. Such planning was undertaken in a less
formal way a year ago, mainly in response to the growing demands for environmental consciousness from
its corporate customers. The following figure summarizes the overall approach to GET undertaken by
ZeeTel.

Following are specific highlights of business and technology advantages of the GET approach of ZeeTel.

 Growth in business, particularly with corporate customers, due to carbon reduction and
corresponding boost in the image of ZeeTel.
 Imminent upgrades of hardware, software, and networks, but now closely aligned with
environmental performance.
 Ability to comply with policies, legislative, and regulatory frameworks that are put together by
the government as well as telecom’s summit bodies and industrial consortiums.
 Ability to handle carbon taxes, particularly as a government organization.
 Preplanning on how to deal with corporate customers in terms of financial models that will enable
sharing of carbon taxes between them and ZeeTel.
 Ability to ensure there are no carbon penalties and fines. Penalties and fines are not only costly
exercise, but also create a loss of face for the organization and its leadership position.
 Make good use of mobile technologies and services which, while requiring additional power to
operate, also create opportunities to significantly reduce carbon.
 Create and promote policies to help the corporate customers with their own Green IT strategies,
such as recycling of handsets.
SWOT of ZeeTel—Environmental Context

Strengths:

 Government owned and supported organization that is aware of the upcoming legislations in the
carbon context. This also results in good working relationship with the government bureaucracy,
further facilitating relatively quick decisions on Green enterprise transformation board formation
and launching of the transformation project.
 Excellent channel relations including corporate partners and government representatives.
 Growth forecast for ZeeTel implies an opportunity for steady revenue that frees the organization
to focus on its Green IT effort. This growth in telecom users, however, also brings in the
challenge of handling the corresponding growth in carbon.

Weakness:

 Inflexible infrastructure as is expected in a large telecom in a developing region.

 Large, inchoate IT systems that are based on past, legacy databases and applications. These IT
systems are in siloes that do not ―talk‖ with each other, requiring considerable effort at
maintaining them.
  Physically dispersed infrastructure, with buildings, communications towers, and supporting data
servers, all physically spread across the geographical region, making coordination extremely
challenging.

Opportunities:

 Combining business with green transformation will lead to show casing of the Green IT strategy
created by the CGO that does not discount one goal over the other.
 Business shift to mobile platform resulting in reducing needs for physical wired connectivity and
corresponding reduction in the required infrastructure.

Threats:

 Resistance to change resulting from a large, strong, unionized workforce.

 Long time for visible results of the GET. ZeeTel will need at least 3–5 years, and perhaps more,
to be able to demonstrate the ROI on its Green initiative.
 Total inexperience in GET in the region as this would be the first large project of its kind that will
bring together the knowledge and expertise of Green IT with that of telecommunication.