How cutting your carbon footprint helps everyone
Energy efficiency ratings for hardware such as power supply units for desktop PCs are now often included in the product’s specification on the manufacturer’s website and so can easily be compared.
Significant savings in carbon output – as well as cost – can also be obtained by reducing unnecessary travel through the use of software like Microsoft Office Communication Server and Live Meeting.
These products provide remote presentation, video and audio conferencing, and real-time collaboration on virtual whiteboards, across the internet, often for a fraction of the company’s annual travel expenses bill.
Additionally, products like Microsoft SharePoint Server allow colleagues to share all types of documents, review each other’s changes, and define a chain of actions which is associated with a particular document.
For example, Bob can type up a sales report and upload it into a document library, triggering a workflow routine which sends an automatic email alert to his colleague Jane, who reviews the document and makes some changes, before submitting it to their head office manager, Liz, for approval. There’s no need for anyone to print the document out and if Liz wants to know who added a particular section to the report, she can check the version history in SharePoint instead of calling everyone in for a meeting.
Putting technology at the heart of your organisation’s environmental policy can save money and improve efficiency, whilst reducing your carbon footprint.
