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Deloitte, IBM and Logica lead the global market for sustainable technology services and leave competitors focused on green IT trailing far behind, according to a new report from independent analyst firm Verdantix.
The in-depth study compares 15 of the largest global IT services firms, with combined revenues of $324bn, on 49 assessment criteria. Verdantix analysed IT service delivery capabilities for building energy efficiency, renewable energy, intelligent transport, electric vehicles, carbon and energy management software, climate change risk modelling and utility smart grid.
Firms included in the study are Accenture, Atos Origin, BT Global Services, Capgemini, CSC, Deloitte, Fujitsu Services, Hitachi Consulting, HP, IBM GBS, Infosys, Logica, Orange Business Services, TCS and Wipro.
"Technology services firms rooted in outmoded green IT thinking are already losing out on multi-million dollar contracts. Our research found that large multi-nationals and city leaders want IT support for new sustainability initiatives such as electric vehicle infrastructure, offshore wind farms and global carbon management systems. Technology investment in these new areas is much larger than spend on green IT projects like data centre energy efficiency and PC power management."
The Verdantix report, Green Quadrant® Sustainable Technology Services, is based on in-depth interviews with an independent, international panel of 15 senior IT buyers in the private and public sectors. Verdantix also interviewed practice leaders from 13 of the 15 suppliers assessed in the study. Key findings of the study:
Deloitte, IBM and Logica lead the global market for sustainable technology services. Market leadership requires a strategic commitment to sustainable business, visionary commercial leaders, dedicated consultants with deep domain expertise, a roster of big project wins and a broad portfolio.
Deloitte leads the market in energy and carbon management software, environmental product LCA and sustainability reporting services. IBM's water management and data centre energy efficiency offerings stand out from the crowd reflecting several years of heavy R&D investment.
During the last 3 years Logica has won a slew of innovative sustainable technology projects including electric vehicle infrastructure in the Netherlands, building energy efficiency for the UK Ministry of Defence, renewable energy management systems in Portugal and low carbon electricity networks.
BT, HP and Orange Business Services leverage a solid sustainability platform. Customers who buy sustainable technology advice and project implementation expect their suppliers to achieve high levels of corporate sustainability performance. BT Global Services, HP and Orange Business Services embed sustainability into their firm's culture and have market leading corporate sustainability performance.
In addition, these firms have high quality sustainable technology service offerings in specific markets: Orange offers strong fleet management and telemetry services and HP has launched an innovative flight planning service with environmental benefits.
Capgemini, CSC and Hitachi Consulting show promise in specific service lines. Capgemini puts in a strong showing in areas of focus like data centre energy efficiency, utility smart grid and water management. CSC has built up a broad and strong portfolio centred on five service lines: intelligent transport, climate change risk assessment, utility smart grid, data centres and water management.
Hitachi Consulting targets a broader range of service lines with an impressive level of innovation and customer success achieved on climate change risk assessment. In 2011 these providers have the core expertise to expand into other areas with nascent capabilities.
"The market for technology-enabled sustainability has come a long way since the early days of green IT in 2006" commented David Metcalfe, the Verdantix Director recently named Green IT Analyst Of The Year.
"This study clearly demonstrates that the era of green IT is dead and buried. The big money today is in contracts that support sustainability initiatives like London's city-wide bike hire scheme, systems integration for 400MW offshore wind farms and unified global IT systems for energy efficiency and emissions reporting.
To win these deals, IT services firms must show the entrepreneurial flair and strategic intent demonstrated by Logica. A narrow focus on data centre energy efficiency and PC power management will severely limit the revenue opportunities available to IT services firms from 2011 onwards."
The report, Green Quadrant® Sustainable Technology Services (Global) is available to download by Verdantix clients at: www.verdantix.com
This article originally appeared on Globe-Net, and is reprinted with permission.
Seems like the people that
Seems like the people that think Green IT is dead are the ones that want business to purchase a lot of co-ordinating services for more than just IT. I think a key extract is "The big money today is in..." - all this is is big companies finding a way to sell even more to the same large companies.
Green IT isn't dead, it has barely started. Perhaps the terminology isn't ideal or the understanding of what it means isn't completely clear, but the vast majority of businesses out there that actually contribute the most to IT environmental impact (lots more small to mid-size business than there is large enterprise) still have to address the basics of managing the consumption of what they have, educating their employees about efficient practices, and considering efficiency in their normal purchase and operating practices.
Perhaps these big firms don't see this as their target market anymore, but that doesn't mean Green IT is dead at all!
why RIM as a Blackberry
why RIM as a Blackberry manufacturer is not listed? whether they are paying less attention to the environment? as a large company that they should is there as evidence on the consumers that they care
Great to see this topic being
Great to see this topic being covered. Green IT services should be a top priority, however, each services organization needs to get a handle from the bottom-up, which still relates to data center efficiency and PC power management as an important first step. Jumping beyond the proper progressing instead of incorporating it into the overall process will lead to failure.