Fittingly enough, considering my post yesterday about green IT hitting the mainstream ("Green IT Hits the Mainstream in Data Centers"), a new report from Forrester Research just crossed my desk that aims to address all those companies who haven't gotten up to speed on green IT.
The report, "The Value Of A Green IT Maturity Assessment," by Doug Washburn and Christopher Mines offers a resource to companies who either haven't yet figured out where to begin with green IT projects or haven't gone the whole Green IT 2.0 route of expanding to non-data center related IT projects like virtual meetings and facility energy controls.
From the introduction to the report:
CIOs recognize the importance of environmental considerations in planning IT operations, but they are often unsure about how to put that recognition into action. ... The crucial first step is assessment -- understanding the state of green IT policies and practices within your organization."
A robust assessment of where your company stands on the green IT spectrum can speed up the process of implementing projects, and can be equally useful for companies who've already made progress down the path as it is for those firms just getting started.
The report lists five results a CIO can get from a maturity assessment:
•Find low-hanging fruit.
•Judge what’s possible.
•Prioritize the next round of activities.
•Communicate the IT organizational progress, or lack thereof.
•Build the business case for longer-term initiatives.
You can purchase the report (for $500) from Forrester Research. You can also scroll through our vast archives of green IT coverage to get a sense of what companies are doing -- even in the last few weeks we've seen IBM apply green IT to fleets, Microsoft's new "plug and play" smart grid architecture, and much more.