Proclaim your Green Intentions

When starting out the best way to start communicating your intentions about adopting an environmentally friendly IT infrastructure is to start by telling everyone in your organisation about it.

Green IT is often just seen as an energy efficiency drive but it is far more wide reaching than just an improvement in the utilisation of energy and reduction in energy costs.

This is why it is important to tell everyone in your organisation what you are trying to achieve with your Green IT programme and how they can contribute to its success.

By letting everyone know what is happening and why you are promoting an environmental approach to Green IT, you are enabling them to collaborate between themselves and between departments on how to improve their working environment, with regard to IT and the role it plays.

Furthermore you will also generate many new and original ideas on how to progress your strategy from your workforce. This is because they know and understand what needs to be done operationally and will often be able to identify where IT could be used more effectively or efficiently within your business operations.

There are many ways anad methods open to you for informing your workforce, your HR department can provide the means and techniques necessary to disseminating information throughout your company, but the following provides some basic ideas.

1. Regular staff briefings
2. Posters on staff notice boards and at meeting points
3. Updates of progress in the company newsletter bulletin
4. Staff suggestion scheme
5. Competition that promotes the best 'Green' idea
6. Recognition to staff for efficiency and cost saving improvments
7. Ad an addendum to the contract of employment covering the organisations' Green IT objectives and the responsibility of the employee

There are many other ideas but in order to build momentum for your ideas and the Green IT project, you may need to implement many aspects to you campaign. Effectively you need to market Green IT for a period of time so that the message becomes ingrained in the normal business and social practices of your organisation and for the cultural change in your company to take hold.

Summary, empower your employees and your organisation will benefit.