Building a Green IT practice area
Green is everywhere. It seems like you can’t pick up a magazine or watch the news without seeing a story on green. Amid the reality and the hype, businesses of all sizes, industries and market segments, including the channel, are trying to determine what green means for them, their customers and their stakeholders.
By partnering with Dell, we can help you sort through the greenwash so your customers can go green and save money. As Dell’s Dr. Albert Esser, vice president of power & infrastructure solutions, said, “Anything you can do to be green in IT will help your bottom line, will help your operations, and will help your service-level agreements.”
What exactly is Green IT?
“Green”is a catchall for a lot of things. For some, green means buying more environmentally friendly products or buying from a company that uses these practices. For others, green is about recycling, and that includes old computers, monitors and other IT equipment too. For most customers, green means money – that is, lowering power use, holding operating costs, and building efficiencies to get more out of what they have.
Where Do Green IT & the Channel Meet?
Today’s business managers are putting more pressure than ever on their IT organizations to start managing the environmental impact of technology and reducing their carbon footprint. There’s already a growing business demand for immediate, measurable improvements in the areas of “green” IT. As a result, IT vendors across the entire supply chain are being increasingly measured by their ability to deliver green IT solutions.
Where green IT and the channel meet is in the delivery of the greener solutions and technology. Here we’re talking about a combination of hardware and software, green vendor practices, and the services to deliver them. Green IT is an easy concept, but most customers need help from an expert to accomplish it.
How can a channel partner make a business out of delivering greener IT? Create Differentiation and Increase Earnings
Many channel partners have already heeded the call to go green and offer green solutions to a wide range of customers. However, there’s still a significant opportunity to create differentiation in the green IT space.
The first step is to know how to have a green conversation with customers. Typicallly they don’t come and ask to be greener. They have practical issues, such as costs that are top of mind. Next, provide clear communication to your customers and help them avoid common pitfalls around ROI. Some green benefits, like carbon neutrality, don’t fit the typical ROI model. Other benefits, like lowering power use, decreased cooling, increases inefficiency, and safe recycling, are much more measurable.
What is Dell doing to help its channel partners deliver greener solutions?
More and more companies are choosing to partner with Dell to get an edge in the green movement. It’s the perfect way to put your own green policies into action and start offering a complete portfolio of environmental-friendly products and services.
Dell is committed to a life cycle approach - from chemical use to end of life. Our Design for the Environment (DfE) work has resulted in energy efficient products such as the M Series blades, PowerEdge Energy Smart servers, eFamily laptops, and OptiPlex desktops. Our engineering work on low flow fan technology, high-efficiency power supplies and energy-optimizing BIOS settings combined with low-voltage processors and high-efficiency memory provides tangible benefits for customers who are facing increasing energy bills. And Dell offers a range of virtualization products. Be sure to take advantage of the tools we offer such as energy calculators for OptiPlex, Latitude, data centers and monitors available at www.dell.com/energy.
Dell’s work on products is being recognized throughout the industry. Dell ranks at the top in terms of EPEAT silver and gold product offerings. (EPEAT — the Electronics Product Environmental Assessment Tool — is an independent system that can help purchasers evaluate green IT solutions.) Dell was the first in the industry to achieve EPEAT Gold status for a laptop and currently has more Gold listed laptops than any other provider. Earlier this year, Dell became the first in its industry to achieve 80 PLUS Gold-certification for a server power supply. And Dell’s Asset Recovery Services, which help enterprise customers responsibly retire used IT equipment, has been recognized by IDC with the Green Recycling and Asset Disposal for the Enterprise (G.R.A.D.E.) certification.
So, you may be asking, how green is Dell? Are we walking the walk? Dell is committed to becoming the “greenest” technology company on the planet. If you’re curious about how we are working to reduce the environmental impact of the company, our FY08 Corporate Responsibility Report lays out specific goals and key performance indicators including greenhouse gas emissions and electricity and water use.
What can we expect from Dell in the future?
In the next two to three years, only the IT vendors and channel partners who have a solid reputation for providing green IT solutions will prosper. Simply promoting a green IT vision will not be enough. The market grows more savvy every day, and these educated customers will demand a green strategy that's backed by a framework of solutions that are built to last. If you want to see some of the exciting things that are coming or here, check out the recent edition of Dell Power Soluitions Magasine on green IT, or the recent blog posts on green sales opportunities and “Finding the hidden data center.” And, be sure to visit www.REgeneration.com to join the green IT movement.
It’s an exciting time to be in the channel. Because going green now is a golden opportunity.
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