Management Information Systems - Wipro Technologies - Case Study Example

Running Head: MANAGING INFORMATION SYSTEM Managing Information System Name Course Instructor Date Managing Information System Question One It is quite evidence that Wipro technologies have engaged in various green initiatives. The company journey started when the organization involved in the consolidation and virtualization in cutting down the energy consumption in its very own data centre. This is because the organization realized that the exponential growth of the company server use was a fundamental problem and has a great impact on energy cost. The green initiative here is evident when the IT team decided on tackling energy cost by way of using virtualization and blade servers. This can further be explain by maximizing the space being used by Wipro data through consolidating various servers for several applications which result in creating open space and maximizing Wipro cooling needs(Donnellan et al, 2011). Clearly, it is observable that it is quite cumbersome to convert non-green datacenter to a green one due to financial strain linked to that. But this is a good move by Wipro Technology not for short term only but only term effects towards the success of the company. It is important that engaging in green initiatives, organization should be ready to strain their financial needs to see it success. This can be observed from Wipro management where it states that retrofitting can result to greater impact regardless of challenges being portrayed (Donnellan et al, 2011). Another major observed green initiative is Wipro engagement in tackling the e-waste problem. The company engagement in collection of discarded systems from their customer and later sending to vendor that are known to be certified by Pollution Control Board for disposal is a good green initiative. This e-waste management also dubbed as green computing facilitated waste management right from Wipro product cycle, manufacturing, spanning designing all the way to product disposal. John (2007) asserts that, introducing of eco-friendly range of computer is Wipro green initiative which is usually aimed at reducing e-waste across the world. This can be proved to be a green initiative in that since they seem to be compliant with European Restriction of hazardous Substances. The eco friendly materials produces by Wipro were free from polyvinyl chloride (PVC), brominated flame retardants(BFR), metals such as cadmium, lead and mercury which are not hazardous not only to environment but also to their customer health(John, 2007). It is clear that Wipro is committed to being eco-friendly since it is highly involved in advancing energy efficacy both in its business computing and data center ecosystems. Further, Wipro comprehensive program on eco-friendly environment is important in ensuring increased ecological sustainability in both engaging its shareholders and the company operation display its commitment in engaging in green initiatives. John (2007) asserts that, engaging all members within Wipro in its comprehensive program is important in creating collaborating effort with both their suppliers and customers. This commitment from top official to individual at lower ranks within Wipro will ensure that materials used for technological purposes reduce negative impacts to the environment (Leonhard and Murray, 2009). Question 2 The first challenge faced by Wipro in the effort of introducing green computing was increased energy costs which came as a result of a dramatic growth in demand from consumers of Wipro’s server. The IT team at the firm decided to use blade servers and virtualization in order to deal with problem. Another problem evident at Wipro was limited data space. Its datacenter was becoming overloaded and its capacity could not accommodate the exponentially growing amount of data. This was subsequently affecting the efficiency of the services they offered. In order to deal with the challenge, the Chief Information officer at the firm undertook a reactive move of consolidating servers from different applications which was aimed at opening up storage space in the datacenter as well as making maximum use if the cooling systems. However, the firm suffered a financial strain in its attempted to change its system into a green database. The new database had a totally different design which implied that compartments of the former system such as datacenter blueprint, cooling and power had to undergo a complete restructuring in order to meet the needs of the new datacenter. Another challenge that the Wipro experienced was disposal of waste products. Formerly, the company disposed off its e-waste in a less environmentally friendly manner which put their credibility and dependability in question. It is at this point that the company came up with the strategy of gathering e-waste from consumers of its products and selling them to vendors who are authorized by the Pollution Control Board to appropriately dispose off e-waste in ways that do not harm the environment. There are several benefits that Wipro obtained from green computing. Firstly, it received worldwide recognition as the first Indian computer company to launch desktops and laptops that were eco-friendly and reduced environmental destruction. The electronic and electrical equipment used to manufacture the products were hazard free. They did not only receive fame and popularity out of this achievement but they also received reliability, credibility and dependability from their established customers. Green computing at Wipro earned it favor to join the Green Grid which saw it develop the EcoEye program. Green computing enabled the company to reduce its energy consumption to about only 1 million KWh per year. Through this initiative virtualization and consolidation of servers has been made possible Question Three Clearly, there are many lessons that other organization can learn from Wipro especially in their quest of being eco-friendly. Firstly, organization need to realize that green initiative in IT is becoming an innovative way of understanding how both ecology and technology can converge. This therefore calls for organization adapt ways of going green as a way of achieving reduced costs, reduced global emission especially from industries and improving public relation. Gray (2008) maintains that, with today’s rapid growth in technologies, organization just like Wipro should engage in green computing not only from a consumer or business but from a global perspective standpoint. Leonhard and Murray (2009) maintain that, green initiatives carried out by Wipro’s are not only realized to large scale but also to small scale business thus adaptable to any kind of business. Through engaging in reduce energy usage, organizations are able to translate its outputs into lower carbon emissions thus safer working and living environment. Organization should understand that green computing is currently as the most effective way of utilizing technology. No matter how organizational needs are whether big or small, green it has been proven to reduce costs, increase companies productivity as well as doing something good for the environment (Leonhard and Murray, 2009). Organization should take Wipro idea and understand that green IT has come a long way but today’s new innovation and improved technology in regard to being environmental friendly, it is correct to state that green computing is the way toward establishment and development of any organization. Going green widely promotes organization efforts in making working and living environment which is eco friendly and waste managed. Question 4 There are increasing numbers of vendors around the world utilizing the green computing technique in their operations. The main reason they have resorted to this new venture is to reap the economic benefits that come along with it. According to Miller (2007), Green computing is becoming increasingly popular due to the rising need to have more eco-friendly products. Many vendors are therefore considering this as new opportunities for revenue. In addition, many vendors are acting in the direction of green computing in order to be considered as good corporate citizens by their customers hence make their products and services more appealing. On the other hand, corporate customers in the computer industry are those that buy the products in bulk and in many cases influence directly the quality of products (Wu-chug, 2011). They include wholesalers or retailers who then go and sell the products to the final users. Corporate users are interested in providing their customers with the best products in order to acquire more sales. In my opinion corporate customers should be the main drivers of green computing. When purchasing computers and their equipment, customers will always find out hence go for the ones that are most green rather those that are environmentally friendly. On the other hand vendors are interested in making a lot of sales hence will manufacture equipment of low cost and sell them at high cost to make high returns (Baliga et al, 2011). In addition, vendors constitute a small portion of the population as compared to corporate consumers who are widely distributed. It is realistic to consider the wants of the majority rather than the minority in making any decision. Therefore, innovations in green computing should be done in a way that favors corporate customers since their primary interest is to have a cleaner environment for safe living. The value of any given business is determined by its ability to completely satisfy its customers in terms of the quality of its products. With ongoing campaigns on environmental protection, many customers are keen on the impact of products they use on the environment. Corporate customers should therefore be the main drivers of green computing (Miller et al, 2009). References Baliga, J., Ayre, R., Hilton, K. and Tucker, R. (2011). Green Cloud Computing: Balancing Energy in Processing, Storage and Transport. Proceeding of the IEEE. Volume 99 Issue:1 Donnellan, Brian and Sheridan. (2011). "A Capability Maturity Framework for Sustainable Information and Communication Technology". IEEE IT Professional 13 (1): 33–40. Gray, T. (2008). Wipro joins the green grid. Retrieved on 26th October 2011 from green.tmcnet.com John, R. (2007). Wipro goes green as India e-waste mounts. Retrieved on 26th October 2011 from www.cio.com Leonhard, W. and Murray, K. (2009). Green home computing for dummies. Hoboken: Wiley Pub. Miller, A. (2007). Green Computing: The Basics. Retrieved on 26th October 2011 from http://www.ecologyit.net/blog/2007/06/03/green-computing-the-basics/ Miller, F., Vandome, A. and McBrewster, J. (2009). Green computing : recycling, biodegradation, hardware virtualisation, comparison of platform virtual machines, power management. Beau Bassin, Mauritius : Alphascript Pub. Wu-chun, F. (2011). Green Computing Large-scale Energy Efficiency. CRC Pr I LIc. Read More