Wipros Green Initiatives - Case Study Example

Case Study: Green IT at WIPRO Name Institution 1. Wipro’s Green Initiatives The zeal to embark in green computing was propagated by the observance that consumers and corporations alike are not keen to mitigating green house gas emissions by computer products and their related accessories. Then there was the desire to reduce wastage of energy particularly in the Information and communications industry. On the same note, Wipro was committed to promoting a massive campaign in advocating for reduction of human exposure to harmful substances, usually termed as waste by industrialists. The aim was to improve the efficiency derived from use of computer resources and promote recyclability within the industry. Besides being a social endeavor to promote sustainable environmental standards, the company was concerned with the level of consumer ignorance on environmental degradation brought about by technological materials (WIPRO, 2009). There was yet another concern for the level of energy wastage within computer systems with a reported wastage of 97 kilowatts of energy for every 100 of them fed into computer machinery. The company management perceived such wastage as unacceptable (Carol et al, 2009). These factors drove the company to establishing the green computing initiatives. In the year 2006 the company established an electronic waste disposal service as the first step towards guiding the change for green computing. This service comprised of sixteen electronic waste collection centers in India. Later the following year, Wipro extended its efforts through design of specialized computers that had minimal levels of waste emission. This move was in line with the European Union regulation standards on emission of harmful substances. It had set the tone, however, for the Local IT businesses (Mingay, 2007). Then the company established twenty three green initiatives as a wider strategy to guide the process of reducing carbon emission to the environment each of which was an artifact. The grand scheme was a campaign oriented at converting the company to green and lead the transition in the industry and beyond. The artifact was structured in sections each with specialized mandate. The departmentalization was the unit of operation where it was expected to follow the green artifact (Srivastava, 2007). The twenty three target areas were categorized into four groups namely: strategy, people, facilities and operations and IT specific improvements. The strategy category was meant to integrate the green IT into the company’s overall growth and development scheme. People category was targeting the end-users of the IT and related products to empower them with information on importance and best practices towards promoting environmental conservation. Facilities and operations contain five areas in the infrastructure of the company and its clients. IT-specifics focus on improvement of the environmental base of the user and the service provider (Mingay, 2007). Beyond the IT industry the company managed to make significant steps. For instance the company devised what it called ‘Hosted Intelligent Document Management’ which is an efficient and energy saving way of managing electronic information at client’s level. The system enables the client to reduce the physical number of machinery and storage files by capitalizing on few hardware accessories through multitasking. This reduces energy consumption as well as reducing demand levels for computer gadgets hence reducing emissions of harmful substances (Kochhar1 & Arun, 2011). Wipro Company also came up with an electronic Freight Cargo suite that allows airline operators to interact with their clients and transact without use of papers. The service also enables the custom agencies to clear business people electronically besides connecting with the freight forwarders as well (Michael, 2009). All these parties are able to connect without physical contact nor use of papers hence improving efficiency and speed. Wipro continued in its green campaign initiatives by venturing in more sectors outside the IT industry. It engaged in design of environmental friendly lighting gadgets. Most recently the Wipro water was launched to facilitate proper management in usage of water while the eco-energy provided an option for waste free energy (Srivastava, 2007). 2. (a) Challenges Encountered in the Project Computer manufacturing takes a lot of energy itself leave alone its usage. A lot of energy goes into research and development of systems that are more environmentally friendly. These attributes made the entire campaign to prove quite a complex one. Manufacturers were opposed to it due to perceived additional costs of manufacturing using the alternative solutions. Further more consumers are concerned with speed and efficiency of the gadget itself rather than energy consumption or even environmental effects attaching (Michael, 2009). The other significant challenge was the fact that use of more powerful machine requires stringent measures of cooling them. There is obviously much reliance on air conditioning equipments, and unfortunately, more powerful machines require more energy to protect it from overheating. Negotiating this hurdle proved an uphill task (Michael, 2009). The green computing idea was costly enough. Initially the move was received in reluctance especially by technology company magnates as it was perceived as threat to business. That was coupled by ignorance among consumer groups regarding the adverse effects of unsafe computing (WIPRO, 2008). 2. (b) Benefits Attained from Green Computing Many benefits can be attributed to the green computing campaign. For instance, through the electronic waste disposal system the company has managed to offer seventeen physical facilities to that effect. Through this package which is the only one of its kind in India, the company is able to collect used up computers from consumers and facilitate their recycling (Carol et al, 2009). The Wipro water project has provided solutions for water treatment in industries that helps to reduce industrial water usage. It is already the market leader in provision of high level purity water in the country. Its services have proved essential in the extensive pharmacy industry of India (Srivastava, 2007). It the area of energy provision, the company has made a mark as well. Through the Wipro Eco-Energy initiative, the market has been provided with clean energy solutions. The energy solution package is m eant to minimize energy usage as well as checking the level of carbon released to the environment (Carol et al, 2009). Today, the company has been the leader in Green IT in the country, with experience dating back since year 2009. It now boasts two programs in one, both incorporated in the overall company’s growth strategy. These are: the Green IT and IT for Green both typical of company’s goals of being the universal environmental sustainable computing model provider. Indeed the company is poised to reach its carbon neutral goal (WIPRO, 2009). 3 Lessons for Other Organizations to Learn from Wipro's Experience Much appreciation should go to the research work on the green house gas levels in the environment and their possible effects. Companies in the IT industry need to take the initiative to the next level by participating in environmentally friendly methods of utilizing technology. These measures should target at addressing the specific areas of concern pointed out by Wipro such as devising ways of reducing energy use as well as recycling computer machinery (IBM, 2007). For instance the Wipro’s Eco-Eye initiative leaves a lot to be admired. Other companies should also come up with their own initiative on environmental sustainability. In light of Wipro’s vision, companies should aspire to be carbon neutral organizations and take the path of initiating recycling projects. They should take the fore front position in mass campaigns on waste reduction measures for corporate as well as at personal level of their clients. The benefit of the strategy of electronic Freight Cargo suite cannot be ignored. Organizations should learn from this initiative and come up with their own methodologies of reducing paper usage. Information should as far as possible reside in computer system, be accessed and shared electronically; and consequently reduce the rate of reproduction through manual photocopying or duplication (Michael, 2009). 4. The Drivers Responsible for Green-computing Green computing entails and calls for efficient use of computer resources. This implies shared responsibility. Corporate customers need to know the best methods of applying appliances they buy for their business use. They should do this bearing in mind that a safe ecosystem is vital for business sustainability. The vendors bear core and the greatest responsibility in this regard. This is primarily because customers both corporate and individuals are fully dependent on what they supply to the market. Vendors need to come up with environmental friendly designs of computers and related resources in order to keep the environment clean for mutual benefit of all human (Parichay et al., 2009). They also have an added duty of training their clients on demerits of bad practices or application of computers. References Carol B. et al, (2009). Green IT for Dummies. Wiley Publishing Inc.. Gary B. S (2002). Discovering Computers: Concepts for a Digital World, Complete Shelly Cashman Series: Complete. IBM, (2007). Global Technology Services report. Kochhar1, N. & Arun, G. (2011). Eco-friendly computing: green computing, international journal of computing and business research, 2(2). Michael T.M. (2009). Achieving Information Assurance in a Green Computing Environment. White paper, Japan, Savvis Communications K.K. Mingay S. (2007). Green IT: The New Industry Shock Wave, Gartner RAS. Srivastava M (2007). Chemistry for Green Environment. Parichay C., Debnath B., Sattarova N.Y., & Sovan B. (2009). Green computing: Practice of Efficient and Eco-Friendly Computing Resources, International Journal of of Grid and Distributed Computing, 2(3). WIPRO (2009). http://www.wipro.in/Products/greenpc/index.htm#1. Retrieved, 22nd September, 2012. WIPRO, (2008). http://www.wipro.co.in/products/greenpc/html/0007clip.htm. Retrieved, 22nd September, 2012. Read More