Scheduling Chronicles

Going Green By Getting Rid of Your Empty Cubes

Frank Byrt of Financial Week wrote an interesting article recently, titled Getting Rid of Empty Cubes, which highlights the issue of reducing real estate space to help keep costs down.  In it, he notes several examples of organizations (Sprint, Hewlet-Packard) downsizing their corporate real estate space because, after thorough evaluation, much of the space they owned goes unused.  One of the reasons given is the movement towards an ever-increasing mobile workforce and how that lessens the need to have a cubicle for every employee.

I was amazed at the claim in the article that an estimated 26% of corporate real estate is underutilized or simply vacant.  It only goes to emphasize what we've been saying all along about the value of efficient resource scheduling.  If real estate - shared workspace for office hoteling or simply conference rooms and a/v equipment - is managed properly using workspace management applications such as Resource Scheduler, corporations can not only reduce real estate and other operational costs, they can also realize the added benefit of reducing energy costs and their carbon footprint. 

Going Green: Legislature Looking to Turn Trends into Law

Do you think that the green revolution is just a trend? According to this article at My Suburban Life, many green initiatives that companies have been implementing mostly to save costs might soon become, by law, necessary actions that all companies in a given industry must take. Green initiatives make sense from both an environmental aspect and the long-term cost-savings aspect. If companies want to be leaders in their given industries, they ought to look to implement as many green initiatives as soon as possible. It’s not just simply the right thing to do, it also puts them ahead of the curve when some of these green initiative items become law…and that helps lead to a decisive competitive advantage.

Going Green Key Factor in CRO's 10 Best Corporate Citizens List

CRO Magazine has released its list of the top 10 best Corporate Citizens of 2007.  More and more, corporations are becoming concerned about not only making profits, but also being outstanding corporate citizens.  One of the criteria for being a top corporate citizen is being environmentally friendly—being a good citizen towards the earth.  “Going green” is quickly becoming a corporate staple, especially considering its potential for long run cost savings.

More Green Predictions for 2008 from InfoWorld

InfoWorld recently polled several top executives at Sun, Microsoft, Yahoo, Cisco and more about what they see happening in the green technology market in 2008.  As reported in Sustainable Life Media's IT Weekly newsletter, the results of this poll indicate that the demand for green IT solutions will explode in 2008 as a result of rising operating energy costs and less corporate real estate space.

Among the categories that will most likely be affected by this increase in environmental awareness in the IT market are:

• Better power monitoring: Energy management and data management will be keeping a closer eye on how expensive some of their core systems are to run.
• Data restructuring: As space becomes tighter, IT managers will need to reevaluate what systems they run, how efficient they are, and ultimately how they can do more in less space while simultaneously saving energy
• Greener suppliers: IT managers will start to look at more environmentally conscious vendors for their equipment needs.

Interestingly, these predictions closely match many of the predictions PeopleCube made in December, noting that in 2008, ROI will be the driving force behind organizations going green.

PeopleCube Predicts ROI the Key Driver Behind Organizations Going Green

We all know how important the environment is.  Heck, I've been preaching that since I launched this blog.  But there are so many benefits to going green beyond just the environmental impact - namely ROI - that the issue just can't be ignored.  As we (PeopleCube) predict, ROI is going to be a key factor behind organizations going green in 2008.  After all, most businesses are about making money.  Going green is a "nice to have" but ultimately it comes down to the bottom line.  Fortunately, more and more organizations are realizing that they can implement green initiatives to save money in addition to investing in the well being of our planet.  How?  By automatically controlling energy use through integrated scheduling systems.  By managing office space better.  By making it easier for employees to telecommute.

We have an opportunity to reduce our carbon footprint while reducing costs.  Its just a matter of seizing the moment - and that moment is now.  What better New Year's resolution can there be?  Happy New Year everyone.

California: Setting the Standard for Greener Schools

California is a large state that in recent years has been facing an energy crisis.  To help combat issues like this one, the State of California has given a framework of incentives for large institutions (specifically higher education colleges and universities) to help make “going green” more cost-effective in the short-term. 

Recently California even had a “Green Schools Summit” to discuss further ways of promoting environmentally friendly practices.  Possible green solutions included everything from healthier and greener food products, to healthier and more efficient lighting systems like those provided by Full Spectrum Solutions.  Products like Resource Scheduler by PeopleCube, which helps companies to more efficiently schedule resources and manage heating, lights, and A/C units in a building or group of buildings, might fit in perfectly at such a conference.

This information begs a greater question: why aren’t more states sponsoring green conferences like California?  Certainly every state can afford to help pave the way to a more sustainable future.

Large, Private Firms are the First to Go Green

When one thinks of large, private firms, a stereotype is that they are all about the “bottom-line”—that is, making sure the short-term balance sheet looks as good as it can be.  That assumes cutting costs wherever possible.  One might assume that green initiatives, which can often include a large up-front cost, would not be a part of such a stringent philosophy.

But, as GreenBuildingsNYC reports, some of the largest private firms in New York City are embracing green initiatives like no one else.  For instance, Tishman Speyer has installed 363 solar panels on the roof of 45 Rockefeller Plaza” in Times Square. 

The most interesting aspect of this revelation is that while Mayor Bloomberg is prodding large firms to go green, no official governmental regulations are in place to force these companies into compliance with green initiatives.

It seems that “going green” might even be a mainstay in the new era of “bottom-line” thinking, as it will save tremendous costs in the long run for any company.

PeopleCube to Present at Environmental Summit

Joan Krueger, PeopleCube's Director of Business Development & Alliances, will be presenting at the upcoming Gilbert Leadership Forum scheduled for November 30.  The Forum will focus on how the region of Gilbert, AZ can enhance workable environmental programs, with Krueger, a Councilwoman in the town, discussing some of the things PeopleCube has done to help go Green.  She will also outline some additional ideas that can help Gilbert residents recycle more and to encourage developers to build green buildings. 

This is just one example of how local programs that encourage environmental conservation are gaining momentum across the U.S. You can learn more about Gilberts efforts to go green and their Leadership Forum by reading Beth Lucas' article in the East Valley Tribune titled Gilbert citizens panel would think 'green.'

CIOs Save Green by Going Green

As the pressure increases on organizations to go green, more and more executives are reevaluating how their businesses are run.  And while the topic of the environment is brought up in most decision making, don't think for a minute that, in the end, decisions usually come down to the same thing: money.  But nowadays, corporations are looking to find a happy medium between saving money while saving the environment. 

For example, Jeff Kelley recently wrote an article in SearchCIO.com's Decisions IT/Business Strategies newsletter called CIOs save green by going green in the data center.  Its a great take energy consumption and conservation in data centers to support both the bottom line and the environment.  In fact, there's a great stat in there that, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, power consumption by U.S. data centers and servers will double by 2011. 

So what can be done?  Take a look at Jeff's article.  He offers some great ideas to help tackle both the environmental and financial impact of data centers.

10 Most Important Technology Areas in 2008 According to Gartner

Gartner recently issued a list of top 10 technologies for 2008 and beyond which, interestingly, includes both Green IT (at the top of the list) and SaaS or software-as-a-service.  Gartner identifies these technologies as those that will have the greatest impact on corporations over the next three years.  Jack McCormick of CIO Insight outlines these 10 areas well, including some additional insight from Gartner.  Take a look at the article here.