The 'green' deal clincher

Vendors' green initiatives are increasingly swaying buyers' decisions to their products and services, according to the latest IDC survey.

The poll assessed the buying behavior of companies in Asia-Pacific with respect to Green IT, showed that 81 percent of organizations thought their IT suppliers' environmentally-friendly products and initiatives "would become much more important over the next few years".

Among respondents, 18 percent said they considered "greenness" of their vendors as a selection criterion, while another 30 percent expected this to become a factor in the near future.

However, IDC noted that the level of awareness and adoption of Green IT varies a "great deal depending on the maturity of the market", where it is more significant in developed economies.

IDC said: "[Such] organizations are looking to integrate 'green requirements' into requests for proposals (RFPs) for procurement of IT products and services."

For developing economies, the cost-saving benefits of Green initiatives are a larger bargaining chip than environmental awareness per se.

Philip Carter, Head of IDC’s Asia-Pacific Green IT practice, said in a statement that the first phase of Green IT adoption for emerging markets will be that of focusing on keeping setups "lean"--improving energy efficiency to keep electricity costs down, for example.

Other initiatives such as recycling and paper management, will not be a focal point for such companies, since they are "perceived to have less of an impact on the bottom line", said Carter.

IDC advised vendors to make a business case for cost reduction of green IT in the short term. The research firm added that with governments in the region increasingly raising awareness by way of regulatory policies, "the broader notions of corporate social responsibility and sustainability" will become growth and financial drivers in the future.