Part 2: Green tech and corporate ethics

Just following up my post from yesterday about a new consulting service from IBM designed to examine the ethical weight of green technology practices.

There's another white paper on the Web site for business process management software vendor Metastorm about the impact that (surprise) rethinking the way certain workflows are handled can have on a company's green stance. Actually, this one is less about ethics than it is about corporate responsibility and the role that certain types of "green" technologies can have on cutting waste and energy out of business processes. Metastorm sells software for business process management. (The price starts around $150,000 depending on the scope of what you're trying to do, according to a spokeswoman.)

The report, which also calls upon information from a Gartner paper published late last year called "Green IT: The New Industry Shockwave," looks at several different examples such as:

- Electronic content and workflow: An example it cites is the City of New Orleans, which put in place an electronic system to manage contracts associated with the Hurricane Katrina rebuilding effort. According to Metastorm's notes, up to $2 billion in contracts will be handled online, saving on paper and also saving time. (Since certain parts of the approval process are now automated.) - How to manage the movement of goods to cut down on fuel consumption. - How to better integrated outsourced processes, applications and systems to cut down on power consumption.

Here's the link. WARNING: You will have to register in order to download this content.