Parsons Brinckerhoff goes cheaply green
Green IT deployment is paying dividends for professional services firm Parsons Brinckerhoff, which achieved a significant return on investment within the first 60 days of implementing a new video-conferencing system.
Parsons Brinckerhoff CIO for Australia-Pacific co-chairs the Australian CIO Summit 2010. (Credit: Luke Hopewell/ZDNet Australia)
Speaking at the Australian CIO Summit, Parsons Brinckerhoff CIO for Australia-Pacific, Christopher Johnson, said that after the company invested almost $300,000 in a video-conferencing facility, staff began reconsidering the need for interstate travel.
Within two months, Parsons Brinckerhoff had saved over $700,000 that it would have otherwise spent on interstate and vehicle-related travel expenses.
Parsons Brinckerhoff teamed the deployment with the roll-out of new software for booking airline travel. To book a trip, staff would have to justify why their meeting could not take place over a video conference. The company also held a corporate responsibility week, aimed at educating its staff about how to be greener.
As part of the corporate responsibility exercise, Parsons Brinckerhoff also instituted a "no-fly week" which forced all staff onto video-conferencing systems, Microsoft SharePoint collaborative workspaces and Cisco WebEx, leading to greater savings within the business.
"As an organisation, we are very aware of the need for corporate responsibility," said Johnson.
Parsons Brinckerhoff's Australia-Pacific CIO Christopher Johnson was co-chairing the Australian CIO Summit this week.