Greening Government ICT

The Greening Government ICT Strategy highlights that cloud computing, shared services and green technologies will be key Government initiatives over the next few years.

The Greening Government ICT strategy is intended to minimise the impact of the UK Government on the environment and reduce both green house gas emissions and waste in support of the Government’s commitment to achieve a 25 percent reduction in green house emissions by 2015. Covering the full life cycle impact of Government ICT, the strategy introduces key and far-reaching initiatives and commitments from procurement of ICT through to the disposal of it.

A key initiative outlined in the Strategy is the increased Government adoption of cloud computing. A move to shared applications and services is also recommended. In addition, the Strategy highlights the importance of introducing green technologies into government departments including those that can enable mobile working, paperless operations and improved collaboration.

“Once the Greening Government ICT Strategy has been published, public sector organisations will increasingly demand services and technologies that reduce green house gas emissions and waste”, comments Dean Dickinson, managing director (Public Sector and Enterprise) of Advanced Business Solutions. “The majority of targets set out in the Strategy document will need to be delivered between April 2012 and April 2015. This will lead to increased demand for a range of green technologies and services over the next three and a half years.”

Dickinson adds, “We have seen a number of Government departments adopt green technologies and services over the past few years including cloud computing, shared services and green software solutions. The introduction of the Greening Government ICT Strategy will push those Government departments that have not yet invested in green ICT to adopt sustainable technologies and IT services, providing the ICT industry with significant public sector opportunities despite the looming cuts.”

Content courtesy Vital Magazine www.vital-mag.net/