Leading IT solutions consultancy ramsac has re-affirmed its dedication to practising and promoting sustainability and green IT by pledging its commitment to both the 10:10 and Plato Sustain schemes. Both initiatives fit with ramsac’s philosophy that green IT should continue to be promoted, especially during the current economic problems, not only because of the environmental benefits but also because of the financial savings it can provide.
Being green and sustainable in a recession makes more sense than it may first appear, as Robert May, Managing Director of ramsac, explained: “We have been dedicated to green IT for a number of years and recently there has been a lot of debate over whether being green is advantageous during an economic slowdown. However, we believe that being green doesn’t have to mean greater expenditure. On the contrary, often all it takes to save energy, and thereby reduce carbon emissions and costs, is intelligent thinking and forward planning. These are factors that we have always concentrated on for the benefits of our clients and ultimately ourselves. Wasting energy, whether it be by operating too many items of IT hardware when they aren’t needed, or unnecessary travel to service them, is always unwise and we are proud to further promote the measures we take to reduce this.”
To help ramsac further develop its sustainability plan the company has joined the Plato Sustain scheme, a two-year business development programme that aims to assist SMEs in further building their environmentally friendly approach to business. The scheme, which has secured funding from the European Regional Development Fund and the South East England Development Agency, aims to help businesses raise awareness of the cost saving benefits of sustainability, as well as assessing products and processes by their whole-life costs, with guidance on how to achieve cost savings from an overall reduction of energy usage and waste generation.
To demonstrate the benefits of this in a tangible way, ramsac has pledged its commitment to the 10:10 scheme. The 10:10 project is designed to unite businesses, organisations and individuals across the UK and challenge them to help cut national emissions by 10% in 2010. “Whilst we already aim to cut unnecessary energy use, our pledge to 10:10 means we will look to reduce this still further, building on the support from Plato Sustain, as well as encouraging our clients to make similar economies.” added May. “As well as bigger gestures, such as encouraging the use of more energy efficient IT systems, the simplest things also make a difference – such as thinking about the necessity before printing documents, or allowing staff to work from home when appropriate to save on energy consumption in commuting.” The scheme has already attracted the support and pledges of well-known organisations such as Royal Mail, Ocado, National Union of Students and British Gas.
“Essentially, we have looked to further improve our sustainability by a two-pronged attack,” concluded May. “Not only are we receiving coaching from the experts at Plato Sustain on practical and realistic ways in which this can be achieved, we are also making the public commitment to demonstrating this by pledging to cut our energy usage with 10:10. Ultimately our aim is to significantly steer our future operations to encompass these savings and install practises and habits that will offer noticeable results in the long term as well as the short.”