Open-access content
Thursday 16th July 2009
16 July 2009
A lack of coordination between the facilities management and IT functions may be hindering energy cost reductions, according to international research.
The proportion of senior IT decision makers spending at least a quarter of their budget on energy is up to almost 80 per cent from 44 per cent last year, noted the research commissioned by Vanson Bourne.
However, almost half of respondents reported that no monitoring of IT energy use took place because utility bills fell under the FM function. In the UK the figure was far higher at 70 per cent.
Cooperation between the two functions over power-saving was described as "patchy".
In spite of this most respondents said that they had come under pressure to reduce energy consumption. In cases where IT and FM have joint budgetary responsibility 61 per cent of IT decision makers had come under pressure to reduce costs. Where FM was the budget holder, 44 per cent of IT heads reported being pushed to trim bills.
The research also suggests that IT energy use is much more likely to be monitored if IT is directly responsible for the power budget. Monitoring processes were in place in 60 per cent of cases where the head of IT was the budget holder, but in only 40 per cent of cases where the FM held the budget.
Ulrich Plechschmidt, vice president EMEA at Brocade, said: "Our research shows that facilities management owns the power budget in most cases, but that the IT department isn't evaluating its power draw and effect on the organisation's bottom line. But in these difficult economic times, with every line item being placed under scrutiny, the IT function must play its part and collaborate with facilities management to address rising utility bills."
The researchers polled 1,050 senior IT decision makers across the UK, western Europe, Dubai and North America.
A lack of coordination between the facilities management and IT functions may be hindering energy cost reductions, according to international research.
The proportion of senior IT decision makers spending at least a quarter of their budget on energy is up to almost 80 per cent from 44 per cent last year, noted the research commissioned by Vanson Bourne.
However, almost half of respondents reported that no monitoring of IT energy use took place because utility bills fell under the FM function. In the UK the figure was far higher at 70 per cent.
Cooperation between the two functions over power-saving was described as "patchy".
In spite of this most respondents said that they had come under pressure to reduce energy consumption. In cases where IT and FM have joint budgetary responsibility 61 per cent of IT decision makers had come under pressure to reduce costs. Where FM was the budget holder, 44 per cent of IT heads reported being pushed to trim bills.
The research also suggests that IT energy use is much more likely to be monitored if IT is directly responsible for the power budget. Monitoring processes were in place in 60 per cent of cases where the head of IT was the budget holder, but in only 40 per cent of cases where the FM held the budget.
Ulrich Plechschmidt, vice president EMEA at Brocade, said: "Our research shows that facilities management owns the power budget in most cases, but that the IT department isn't evaluating its power draw and effect on the organisation's bottom line. But in these difficult economic times, with every line item being placed under scrutiny, the IT function must play its part and collaborate with facilities management to address rising utility bills."
The researchers polled 1,050 senior IT decision makers across the UK, western Europe, Dubai and North America.