IT Managers are responsible for ensuring the service and security of data center operations within an organization. They typically make purchases and upgrade decisions for servers and software with service and security goals at the forefront. Reliability is a key concern for IT managers- for example, they may be risk adverse to new technology for fear of loss of uptime. Certain energy efficiency opportunities require IT re-design and rest squarely with IT Managers and CIOs, like leveraging virtualization to reduce power consumption. Unlike Facility Managers, IT departments often do not pay (or even see) monthly energy bills and ultimately the financial consequences of their decisions. As a result, energy cost reductions alone are not a strong incentive for IT Managers to take energy efficiency actions. Despite this, IT Managers, have a lot to gain from energy efficiency improvements. Energy efficiency can simplify the IT environment, reducing the management complexity and allowing IT managers to focus on improving management of fewer responsibilities. Consolidation, for example, can free up floor space for increased flexibility and capacity, as well as reduce licensing software costs.
CIOs will likely be concerned with the impact of an energy efficiency project on operations, specifically on whether the project will allow the data center to sustain or increase its current operations. Since CIOs often have a role in project approval decisions, energy efficiency can provide the CIO more flexibility in increasing IT capacity within current facilities to support the company’s business growth. Energy efficiency improvements can also reduce power demands of the physical data center infrastructure, leaving organizations in a better position organizations to support future IT growth. Continually increasing IT capacity while containing operating costs is an important way for the CIO to contribute to company growth and demonstrate leadership within the executive team. While concerns of reliability may make CIOs wary of energy efficiency projects, project champions must address these concerns while clearly articulating the project benefits that align with these efforts. Framing the benefits as well as planning a project with their interests in mind, including safeguards against reliability issues, can help project champions get buy-in from the CIO and IT department.
