Apr 21 2008
Leading independent research and advisory firm, Manufacturing Insights, an IDC company, today announced the release of a new study, Sustainability 1Q08 Update: Introduction and Going Green and IT's Role (Doc #MI211576), the first in an ongoing series of updates on sustainability and "IT for green." This first research paper provides a summary of meaningful events, trends, and case studies related to IT's role in supporting sustainability initiatives in product lifecycle economics and the supply chain. "IT for green" considers the broader potential of IT outside of the data center and its ability to benefit the triple bottom line of impacting people, the planet, and a corporation's profit line.
"Sustainability means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs," states Kimberly Knickle, practice director, Emerging Agenda, Manufacturing Insights. "IT's role in company initiatives surrounding material selection, sourcing policies, resource consumption and emissions, end-of-life (EOL) postponement and management, and customer and demand fulfillment are key in determining what to prioritize, what trade-offs to make, and how to measure success."
This series of research reports will reflect the ways in which companies address the challenges of going green and how they allocate resources toward sustainability over time. Manufacturing Insights expects IT organizations, who support key repositories of company data related to sustainability, and other business units, including supply chain, engineering, operations, and more, to develop what-if scenarios, to guide their sustainability efforts today and as they mature.
This ongoing research highlights IT vendors and the applications that support sustainability programs not only to reduce risks and costs but also to increase revenue and profit and enhance competitive positioning. In this report, Manufacturing Insights presents a case study of Cisco's sustainability initiatives with a focus on supply chain, and the company's progress and plans are detailed.
Kimberly Knickle will be presenting these findings and providing additional commentary at an upcoming complimentary Webcast scheduled for May 21, 2008. In addition Knickle will be presenting at the Managing Automation Progressive Manufacturing Summit, June 10-12, 2008, Las Vegas, Nevada, at a session titled "Orchestrating Around Trends: Growing Movement for Sustainability".