Report: RFPs Critical to Green IT Success
Struggling to select the right vendors for your green IT upgrades? It all comes down to crafting the right request for proposal (RFP), according to a new Forrester survey.
The survey of U.K. IT professionals finds that well-structured RFP process is essential for any green IT plan to work. Specifically, the RFP process can provide a framework for discussion and gives vendors insight into how seriously the buyer takes its green agenda.
Here’s a peek at how companies are currently focusing their RFPs:
Survey respondents say the top driver for green IT planning is increasing pressure to reduce energy consumption – often the key green IT objective for sourcing policies as well, according to the report.
“Sourcing does not set the green IT agenda, but plays a pivotal role in its implementation, lending its expertise to ensure that vendors in the desktop and datacenter arenas, for example, align the green IT objectives,” the report notes.
The report suggests that the RFP can also signal which areas IT planners intend to push their vendors in the future. Forty-three percent of respondents say they will consider asking vendors to report on what theyve done to clean up their own manufacturing process in IT products, while 41% will consider asking vendors about setting up a green code of conduct among their own suppliers.