AUSTIN – Do “green” products and marketing matter in the enterprise technology industry? According to GreenFactor, a global green enterprise IT study released by Strategic Oxygen, GCI Group and Cohn & Wolfe, green products are not only highly important for the environment, they are potentially profitable: More than 70 per cent of the global respondents said they “probably” or “definitely” would increase their preference for a brand’s green products if they were convinced of the positive impact on the environment and business. Almost 60 per cent said they would expect to pay a premium for green products.

While there are significant green IT opportunities, GreenFactor also highlights some major challenges, according to Michael Gale, CEO, Strategic Oxygen. “There are statistically significant differences between countries, so many of the ‘green global campaigns’ being implemented by IT brands today will not be successful. Plus, the C-suites and their IT groups are not in-synch and really don t believe there is a ‘return on green’.”

Conducted in the first quarter of 2008, GreenFactor surveyed more than 3,500 enterprise IT decision-makers in 11 countries. The study looked at 26 enterprise technology brands to determine decision-makers’ perceptions of green IT, products and marketing.

The importance of green IT to IT buyers varies country by country. India’s respondents, for instance, emerged highest as both expecting to pay at least a five percent premium on green IT and as having a preference for it if they can be convinced of positive impact on both the environment and their budgets. At the same time, nearly one quarter (24 per cent) of respondents in Germany believe buying green products has no real impact on the environment, generally twice that of any other country. Findings like this imply that universal, global green messaging is ineffective.

There are disconnects within organizations themselves on the importance of green. For instance, CXOs globally chose price as a barrier to green with lower frequency than all other titles surveyed, and CIOs state they definitely will look to purchase some green products this next year at a higher rate than other respondents. This suggests that IT brands should target C-level executives in order to convince them to direct and empower their teams to include green IT into specifications.

Not surprisingly, perceived economics is the biggest barrier to green adoption. In nine of 11 countries polled, price was the top barrier. Marketers must focus on better communicating total cost of ownership and overall value to potential buyers.

Despite varying degrees of green products, programs and marketing initiatives, there is no one clear green IT brand leader globally. However, when IT decision-makers and IT influencers were asked which brands they most associated with green technology, a handful of companies consistently came out on top: Apple, HP, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Sony, and Dell.

Those companies that did not fare as well on green perception were: SAP, Alcatel-Lucent, Nortel, and EMC, the report read.

Globally, Microsoft and Google have a statistically significant higher perception of being green than all other software and Internet companies included in the study.

“It’s interesting that Google, a company that does not produce tangible hardware or software, but consumes a significant amount of resources appears so highly on this list,” Gale noted. “They’ve clearly done a good job of demonstrating they are working hard to innovate new, more power efficient solutions.”

India emerges as the study’s leader in green IT potential, as a higher percentage of respondents in that country expect to pay at least a five per cent premium on green IT or definitely would increase their preference for green IT with proven ROI — or both. The remaining countries fall progressively further behind India due to a tendency to lean strongly toward either an expectation to pay at least five per cent more or stating they would definitely prefer green with proven ROI — but rarely both.

In fact, buyers in some of the largest economies and B-to-B markets for technology are not convinced they would prefer green even if its ROI could be proven, notably Japan and Canada. Conversely, IT buyers in Mexico are more likely to prefer green if the ROI is proven, but are unlikely to pay a premium.

This column was written by Liam Lahey of ConnectIT

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