Global IT Buyers Reveal 'Green' Perceptions

Do ‘green’ products and marketing matter in the enterprise technology industry? According to GreenFactor – the first 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 percent 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 percent 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’.”

“The bottom line is that ‘green’ IT marketers are going to have to be really smart about how they go to market,” added Paul Walker, president, GCI Group. “They need to target the right countries and the right ‘green advocates’ in the C-suite with credible value propositions. We’re excited about GreenFactor because it provides a strategic roadmap for getting it right.”

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

‘Green’ Insights and Implications

Among the major findings of the study, it was noted that 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 percent) 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.

Also, ‘perceived economics’ was concluded to be the biggest barrier to ‘green’ adoption. In nine of 11 countries polled, price was the top barrier. This means that marketers must focus on better communicating Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and overall value to potential buyers.

Green ‘Leaders’ and ‘Laggards’

Despite varying degrees of ‘green’ products, programmes 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 like Apple, HP, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Sony and Dell consistently came out on top. Meanwhile, SAP, Alcatel-Lucent, Nortel and EMC were among companies that did not fare as well on ‘green’ perception. Globally, Microsoft and Google have a statistically significant higher perception of being ‘green’ than all other software and Internet companies included in the study.

Green Countries

India emerged 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 percent 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 percent more or stating they would definitely prefer ‘green’ with proven RoI – but rarely both.
In fact, buyers in some of the largest economies and B2B 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.

When the data is cut to view respondents that satisfy both conditions – expect to pay at least a five percent premium on ‘green’ IT and ‘definitely would’ increase their preference for it with proven RoI – India remains the leader in ‘green’ IT potential by a wide margin (India – 22.3 percent; US – 14.9 percent).

“Initially, it seems counter-intuitive that India would be ’number one’,” said Walker, “but this is a country experiencing a high-rate of IT investment and data centre growth – coupled with ‘brown outs’. It makes sense that IT decision makers there would be more sensitive to environmental challenges and increasingly supportive of growing their ‘green’ IT solutions”.

Green Barriers

When asked “What are the biggest barriers to adopting a ‘green’ approach when purchasing technology-related hardware for your organisation?” Price and internal disagreement emerged as the top barriers globally.

Green IT Purchases In The Coming Year

IT decision-makers were also asked to look at specific technology hardware (laptops, desktops, servers, storage and network hardware) through the purchasing lens of the next twelve months.
When faced with these products over the next year and asked “Will your organisation look to purchase products that are considered ‘green’?” respondents said they ‘probably’ or ‘definitely’ would look for ‘green’ versions of these products. The data showed that ‘green’ laptops and desktops will be sought after more frequently in the next year than ‘green’ back-end technology.