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Survey reveals IT managers are passing the energy buck

Two thirds of IT managers (68 per cent) don’t feel it’s their responsibility to cut 2014 budgets to pay for increased energy costs, with many believing that budget cuts don’t affect them. This follows a survey, conducted by Enlogic, of industry professionals who attended last month’s Data Centre World conference.

Despite this lack of concern for cutting costs, the vast majority of those questioned (72 per cent) do understand that the data centre industry has a major role to play in reducing the threat of climate change.  To add to this, 56 per cent are concerned that a lack of understanding of legislative requirements is the main barrier to their business when preparing for carbon reduction legislation.

'Our survey reveals some really interesting, if not frustrating attitudes towards reducing energy consumption. IT teams know how beneficial saving energy consumption will be for the environment, the business and ultimately their jobs, yet they don’t see it as their problem. They prefer to pass the buck to the facilities management team, who they know are ultimately responsible for paying the business’ energy bill', commented Paul Inett, vice-president, Enlogic EMEA.

Inett continued, 'IT staff need to start being accountable for the energy they are using and the money they are spending. Energy prices are set to rise and businesses cannot control the cost of this energy, but what they can control is how they measure their energy consumption to keep costs down. What many don’t understand is that their high energy bill could ultimately result in pay and staff cuts, which will affect all workers regardless of the department they work for.'