Deloitte Poll: Information Technology Viewed as Key Enabler of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability

More than 40 percent of employees responding to a recent Deloitte online poll believe their company's information technology department is very involved in corporate responsibility and sustainability efforts, with energy and carbon management as top concerns. The poll, conducted during Deloitte's recent webcast, "Competing in the Low-Carbon Economy: The Essential Dialog between the CIO and the C-suite," examined how enterprise sustainability initiatives, including energy and carbon management programs, have significant impacts and implications for information technology (IT) groups.

"Companies today are relying more on CIOs to help drive business strategies and innovation, and our polling indicates that IT is becoming recognized as an essential enabler of sustainability efforts throughout the enterprise," said Lee Dittmar, principal, Deloitte Consulting LLP and a presenter during the webcast. "We have observed more and more frequently that the CIO agenda includes providing technology to manage and report on enterprise-wide energy use and carbon emissions, and determining how IT can serve as the foundational platform to manage corporate responsibility and sustainability (CR&S) initiatives."

Along with providing sustainability measurement and reporting tool sets, Dittmar said CIOs need to be prepared to make the case for IT's role in managing and improving sustainability strategies, programs and initiatives. Specifically, he suggested senior technology executives prepare to cover the following points during a dialog with other senior executives:

• how to establish baseline measurements
• aligning with CR&S strategies, goals and investments
• determining information needs to measure progress at all levels
• ensure information availability and accessibility
• evaluating IT capabilities to measure, monitor and report CR&S
• To listen to an archived version of the webcast please visit: www.deloitte.com/us/dbriefs/futurete.

On the webcast, Sam Knox, vice president and director of Research at CFO Publishing Corp., also shared supporting findings from the recent Deloitte and CFO Research Services study, "The Next Wave of Green IT," which noted an information quality gap between IT and finance executives. Knox added that the organizations that can narrow this gap will be better positioned to leverage IT as a driver and enabler of enterprise sustainability.

Additional polling results during the Deloitte webcast further corroborated this study:

• Approximately 25 percent of companies responding have a green IT program in place, while another 9 percent plan to have one within the next year.
• Nearly 17 percent reported that IT is already directly involved in their company's overall CR&S strategies, programs and activities throughout the enterprise and not limited to just carbon management.

For additional information about "The Next Wave of Green IT: IT's Role in the Future of Enterprise Sustainability" study, please click here. The report explored ways large companies around the world are changing their IT practices to save money, improve performance and lessen their impact on the physical environment.

About the Polling

The polling responses came from more than 350 business professionals ranging from chief technology officer to consultant across multiple industries who responded to survey questions during Deloitte's September webcast.

About Deloitte

As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte Consulting LLP and Deloitte Services LP, separate subsidiaries of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.