Green IT Virtual Roundtable at Insurance & Technology

I participated in a "virtual roundtable" at Insurance & Technology magazine on the topic of Green IT. If that interests you, check out my thoughts (and the thoughts of the other contributors) here: http://insurancetech.com/management-strategies/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=213300855 It seems like so much of the Green IT conversation is about hardware: lower-energy servers, computer recycling, increased virtualization, carbon-neutral data centers... While these topics are very important, I feel that the best Green IT results in the insurance industry come from software, with process efficiency and automation. If we reduce the number redundant processes, get rid of duplicate rating engines (one for the system of record, one for online quick quotes), and eliminate the need to print and re-enter data, we reduce the overall energy consumption. That helps regardless of how energy-efficient a data center is, plus it leads to a huge reduction on expenses. Because it's an indirect way to reduce energy (aside from print-reduction, which is very direct and very key to the insurance industry) it doesn't get as much focus. That being said, I'll be writing more about the hardware solutions for Green IT in another publication at the end of March. I'll be sure to post a link here when that's released. Also, Cathering Stagg-Macey is currently working on a survey and report about Green IT in the insurance industry, so let Celent know if you have questions on the topic.