Energy costs leaving businesses in the dark With inflation increasing costs across the board, businesses are looking to reduce unnecessary spend in all areas. Every little helps, they say, and by becoming just a little bit savvier with their energy use, businesses could make a big difference to the bottom line. But it doesn’t mean having to work in complete darkness. Simple ways to reduce energy bills include lowpower lightbulbs, switching energy supplier, or even moving to more sustainable options such as solar or wind-powered energy. Some businesses are choosing to install smart meters to constantly monitor their energy use and figure out ways to reduce it, while others are starting to ditch air conditioning units and other forms of equipment that are both energy-intensive and less environmentally friendly. For IT devices, simply unplugging laptops when they’re not in use could save just under £5 a year. While this won’t make a large difference on its own, for businesses with thousands of devices - including servers constantly running in the background and ‘vampire devices’ such as printers and monitors which use up energy even when not in use - the savings could soon add up. It’s important to remember as well that one way to reduce energy costs isn’t to encourage more staff to work from home. Shifting costs onto staff while many are being hit with inflation isn’t a smart move. Indeed, many employees are now starting to ask for contributions towards their home bills to support increases in home working. Can businesses reduce IT running costs without disrupting operations? One way to reduce costs without affecting productivity and efficiency could be to look into how devices are used, for how long, and how much power they’re taking up - like smart meters, but specifically for IT equipment. Although it’s currently impossible to track the energy use of certain equipment, IT asset management (ITAM) software can provide an overview of how many devices are actively connected to networks and in use - including many that businesses might not even know about that secretly run up energy bills. THE DISRUPTORS vision & strategy “It’s important to remember as well that one way to reduce energy costs isn’t to encourage more staff to work from home. Shifting costs onto staff while many are being hit with inflation isn’t a smart move.” 44
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