Won’t it be wonderful when making the right environmental decisions is a Business As Usual (BAU) activity?

By now, many of us are fluent in placing paper, cans, and plastic into the kindly marked Recycling bin that resides in our homes and offices. And some of us may actually re-use a plastic water bottle now and again by refilling it with filtered tap water. But, how many of us make professional contributions TOWARD sustainable practices? (Don’t stop reading due to guilt; you may be doing more than you know.) That’s the step we all need to take to truly ingrain the right ethical and financial choices into both our short- and long-term futures.

Sure, your company is trying to reduce energy usage. That’s a no-brainer. (Typically, A/C often consumes a significant portion of the energy consumed.*) Your company may also be examining alternative methods to cool all of that heat-generating equipment in the OSP. And that’s a huge step.

But, what are YOU doing? Really.

Believe it or not, your efforts to dominate the digital home may be contributing more to this green thing than you realize. According to Cesar Bachelet, Senior Analyst at Analysys Mason: “A growing awareness of environmental issues and the recent economic slowdown are starting to ignite interest in home automation solutions which reduce energy consumption and, as a result, lead to lower bills.” This author of Monetising the digital home: a new frontier for operators explains further: “Operators should start to think about upgrading their platforms and devices now to incorporate new connectivity options and support new third-party services. This will accelerate their speed-to-market when the time is right to deploy these services. Adopting this two-stage approach to the digital home -- focusing first on multi-media and then on home automation….”**

So there you have it. You now have another reason to work harder to upgrade and evolve the OSP. When your boss is saying you have to hit your numbers and you feel the pressure, remember: there’s a greater reason to invest yourself in the tasks at hand. It’s more than meeting your objectives and keeping customers happy. Obviously, it’s not always easy, but remember that YOU are the one in the field making concrete contributions to a potentially greener world. Really!

*Source: “Let’s Clear the Air” by Paul Reale, OSP® magazine, April 2011.

**This quote is excerpted from the latest research provided by global media and technology (TMT) adviser Analysys Mason (www.analysysmason.com). Report title: Monetising the digital home: a new frontier for operators. Report published February 2011.

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