Major Points 
Presents a Green enterprise transformation (GET) case study for a service organization Uses GoodMead hospital as a hypothetical organization to present the case study Describes the practical aspects of a preliminary Green IT audit Describes the Green business objectives of a hospital Conducts a high-level SWOT analysis of the hospital from a GET perspective Suggests the use of mobile technologies in optimizing hospital processes that will result in
carbon savings Lists the lessons learning in applying Green IT strategies to a service sector organization like
a hospital
GoodMead Hospital GoodMead is a hypothetical large hospital in a metro city, providing public sector medical services. These services cover various areas of health including the standard out patient department provid- ing regular consultation to patients, as also various specialities such as pediatric, gynecology and obstetrics, orthopedics, radiology, sports medicine, and so on.
As a result of the recent preliminary Green IT audit of the hospital, it has been revealed that the hospital had a significant carbon footprint. Significant reviews of patient management processes, management of electronic patient records (EPR), laboratory equipment management, medical drugs and material management, and management of equipments and buildings were undertaken. Initial opinion of the auditors and that of the tentatively appointed chief green officer (CGO)
Unhelkar, Bhuvan. Green IT Strategies and Applications : Using Environmental Intelligence, Chapman and Hall/CRC, 2016. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/apus/detail.action?docID=767875. Created from apus on 2018-07-02 11:37:50.
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366? ? Green IT Strategies and Applications
was that significant optimization was possible in all these areas of the hospital that will reduce its carbon footprint. The cost-effectiveness and efficiency of the hospitals service processes is as important as its carbon efficiency. Thus, the benefits envisaged in terms of its cost reduction and process optimization are significant. Further to the attention on processes in terms of their carbon reduction, the initial investigation also highlighted that GoodMead has a significant investment in a data center. The building and infrastructure of this data center is now more than 10 years old, and the server machines themselves are averaging 4 years in use.
The audit also revealed that the hospital, by undertaking a Green enterprise transformation (GET), would be able to influence many of its partnering organizations. These are the labs, phar- macies, and suppliers.
The return on investment (ROI) of the hospitals attempt to transform to a Green hospital is meant to go beyond the carbon focus and into the overall business optimization arena. Thus, the hospital leadership is keen to make effective use of new fund allocations that have been indexed to carbon reduction. This effective use includes an approach that will benefit the hospital overall and is not limited only to IT-related carbon reduction.
Preliminary Green Investigation As a result of the decision taken by the new, visionary leadership of GoodMead hospital, the aforementioned preliminary Green IT audit was conducted. This audit took place over 4 weeks. The main sponsor of this audit was the tentatively appointed CGO. The CGO, together with the IT auditors, departmental heads, and the CIO sought input into the current state of the hospital. The framework for this audit was based on the four dimensions of GET. Thus, input was obtained in terms of the economic performance, sociocultural or attitude, business processes, and technical infrastructure of the hospital. The CGO is seeking input from Green IT experts as well as experts from the medical administration domain on how to approach the GET.
Below is a list of the noteworthy findings from the preliminary Green IT audit of GoodMead hospital:
