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In October of 2015, The Green Grid questioned 150 key IT decision-makers with data center responsibilities in the UK, France, and Germany. We found that while the majority of organizations are facing growing pressures to improve the efficiency of their data centers, 43% of those surveyed have no energy efficiency objectives in place.

Furthermore, 97% felt that they could improve their monitoring capabilities. This disconnect between goals and an understanding of the measures needed to make effective change puts the ability of organizations to manage their IT resources at risk.

The real-world objectives of data center management and the ability to keep track of energy efficiency should be going hand-in-hand if resources are to be effectively managed. What our research shows is that while data centers are recognized as a central part of organizations’ energy efficiency strategies, many are operating and making decisions, to a certain degree, in the dark.

Our research also found that the top four challenges and opportunities at the board level were all to do with reducing and predicting costs, rather than on “green” or resource-efficient objectives. This is likely driven by customer requirements in an extremely competitive marketplace, requiring increasing flexibility and “always on” functionality, despite the common focus on data centers in CSR strategies. Data center managers need to adapt their ambitions for the future, moving away from immediate ROI toward long-term sustainability.

Some of the findings presented a positive outlook for future innovations in data center resource efficiency, with nearly all those surveyed clearly seeing areas for improvement and 55% stating that energy efficiency was their highest advancement priority. However, to match the European Commission’s expectation for data centers to be at least 80% powered by renewable energy by 2020, IT leaders will need to commit to renovating their resource-efficiency policies. Working towards this goal will also require significant efforts from energy suppliers and governments.

It is clear that many IT leaders need greater support in putting in place more effective resource-efficiency measures. The Green Grid, with its global membership and access to the latest in efficient data center design and operations, is a partner that all those with data center responsibilities should consider more closely.

The EMEA team will be rolling out the results and conclusions in a series of activities to include open round tables. Watch for more info on this in January 2016.