The majority of UK senior executives believe that ‘going green’ is back on the business agenda following years of austerity, according to recent research by business automation specialist, V1 Ltd. More than two-thirds of executives also recognise the importance of investing in green technologies for both environmental and cost cutting reasons, creating a strong case for IT solutions that reduce paper consumption and/or carbon emissions while improving business efficiencies.
V1 carried out a survey with 80 managing directors, financial directors and senior accountants. An overwhelming 98 per cent of respondents felt that the green agenda was once again important to their organisations with 51 per cent of these stating that it was “definitely important”. Only one per cent of respondents felt that the green agenda was unimportant to their companies with a further one per cent stating that they were “unsure” whether it was important or not.
Although more than two thirds of survey respondents (70 per cent) felt the economic recession had a dampening effect on the amount their organisations invested in green technologies, the outlook is now more positive.
The correlation between ‘going green’ and cutting costs was championed by 89 per cent of survey respondents, all of whom agreed that IT solutions, such as document management software, could reduce companies’ negative impact on the environment and improve business efficiencies. Only 10 per cent of respondents did not believe that green technologies could also deliver financial rewards with one per cent stating that they were “unsure” about the business benefits of going green.
V1 Managing Director, Janette Martin, said: “Our research suggests that investment in green technologies slowed during the UK’s period of economic turbulence, however organisations are once again feeling confident enough to invest in their green agendas.
“As economic confidence continues to grow, we anticipate increasing demand for technologies such as document management software which reduce paper consumption and carbon emissions while simultaneously delivering key business benefits.”
