I have been biting my tongue for a couple of days since Tom Raftery agreed to join RedMonk as an industry analyst covering Greentech, cleantech, Energy Demand Management and sustainability. Tom has a brilliant reputation, his own brand, brings a community with him, and real passion for the subject. Frankly we’re lucky to have him. Rather than focus on green data centers we’re going to address the far bigger problems – working with those that want to use IT to solve much bigger problems – supply chain, logistics, heating and cooling, asset management.
Greenmonk has been an interesting journey and a real world example of burstiness. I started the blog as a personal project because I feel strongly about sustainability issues, but about six months after launching it, ComputerWorld UK contacted me to discuss partnering opportunities. IDG also sees the importance of the Green agenda, and I am grateful they took a punt on me. The partnership made me realise that Green wasn’t just a personal interest, it could be a business too. Its still early days for the green agenda, but we’re reaching a few tipping points which should drive more media traffic than ever to solid green content, research and analysis. The next big eye opener was working with Interop on Energy Camp, at David Berlind‘s behest.
When I started GreenMonk I wanted to focus more on people than technology, to focus more on social media tooling, for example, and how it could encourage us to change our behaviours. Over time however I have come to a different conclusion, as stated by changed strapline, which now runs Green from the roots up, Sustainable from the top down.
The fact is its business that will provide the money to pursue this important agenda. Neither me, Tom, nor anyone at RedMonk has a problem with getting paid. And this is a massive opportunity. But I have also been frankly hugely impressed by the efforts of major corporations on sustainability. When you find yourself praising the leadership of the likes of BT, IBM and Wal*Mart you know something is afoot.
Greenmonk needs to work from the top down as well as the bottom up. That’s why my company RedMonk is hiring Tom! I want to thank my business partner Stephen O’Grady for being willing to take the risk on this new business venture. A personal blog is now a new line of business- that’s a case study in bursty work.
Tom, thank you for your shout out for IBM. We agree with your suggestion that there is a shift afoot in thinking by customers. They are really focusing more on IT as a means to meet efficiency goals, instead of the traditional motors and lighting improvements. Hopefully we will see public policy that helps implement energy efficiency follow suit. For now, how to measure the efficiency of acomplex data center efficiency project is a challenge IBM is helping our customers address.