Sustainable IT Implementation in UAE
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Date
2011-03
Authors
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The British University in Dubai (BUiD)
Abstract
Global warming and other environmental issues have raised humankind’s awareness towards the planet and viability of the coming generations. Many movements have been taken to force the companies to monitor their environmental impacts. They aim to save the planet and the natural resources to ensure that the coming generations can continue living and developing in our planet. This has created the concept of sustainability. Researchers have seen that organizations that adopt sustainability will have a competitive advantage over their competitors which will ensure their longterm run.This research will investigate the sustainable IT concept in UAE organizations in terms of level of awareness, main drivers and current practices. In addition, it aims to determine the main factors for successful and smooth implementation which in turn will assist other organizations toward their sustainability.The literature review will present a detailed overview of the concept of sustainability and sustainable IT. It will also build business case for sustainability, investigate the main drivers for sustainable IT and explore the Global reporting initiative’s (GRI) indicators for sustainability reporting. In addition, a review of most used sustainable IT practices will be conducted providing a solid base for analyzing the current sustainable IT practices in UAE.Three case studies based on semi-structured interviews were conducted on a group of Dubai and Abu Dhabi governmental organizations. In general, the level of sustainable IT awareness in these organizations is between low to medium with social responsibility of IT remaining weak. With regarding to practices, they are almost equal to levels of awareness.Research has showed that organizations are focusing more on the economical sustainability rather than environmental sustainability. Moreover low public awareness about sustainability made companies less concern about their social responsibility.Based on the discussions, analysis and comparisons; recommendations have been provided to the interviewed organizations and to the UAE government in general to improve sustainable IT practices. The main recommendation is to raise the awareness about sustainable IT and its benefits for the organization and the whole society. The government should create this awareness within the public and the organizations.Moreover, IT departments should make the management aware of the benefits of sustainable IT to have their support during the implementation.
Description
DISSERTATION WITH DISTINCTION
Keywords
sustainable IT concept, environmental sustainability