I haven’t posted recently for a number of reasons, but perhaps the most pressing of which is because I have been immersed in some serious research into (environmental) sustainability. I want to take a moment here to outline this exciting research agenda.

We recently published an update of our green IT survey of global enterprises and SMBs. My colleague Chris Mines highlighted some of the key findings in his blog. In this report we introduced our new categories of sustainability solutions and services to help provide a clear taxonomy of the varying solutions available in the marketplace. This taxonomy comprises three main sectors: IT energy and resource efficiency (as known as "green IT"), IT-enabled green business processes (what we term “IT for green”), and corporate sustainability planning and governance (“green business”). The graphic below provides some examples of each of the categories.

Forrester Sustanance Solutions And Services

My next report will give a comprehensive overview of the sustainability consulting services landscape for which I interviewed 25 service providers. As part of this research, I asked the providers about the split of their revenues and clients, both now and what they expect in the future, by each of the key segments we identified above. On average, about 50% of current revenues and client projects are comprised of green IT, nearly 30% in IT for green, and 20% in green business. Interesting however is the change which the providers see in the next three years, with the percentage of green IT falling to about 40%, and gradual increases in IT for green and green business (see figure below). We plan to publish this market overview report on sustainability consulting services in August.

split in 2013 of client projects

In addition, I’ve been examining in detail the enterprise carbon and energy management (ECEM) systems market. Forrester first wrote about this market back in November 2009, but, since then, there has been tremendous movement and momentum. We have surveyed more than 35 providers of ECEM solutions, ranging from small startups, to large software and service providers. My new report provides an analysis of the provider landscape, the different solutions on offer, client requirements, as well as a market sizing. Look out for the report to be published in September.

I’m excited about the new reports that we’ll publish in the coming weeks. I encourage you to read them, and feel free to contact me with your comments and feedback at any time.

Daniel