Brainwaves, the official e-newsletter of the Business Performance Management (BPM) Forum, is distributed quarterly to Forum members, content requestors and e-newsletter subscribers. Our objectives for Brainwaves are to provide relevant information, stimulate new ideas and help improve your decision-making regarding business performance management initiatives, strategies and execution.

This quarter, we turn our attention to what many consider a fad: Green. Eco-process and the greening of any operational performance has become a timely differentiator. However, in the case of greening operations, are there cases where the karma-case is actually a translatable business case? Can going green actually impact the bottom line?

Let’s take the inspirational declaration made a year ago by San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed who proclaimed he had a “Green Vision”. In short, 10 bold ideas to become reality in 15 years, in the 10th largest city in the United States. The vision captures everything from recycling to the creation of Green Collar jobs. San Jose has also gone the step further and enacted Green policy within the civic infrastructure, dramatically reducing operational costs. The result, within one year, the city has doubled green jobs, reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, and is diverting 75% of its landfill waste.

Green is also catching on around the world and some impressive numbers are validating Deloitte’s statement that “companies have no choice but to ride the green wave, or get knocked over by it.” According to Deloitte, Asia’s renewable energy projects are yielding an ROI of between 18 – 24%. Between 1995 and 2005, DuPont cut is energy consumption by 7% below its 1990 levels and saved more than $2 billion. Mexico’s Program of Energy Savings in Federal buildings has cut energy consumption by 13% to 20%, depending on the building. (http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/article/0,1002,cid%3D168107,00.html?theme=GB1)

One operational area ripe for some greening is within the IT infrastructure. Energy consumption within the data center is a well documented challenge. However, in a BPM Forum study, we found that 75% of organizations surveyed gave their organizations a "C" or worse grade in their ability to control IT energy consumption. When competitive advantage can be derived from operating lean (and green) IT executives will have no choice but to work on that grade.

I recommend checking out San Jose’s Green Vision (http://www.sanjoseca.gov/greenvision/index.asp) and setting one within your own company. A green operational agenda can improve yield, optimize efficiencies and operational costs, and provide your internal resources and customers with a true brand and corporate differentiator.

Liz Miller
Editor

Creating a Greener Company Culture
From Executive Decision

The effects of rising energy costs are changing the way many senior-level managers consider their company’s energy consumption. Escalating energy prices have given corporate leaders a wake-up call to devise ways to conserve energy. Energy efficiency is evolving from a corporate concept to a priority item on the CEO’s agenda.

Over the past five years, the average company’s energy costs have escalated from 10-30%. Some CEOs have already adapted to current conditions and implemented strategies to create energy-efficient facilities. Company leadership must now treat energy as an operational challenge that must be managed diligently, deserving the same attention as the purchase and utilization of raw materials. In some cases, a company’s survival will depend on how quickly its management team can adopt energy conservation strategies.

While energy is a vital operating component, energy reduction does not need to be a cumbersome undertaking. With rising energy costs in the news, energy conservation should be seen as an opportunity, treated and managed as a company-wide initiative that will provide long-term benefits. As one corporate executive recently stated, “We know we have a lot of low hanging fruit (energy waste) in our plant. Our problem is that it is still on the tree.”

Effectively managing energy consumption requires a commitment to educating workers. This involves energy awareness, empathy, best practices, coaching and action. Company leadership needs to modify employee behaviors in order to effect a cultural change throughout the company. It must start with the CEO and executive management regularly articulating their commitment to energy efficiency and its importance to profitability and the environment.

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Garbage is a Terrible Thing to Waste
It may not be a glamorous subject, but it’s as critical to Corporate America as it is to the environment. With the number of landfills steadily declining, there are significant financial benefits to be gained by organizations that are doing things right in waste management—it can quantifiably reduce costs, increase operating efficiencies and help the environment. Download the report to learn more.

Download report »

Is the Speed of Decision Making Accelerating?
From MarketingProfs

As the forces of globalization continue to connect and intertwine commercial and financial markets, and new technologies come online in the marketplace, the time between “event” and “action” is rapidly closing.

In the past, managers could take weeks or days to make important decisions, however to effectively compete globally, some companies are making critical decisions in hours, minutes or even seconds. With windows for decision making closing faster than ever—are your decision making processes setting you up for success—or failure?

While most would agree that strategic decisions require thoughtful consideration that should rightly stretch out months or weeks, the financial market turmoil of the past year plainly shows that decision making windows can open and close quite rapidly. In fact, as marketplaces grow more complex, and financial markets interconnect in ways analysts still struggle to understand, strategic decisions (even those involving M&A) sometimes need to be made in 24-48 hours.

The window for operational decisions is also shrinking. Companies now need the ability to detect and respond in real-time or near real time when fraud is occurring, products are out of stock, lines at store checkout are too long, online shopping carts are abandoned, or customers are calling with product/service quality issues.

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Answering the Ultimate Question
by Richard Owen and Laura Brooks, PhD

Answering the Ultimate Question is an in-depth follow-on to the national bestseller The Ultimate Question. With a growing number of leading companies implementing a Net Promoter discipline to improve customer loyalty and improve revenues, Answering the Ultimate Question provides key insights into the building blocks to make you successful. Would you recommend this company to your friends and colleagues? That question, based on Fred Reichheld's The Ultimate Question , challenged the conventional wisdom of customer satisfaction surveys and provides a more accurate way of gauging what customers really think about your company.

Creating and keeping loyal customers has become one of the key topics in today’s economic market and Word of Mouth (WOM) is rapidly becoming one of the key ways customer can impact the success of your brand. Answering the Ultimate Question defines how to deploy a Net Promoter strategy. Based on numerous case studies and finding from more than 80 companies this books tells you how all types of companies are successfully building stronger customer experiences.

Available from Amazon November 2008 »

Green Marketing: Avoiding Unwanted Attention from Regulators and Lawyers
From the Washington Legal Foundation

According to a recent Gallup poll, more than 8 out of 10 Americans believe that a company’s environmental record is an important factor in deciding whether to buy its products. Environmental marketing claims are hot, and they continue to attract consumer attention. There are steps marketers can take to ensure their claims are not attracting the wrong kind of attention—from regulators and competitors.

A lot of environmental claims suffer from murky definitions and standards, and there is concern that companies are “greenwashing.” Consumers, regulators, and competitors are catching on. Marketers interested in making claims about the environmental benefits of their product should therefore ensure that they are communicating their product and company attributes truthfully.

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Lean & Green: Reducing Energy Drain for IT Business Gain
This BPM Forum report shows that despite rising costs of data center energy and the increasing environmental concern over global warming, IT energy consumption continues to rise within a large percentage of organizations. In fact, nearly half of these companies have consumed to the point of running out of space, power, or cooling. Two-thirds don't have any energy reduction plan in place. And 75 percent give their organizations a "C" or worse grade in their ability to control IT energy consumption. To explore more comprehensive data, dialogs, and insights into this growing gap between concern and action, download the report details.

Download report »

Twelve Steps to a Greener Datacenter
From ITManagement.com

Green datacenters are more cost-effective, saving potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy costs a year. But they are also more efficient, easier to run, easier to manage and more effective at delivering against business needs.

This checklist walks through a ten step process that will help you understand and manage a complete transition in your datacenter operation. It includes information to help you measure and monitor the effectiveness of the change and will help make sure that your project is a success.

This 12-part checklist leads you through the basic stages of moving to a green datacenter. While this is often considered mostly a marketing move, or one that “might as well be done” since it probably won’t cost much, in fact it is a pragmatic and cost-effective business decision that can save an organization with a large datacenter hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. Here are the 12 steps to saving money.

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Uptime @ Crunch Time
The Uptime @ Crunch Time report Valuing the Need for Data Speed at Critical Business Inflections reflects responses from more than 125 IT professionals and reveals that a majority have already experienced productivity losses as a result of data overload at critical business junctures, and 25 percent willingly share specific stories of how poor data performance has hurt their business. As a result, most will add significant network storage capacity this year to keep up. The report explores comprehensive data, dialogs, and insights into the data dilemma facing organizations today and how they'll cope.

Download report »

CMO Council Networking Dinner
Turning Customer Pain into Competitive Gain
Date: October 16, 2008
Location: Time Warner Center, New York, NY
A lively discussion to reveal and review best practices in optimizing customer experience in an era of upheaval and changing business climate. Expert and author Richard Owens will speak about the current challenges and frustrations companies face when building strong customer loyalty.
For more information, contact Kim Korupp »

Opportunity Green Conference
Opportunity Green 2008
Date: November 8 - 9, 2008
Location: University of California, Los Angeles
Opportunity Green is a convergence of the prime movers and shakers and the up and coming innovators driving today's new green economy. Rub elbows with 500 of the best and brightest thought leaders: entrepreneurs, business leaders, investors and designers, all focused on building socially responsible and sustainable enterprises.
Learn More »

Net Impact
The Sustainable Advantage: Creating Social and Environmental Value
Date: November 13 - 15, 2008
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Throughout history, breakthrough ideas have disrupted the status quo and revolutionized the world. What are the next breakthroughs that will improve our world and create advantages today for sustainability tomorrow? This November, at the 2008 Net Impact Conference, more than 1,800 graduate business students and professionals will come together to discuss a vast array of innovative ideas that will create social and environmental value for our future.
Learn More »

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council
CMO Summit 2008
Date: December 10 - 11, 2008
Location: Monterey, CA
This year's Elite Retreat involving top marketers from leading global brands will focus on "Routes to Revenue" in a highly interactive series of breakaways sessions, CMO presentations and group discussions. This year's theme is "Routes to Revenue" and will address the marketing imperative to analyze, evaluate and pursue new revenue sources, segments and strategies.
Learn More »

If you would like to submit an article or recommend one, please follow these guidelines:

• Business performance management focus: people, process, policy, technology, methodologies, best practices and business innovation
• Pictures, illustrations and charts to support your submission are welcome
• Include a brief biography with relevant credentials
• Maximum 850 words

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