AT&T – Going GREEN and M2M – Power, Telepresence, and Information Management

Implications: Call it good corporate citizenship or call it consumer focused publicity; the result will be the same; AT&T will look good. Even better, AT&T will end up saving money.  

Analysis: I am a big proponent of the telecom carriers’ GREEN efforts.  There is nothing wrong with good corporate citizenship; it is good business in this day and age.  Is promoting efficient use of power a good Green initiative?  I think the answer is:  YES.

The first place the carriers are going to get hit in their wallets is the bill for power.  People and telecom professionals often forget that telecom carriers have to pay their own electric bills.  Carrier network operations centers and carrier data centers (for bill processing and customer care) were not originally designed to be energy efficient.  Folks like me never gave the cost of power a thought.

However, nothing speaks louder than the rising cost of energy.  Oh my goodness, just look at what the cost of fuel has done to your own personal energy bill.  In this day and age of environmental activism, the rising cost of fuel is making corporations look at reducing energy bills and hence impact Greenhouse gas emissions.  Carriers know how to remotely monitor their own centers and it was only a matter of time they would apply that knowledge to their own customer bases.

Carriers are not only taking steps towards making their own centers energy efficient but also helping customer make their centers (and homes) more energy efficient.  Now by focusing on M2M (machine-to-machine) Communications technology, the carrier is helping its customers monitor their own energy consumption.  I love M2M (machine-to-machine) communications technology because it brings the carrier one layer closer to the customer.

Carriers can go Green and still generate revenue.  Carriers can leverage their knowledge on information management in this environmental age.

If carriers want to help with the Green movement even further, then all telecom carriers need to consider promoting telepresence.

With rising fuel costs and other travel related expenses, the need for a way to do business without having to get on an airplane is critical to corporate survival.

Telepresence is an answer to doing business in a more cost effective manner.  Please look at my past analysis entitled:  “Telepresence – A Solution to Rising T&E Costs for Corporations”.

Telepresence not only saves money for the carrier’s customer but opens up a new revenue opportunity for the carrier.  Telepresence needs to be actively promoted in the enterprise space now as quickly as possible.  The sense of urgency amongst customers is the greatest sales tool the carrier has right now.