The Role of the Business Analyst in Green ICT

Abstract

This chapter presents the role of business analysts in the green initiative of an organization. As corporations become more environmentally conscious, business objectives such as decreasing energy use and producing fewer emissions require adjustments in processes and rules governing how ICT solutions are designed and implemented. For example, optimizing the process of buying an airline ticket from a green perspective might require changing the rules for online purchase and designing an ICT solution to switch the process to a paperless, secure electronic ticketing system. The entire optimization of a process such as passenger ticketing requires analysis of the solution, its alternatives and its associated risks. This is what a business analyst does. In the past decade, the role of business analysts has rapidly evolved in multiple directions to encompass activities such as business evaluation, risk management, process modeling, dealing with metrics and measurement and undertaking acceptance testing of solutions. This chapter discusses how business analysts can provide an invaluable contribution to the process of developing environmentally sound ICT practices within and around the organization. Organizations need to get their green credentials in order (Information Age, 2007). They also need to take a strategic, long term view of the environmental factors affecting their business. A business analyst, as discussed here, helps bring together myriad variables into a cohesive and comprehensive plan to address the various long-term and strategic aspects of greening ICT processes in the broad context of the corporation, the industry and the overall business ecosystem.