Comparing the Attitudes and Activities of Internal Auditors in Australia, Canada, and the United States Regarding Green IT Discussant Comments Henry Grunberg October 2, 2015

Overview  The significance of the subject matter  The contribution of the paper  Comments on the research method

The significance of the subject matter  The business case for Green IT  Market capitalization is dependent on reputation  Investing resources in enhancing reputation can increase and sustain shareholder values  Green IT as part of sustainability reporting can demonstrate that the company is striving to meet stakeholder performance “values and expectations” across financial, environmental, and social dimensions  Energy costs will continue to rise and data centers will be a focus  Costs savings are almost universal  New regulations or costs incentives will support the business case  Companies will need to go Green or they may not economically survive. As a major component of the corporate Green agenda, Green IT impacts every business line within a company.

The significance of the subject matter  Issues and risks that corporations face when planning, implementing and managing Green IT programs  No corporate vision, strategy, policy, imperatives, or constraints.  No Green IT standards.  No Green IT portfolio in line with corporate green programs.  Limited or nonexistent executive support for Green IT and data center portfolio management.  Poor end-to-end Green IT lifecycle management, coupled with poor application management and distribution.  Poor asset management.  Ineffective or nonexistent availability management, demand, and capacity management.  Low server utilization or dead servers.  Inefficient cabinet, rack, and floor management.  Storage and data duplication mismanagement.  Underutilized and inefficient UPS, HVAC, and power management.  Insufficient metrics, monitoring or reporting.

The significance of the subject matter  Critical Success Factors for a Green IT Program include  Corporate and department policy  Regulations, standards, and guidelines  Green requirements  Project management lifecycle  System development lifecycle  Controls  Additional Guidelines to Consider  Green requirements should be defined for every development, design, and engineering program or project and should include:  Business rules  Business requirements  Functional requirements  Non-functional and technical requirements  Transition  Operations

The significance of the subject matter  Green standards, functional, non-functional, and technical requirements should be:  Defined for full systems lifecycle  Defined for all acquisition and procurement and specific to e-equipment  Defined for facilities  Power systems: PDUs, UPS, generators, and alternative power generation  HVAC  Defined for the data centers  Networking  Cable and wiring  Servers  Storage  Telephony  Security  Operations, maintenance, and disposal

The significance of the subject matter  There is a clear and obvious role for Internal Audit in all these areas as a(n):  auditor  facilitator  consultant

The contribution of the paper  “The objective of this current paper is to explore whether internal auditors’ involvement in green IT is different in Australia compared to the United States and Canada.”

The contribution of the paper  Scope of the subject matter  Selection choice of Australia  Contribution to practice in the field

Comments on the research method  Research hypotheses:  H1: Internal auditors’ current involvement in green IT activities are greater in Australia than in U.S. and Canada.  H2: Internal auditors’ perceived roles what they should be involved in green IT activities are greater in Australia than in U.S. and Canada.  H3: Internal auditors’ current involvement is aligned with their perceived roles what they should be involved in green IT activities.  H4: The magnitude of alignment between internal auditors’ current involvement and their perceived roles what they should be involved in green IT activities are greater in Australia than in U.S. and Canada.

Comments on the research method  Sampling techniques used  Use of a convenience sample  Surveying only internal auditors  Use of Control Variables: Environmental Strategy, Industry Type, and Organization Size  Conclusions reached