These days, companies are always looking for new and innovative ways to bring down their bills and protect the environment.
We’ve had many customers ask our team for their best IT energy saving advice in the last few weeks – so here’s a quick rundown of our top 5 tips.

1. Turn off your tech whenever you can!
It’s a simple piece of advice, but one that often gets overlooked.

Give your hardware a break by turning it off at the wall when it’s not in use. PCs, monitors, printers, photocopiers, and coffee makers all use small amounts of power when they’re left in standby mode, and you’d be surprised how much you can save on your electricity bill just by flicking their switches before you head home.

Not only will turning your machines off overnight help to conserve energy, it will also keep them in good working order. Shutting down or even rebooting your computers will stop programmes from running in the background and fix any bugs that could be affecting your machine’s performance. Doing so will also give the operating system a chance to finish installing any new system updates, which can be vital for system security.
To make it even easier to close down your equipment, you could invest in IoT smart plugs. These handy devices can be used to control your energy usage remotely via an app.

2. Buy more energy efficient hardware
Generally speaking, contemporary PCs will use much less energy than older machines. Low-energy processors and SSD hard drives in particular are both designed to lower power consumption without compromising on performance.

If you need any help choosing more environmentally friendly options, remember that ECOM can help you source the right equipment, at the right price!

3. Review your software licenses regularly
If you’re running a busy business, it can be easy to forget which licenses you’re paying for. But unwanted software subscriptions could be costing your company hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds every year.

For example, we often speak to clients who are unaware that they are still paying for Microsoft licenses for members of staff who have left their roles. Depending on their agreement, this could be anything from £3 to £20 per month – so as you can imagine, the costs can begin to stack up over the course of a few months or more.

An easy way to fix this is to make sure your HR team notifies your IT department every time an employee moves on. The team here at ECOM can also review your usage at any point in your contract to make sure you’re not wasting cash on pointless payments. And, as soon as we’re notified of a change in your circumstances, or a service you no longer require, we will step in to make sure you’re no longer being invoiced for it.

4. Unsubscribe to emails you don’t need (or want to see) anymore
Aside from being irritating, did you know that pointless promotional emails actually cause unnecessary emissions? According to a study carried out by anti-virus giant McAfee, the average spam email creates the equivalent of 0.3 grams of carbon dioxide (slightly less if the message is picked up by your inbox filter).

On a global scale, McAfee estimates that 33 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) are wasted on spam email energy every single year. So, do your bit for the planet and for your sanity: click ‘unsubscribe’ on emails from brands or organisations that you’re no longer interested in hearing from.

5. Take steps to reduce the number of documents you print in-house
Do you need to print out that Word document for review, or can your colleagues view it in a shared folder instead?

Are those meeting handouts really necessary?

Do you need to put pen to paper, or could that contract be signed via a digital approval process?

Does everyone in the office need direct access to a printer, or could print requests be managed and approved by a designated member of staff to prevent wastage?

There are plenty of ways you can reduce the amount of paper you use at your premises. You could even go one step further and ban single-use notebooks and post-it notes in your office.