How your business can reduce its carbon footprint for Earth Day and beyond

In celebration of Earth Day 2010, thousands of businesses across the globe will be asking, "What can we do to reduce our carbon footprint?"

Fact is, businesses of all sizes are constantly faced with the challenge of staying "green" as their operations grow. More growth equals more paper, more hardware, and higher energy usage. These are all issues that increase a business's carbon footprint and take their toll on the environment. Fortunately, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions such as Web TimeSheet can free up each of these resources while improving the bottom line at the same time.

What is SaaS?

SaaS enables businesses to use high-powered applications over a web-based platform – that is, without the need for additional hardware, software, servers, or in-house resources. As with Web TimeSheet, everything is securely hosted and maintained off-site.

How is it eco-friendly?

• Less energy usage. Using SaaS instead of running applications on-site can significantly reduce a business's overall power consumption, especially at larger organizations. Industry experts estimate that this can translate into a 20-to-1 savings for some businesses. How's that for energy efficiency?
• Way less hardware. 1.2 million users access Replicon's SaaS timesheets and expense-tracking software from just a few centralized data centers around the world. Can you imagine all the energy-draining hardware and equipment that would be needed if each business ran these applications on-site? SaaS keeps hardware to a minimum without sacrificing one bit of security or accessibility.
• No IT infrastructure. Even the smallest businesses without any IT infrastructure can streamline their operations using SaaS products – without the need for any new computers, employees, servers, software or other technology. All they need is an Internet connection.
• Saved trees. Compare Web TimeSheet to the old-fashioned methods of employee time-tracking. Businesses all over the world are still using those antiquated time-clock punch cards, or they're even manually filling out blank timesheets. SaaS-based solutions like Web TimeSheet eliminate the need for paper—completely. Whether your business has two employees or 2,000, imagine how many trees this could save.

If the environmental benefits aren't enough for your business to see the value in SaaS, then consider these two added bonuses: reduced costs and increased productivity. The reductions in computing resources and power usage can translate into significant savings, not just long-term, but immediate. After all, there's no hardware or software to install, no IT employees to hire, and no maintenance involved.

Plus, your staff can spend less time on the things that slow your business down and more time on the processes that make your business thrive. With cost-saving benefits like these, "going green" with SaaS makes more sense than ever.