The following recommendations aligned to the research questions are discussed below:
5.3.1 What is the level of green data centres adoption in Nigeria?
The descriptive analysis of this research study has identified low adoption of green data centre technology in Nigeria. However, all the respondents are IT experts, and their contribution has
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an impact on their data centre development. Five out of seven respondents were unable to identify adequate knowledge of green technology. Awareness is the foundation of any technology that benefits a well-functioning system. Regrettably, this research revealed low awareness of green IT in Nigeria, and how it negatively affects the adoption of green data centre technology. Hence, environmental awareness must be increased to allow for organisational development. The level of green awareness in Nigeria can improve by initiating educational programs on eco-sustainability, knowledge sharing between ICT experts and environmental practitioners. For this reason, According to Hanne (2011), it is essential to discuss the importance of green information technology in developing countries. However, to establish this importance, different measures must be implemented to solve the problem of green adoption in Nigeria.
Lin (2014) identified that lack of awareness and the lack of managerial support is a determinant affecting the adoption of innovation in supply chain management. These factors can be solved by encouraging people to contribute to the adoption process. According to Molla (2008), promoting environmental sustainability practices or measuring IT preparedness for good productivity, need an increasing level of awareness of green data centre technology. This practice of increasing awareness serves as a motivation, which gives the organisation a solution to global warming, through energy-efficient equipment, improved airflow management systems, and virtualization technology (Vykoukal et al., 2009).
5.3.2 What technological factors impact data centres adoption in Nigeria?
The result recognised technical difficulty as a key technological factor affecting the adoption of a green data centre in Nigeria, which is caused by the lack of specialized training. The research findings also explain how a green data centre is different from traditional data centres because a green data centre focuses on the provision of ICT solutions through an eco-friendly method. Technology experts must promote the environment by improving their technical know-how on renewable energy development, cloud computing, virtualization, energy- efficient servers and cooling systems. Therefore, technical training on how to operate a green data centre must be encouraged by organisations anticipating green data centre adoption.
Besides, a green data centre can be achieved by increasing the technical skills required for green adoption by training of staff through educational programs (Aoyi et al., 2016). A research study conducted by Johnson et al. in 2010 (on what topic and location) revealed that
“educational programs can encourage technology adoption” (Johnson et al., 2010, p. 28).
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The cost of transition from the traditional data centre to green technologies is also a barrier.
However, virtualisation helps to reduce this cost of transition (Swathi & Srikanth 2014; Krishna
& Eswar 2013) by reducing the number of physical servers, which will minimise the cooling of a data centre. Moreover, the energy from waste heat in a data centre can be recovered and utilized (Garimella et al., 2013) through renewable techniques that will convert the heat energy back to electrical power. The use of this technology advancement of a renewable energy option is essential to reduce the running cost of data centres.
5.3.3 What organisational factors impact data centres adoption?
This research result further looked at the organisational influence on the adoption of a green data centre in Nigeria. From the results, it shows that one of the main organisational factors affecting the adoption of green data centres in Nigeria is a lack of strategic planning. This is an organisational factor affecting the adoption of green data centres in Nigeria. The implementation of green adoption by top management can be rewarded by incentives which will ultimately promote eco-sustainability in an organisation. Tenhunen (2011) states that Stakeholder’s environmental mindfulness is an incentive that drives a business organisation to go green. Norhashimi & Selamat (2015) identified initiatives that could aid data centre managers to embrace green data centre operation with incentives such as departmental awards and amongst others. Therefore, organisations have the responsibility to protect the environment and establish more environmental programs (Yusoff & Nejati, 2019), through a proper strategic plan.
It is advisable and equally obligatory for IT experts to convince top management staff about the benefits of green data centre technology because top management staff are decision-makers of an organisation. The top management staff of an organisation will not embrace green adoption when IT professionals of the same organisation fail to convince them. Thus, top management support is essential to promote internal collaboration within the organisation.
Decision-makers of an organisation need to have an awareness of the benefits of adopting green data centre technology by introducing necessary strategies that encourage eco-sustainability.
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5.3.4 What environmental factors influence organisational adoption of green data centres in Nigeria?
Research findings show that the unavailability of government environmental policies negatively affects the adoption of green data centre technology in Nigeria. Industries in Nigeria depend solely on an alternative source of electricity, such as diesel generators because of the erratic power supply from the national electricity grids. This issue of power supply affects the government from implementing and executing environmental policy on data centres.
The expansion of carbon footprint has a detrimental effect on the environment (Forrest et al., 2008; Fuchs, 2008). For that reason, it is vital to encourage functions such as the introduction of renewable energy to solve the problem of unstable power supply (Guster et al., 2009; Niyato et al., 2009). The lack of government support to subsidize the cost of renewable energy sources affects the adoption of a green data centre in Nigeria. Hence, governmental policies must be encouraged in green data centre adoption through various incentives. The government should also improve the level of awareness of green data centres by supporting organisations through programs that educate IT experts on environment sustainability. Shi et al. (2013) stated that environmental awareness program should be introduced in every organisation and government practice.