Firms looking to boost their business IT services can benefit from the convergence of the economic climate and the environmental agendas, one expert says.

There is a clear case for firms to save money as well as carbon at the moment, explains Margaret Hansen, director of corporate travel at AT Kearney.

She states that firms could do this through things such as reducing business travel and replacing face-to-face meetings with telephone calls video conferences.

They may also look to outsourcing their IT support as a way to reduce energy use and costs.

According to figures from an ACTE - KDS survey, 61 per cent of organisations now have a corporate and social responsibility (CSR) charter in place, up from 59 per cent last year.

Furthermore, more than a quarter prefer to do business with suppliers and partners with such an agenda in place.

The most common activities under CSR charters include reducing energy waste within buildings and using carbon offset projects.

A recent Connect survey found that the two major concerns about outsourcing services like IT support were 'loss of control' (56 per cent) and 'budget over-runs' (43 per cent).