Businesses must do more than simply use computers in a more environmentally-friendly way, it is believed.

Juliet Silvester, head of environmental programmes at Fujitsu, told delegates at the Green IT Expo 2009 that given IT is responsible for just two per cent of emissions, the focus of green IT may be wrong.

She explained: "If we spend all of our time on reducing the [environmental] impact of IT, then we are actually addressing a very, very small part of the problem and what we need to be doing is looking at how we can address the other 98 per cent."

Ms Silvester added that small businesses in IT should focus a lot on cultural change, process change and looking at the whole way the company operates by using IT in a different way.

She also noted tackling the carbon challenge is becoming "more and more important", emphasising the need for organisations to set targets when reducing emissions.

The Green IT Expo 2009, a sustainable computing event, took place this week at the Barbican Exhibition Centre, London.

In a recent survey of SMEs for Connect, the two most important benefits of outsourcing were guaranteed response times and allowing in-house IT staff to concentrate on more strategic issues.