IntraLinks conducted the “IntraLinks Global Investigator Site Survey” last month to better understand how investigative sites manage the clinical trial document exchange process with sponsors and clinical research organizations (CROs), and to gain a better understanding of the challenges of using paper-based methods. The survey results ultimately revealed a significant opportunity for investigator sites to improve efficiency through web-based solutions for clinical trial document exchange.

A considerable majority of the survey respondents, 73%, still use traditional methods (e-mail, courier, fax) as their primary means for clinical trial document exchange. E-mail usage rates ranked the highest, while courier and fax usage were less prevalent (but still used) as the main way for exchanging clinical trial documents. Adoption of electronic tools has grown, yet these methods continue to fall short in addressing the current document exchange needs at most clinical trial sites.

Does “going green” from a technological perspective imply additional costs and possibly a negative operational benefit? Not according to a recent Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) white paper. In fact, going green can lead to significant cost savings while streamlining business operations. Adoption of the right technology has been found to typically result in three significant winning propositions for your company — cost savings, improved operational efficiencies and environmental benefits.

EMA defines green IT as “products, services and practices designed to improve the efficiency of computing resources in such a way as to reduce the environmental impact of their utilization”. So, greening a company’s operations involves changing processes in order to reduce their impact on the environment.

An advantage of not always being the first to do things is the learning opportunity afforded by watching how other people's decisions and investments work out. Recent examples include the trend for biofuels which has sent food prices soaring and has caused forests to be cleared to make space to grow biofuel crops. However, it appears that processing these crops into biofuels may generate more carbon dioxide than burning fossil fuels would have done anyway. Even “green” hybrid vehicles are being questioned because of the size of the carbon footprint associated with the production and transportation of the nickel metal hydride and lithium-ion batteries they use.

What does the term "greenwashing" mean?

As the trend of corporate responsibility steers companies to jump on the "green bandwagon," some remain involved only at surface level. "Greenwashing" refers to companies who unjustifiably portray themselves to the public as environmentally conscious. These companies make more efforts to appear to reduce their environmental impact than efforts to invest in the business practices that would actually do so.

As consumers, I think we are aware of the necessity to change the way we produce and consume things – from food and clothing to transit and buildings – to be more environmentally friendly. And no matter where we fall on the “green” spectrum, I’d wager that we all make some personal efforts to reduce waste and conserve energy.