Green Assets ◾ 141
to access key enterprise applications such as customer relationship management (CRM) and supply
chain management (SCM) through the Internet. As a result, the cloud obviates the need to host
these applications in a proprietary data center. e opportunities to reduce carbon emissions increase
with consolidation of both hardware and software applications. Furthermore, the payment models
for SaaS-based applications is usually based on its usage—akin to the typical monthly bill received
for utilities such as gas or electricity. e typical data center planning that makes provision for even-
tualities can be sidestepped for an overall planning by the cloud service provider. erefore, future
business growth (including mergers