This column tends to champion the cause of the technology leader, suggesting where the UK’s big spending chief information officers (CIOs) are both forging ahead and struggling.

But, for now, the concerns of CIOs can wait and the issues of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will dominate.

There are more than four million SMEs in the UK, accounting for more than half of the country’s employment and turnover – hardly small fry, then.

More importantly, small firms are actually taking a lead on environmentalism, an area where technology leaders continue to dither.

More than 85 per cent of UK SMEs claim going green will be part of their business strategy during the next five years, according to research from ISP Eclipse Internet.

The research shows small firms are already concentrating their green efforts in a number of significant areas: recycling (76 per cent); reducing waste (67 per cent); and encouraging staff to turn off equipment after use (30 per cent).

Such efforts are often more encouraging than the strategies undertaken by high-spending technology leaders, many of whom are struggling to put environmental principles into practice.

Only a third of IT managers (34 per cent) have reduced power consumption in IT infrastructure, according to archiving specialist Plasmon and independent researcher Vanson Bourne. In addition, just 26 per cent expect to be given the task during the next 12 months.

The research suggests a large proportion of technology leaders remain slow out of the blocks when it comes to responding to environmental concerns, despite a concerted amount of media and customer pressure.

Such sluggishness is surprising – especially when it is recognised that forward-thinking by small firms on environmental issues is paying off, with suppliers beginning to target specialist deals at the SME community.

A new report from researcher Datamonitor concluded that large suppliers have noticeably increased their interaction with small firms in order to gain market share during the past 12 months.

The red tape that often stultifies large businesses and prevents fast decision-making is absent in the case of small firms, meaning SMEs are able to adapt quickly and innovatively to solve green computing issues.

With vendors looking at SMEs to increase market share, and small firms taking affirmative action on environmental concerns, CIOs could be well advised to take a very close look at the actions of their smaller cousins.