IT Asset Recovery

Introduction

Whether your organization is expanding, updating systems, upgrading equipment, or retiring old infrastructure, these changes can result in asset management challenges. At a physical level, obsolete or unused IT equipment and electronics can take up valuable space in your office or data centre. And on a fiscal level, these assets will depreciate over time, reducing the return on your investments (ROI) and increasing your Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).

However, there’s a business strategy designed to help recoup such losses and improve the management of your infrastructure – IT asset recovery.

What is IT Asset Recovery?

IT asset recovery is a business model and implementation strategy that assists in the physical management of IT resources and the financial management of their valuable contribution to your enterprise.

Techniques for recovery and recycling IT assets can prolong the usable life of data centre servers, storage and networking technologies, and other equipment. IT asset value recovery can also recoup value from old equipment via the sale of retired IT assets.

Through recycling and relocating aging equipment, IT asset recycling can also help organizations reclaim floor space in offices, warehouses, and data centres.

Why IT Asset Recovery is Important

For organizations looking to consolidate their operations, relocate, adapt to changing work patterns, develop a cloud strategy or introduce a hybrid solution in the data centre, issues with change management as hardware and software become rendered obsolete can be multiplied.

To cope with these challenges, any enterprise that relies on data-driven technologies or electronic equipment must have a coherent and comprehensive strategy for managing their hardware assets throughout their lifecycle and implementing IT asset recovery to recoup value, starting with procurement and running through to decommission.

IT Asset Recovery Options

There are several IT asset recovery options for organizations looking to refurbish, decommission, wipe and destroy, or resell their IT assets. They include:

Asset Retrieval

This relocation and storage option facilitates the de-installation of unwanted or unneeded assets and the decongestion of usable office, data centre, warehouses, or other workspaces. Typically, an IT asset recovery service will contract to relocate your excess equipment to a secure storage facility, with a meticulously documented Chain of Custody for every item they handle and process.

IT Asset Auditing

IT asset auditing is a component of the larger field of IT Asset Management (ITAM), with a framework that involves analyzing all the technological components in your infrastructure setup for adequacy and effectiveness. The audit analyzes each technology in your inventory to establish whether it serves a specific need and meets those demands efficiently. The results of this analysis enable organizations to identify opportunities for reducing costs and improving overall efficiency.

An IT asset recovery service offering audits as an option will typically document each asset by Model, Category, and Serial Number and enter these details into an auditing software platform that allows your organization to track the location and status of IT assets in real-time.

Refurbishment and Repair

We perform a secure data erasure and physical hard drive shredding for every IT asset in our stead. Your security is our utmost priority, and before we resell any of your equipment, we ensure that all sensitive information is destroyed and completely removed from your devices.

Reselling

An IT asset recovery service's maintenance and technical division will also typically serve to prepare unused equipment or older hardware that's still serviceable for onward sale to third parties. This is a significant part of the financial aspect of IT asset recovery, as reselling enables organizations to reap direct monetary value from their previous investments in infrastructure.

Donation

Some of the IT assets you no longer use or need may be perfectly serviceable in other settings, such as educational establishments or community centres. So donating assets to charitable institutions or third parties can extend their life for several years.

Recycling

IT asset recycling is the reuse of old electronic devices and IT equipment or the reprocessing of electronic waste to extract or recover materials that can be used to make new electronic products or for other manufacturing processes.

By recycling IT assets, materials like plastics, metals, and glass can be recovered, reused, and recycled.

You should also note that 11% to 36% of the IT assets you recycle have some resale value. For this reason, many IT asset recovery services will advise you to resell your equipment rather than recycling as a first option.

IT Asset Disposition (ITAD)

IT asset disposition (ITAD) or IT asset disposal is the final option if resale, refurbishment, relocation, or recycling of IT assets are not feasible. In this technique, assets to be retired are first cleansed or sanitized to render any data on them unrecoverable, then disposed of in a secure and environmentally safe manner that's in accordance with any local, state, federal, or industry-specific regulations that apply.

Benefits of IT Asset Recovery

One of the biggest potential benefits of IT asset recovery is its ability to convert an IT asset disposition plan from a cost centre to an income-generating strategy for the organization. A well-executed IT asset recovery program can generally create a revenue stream that offsets the costs of recycling.

While donating old IT assets to charities or non-profit organizations may seem like a zero cost-benefit exercise for your enterprise, such acts can pay dividends in terms of your brand reputation and standing in the community.

In a similar manner, a judicious use of recycling can display your organization’s commitment to Environmental Sustainability and Governance (ESG), and strengthen your organization’s stance on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

IT Asset Recovery Certifications

Certified IT asset recovery companies can give your organization the assurance that the services they provide are in line with top industry standards, and in compliance with relevant legal and regulatory frameworks.

For example, an IAITAM Certified Hardware Asset Management Professional (CHAMP) will follow the complete lifecycle of IT hardware assets, and tackle the practices that best manage those assets efficiently and cost-effectively.

e-Stewards works to certify organizational electronic waste (E-waste) disposal practices around the world. An e-Stewards Certified company will have passed continuous inspections by independent auditors who report on certified members and their operational facilities to ensure compliance.

There may also be industry-specific frameworks such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), for which IT asset recovery solutions must be certified as compliant.

Why Choose TechReset for your IT Asset Recovery Solution?

To ensure best practices and your organization’s compliance with all relevant rules and regulations, IT asset recovery should be entrusted to an expert who can oversee the entire process, including the systems, expertise, and infrastructure needed to make it all work.

However, not all IT asset recovery companies were created equal. You need dependable IT asset disposition services provided by a company you can trust to properly decommission and dispose of, recycle, or remarket the equipment.

Reputable IT asset recovery services should accept most servers, storage, and networking gear for retrieval. The quotation for the service should also include the value of your enterprise hardware and electronic equipment.

A leader in the IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) industry, TechReset goes beyond recycling computers. We fully repurpose units to extend the life of IT equipment beyond its first use.

Our e-waste disposal process includes secure on-site removal, guarantee reporting, repairing and repurposing of older or unwanted computer equipment.

This offers our clients ROI for their IT equipment and peace of mind knowing they helped extend the life of their equipment beyond its first use.

For final disposition, TechReset offers on-site device removal, certified audit reporting, and completely secure data eradication through gold standard data cleanse software or physical hard drive shredding.

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