Let’s admit it! Businesses or individuals – we all tend to pay more attention to the purchase of a new equipment. That’s actually great! But what about the old IT assets lying in your warehouse? Don’t you think it is equally important to pay heed to the disposal of these old IT assets? In fact, the hour when you decide to buy the new set of IT assets is the right time to think and plan out the disposal of the old ones first.
When we talk about businesses, more than half of these do not have a formal IT asset disposal program. A recently conducted survey by Tech Target/Iron Mountain reveals that 37% of the participants admitted to having delayed the implementation due to the apprehended cost of establishing the program. But if you realise that holding onto the old electronics could possibly lead to unidentified losses, considering the IT asset management would find its way to the foremost thing on your priority list.
The Cons of Storing Unused IT Assets Are Many – Pros Are None
If you’ve already purchased a new gear of IT assets for your home or business, you need to be informed that your old set of electronics still hold an enormous amount of value that needs to be explored one by one. But storing these unnecessarily for a very long time comes with a list of potential risks and losses. (Know the benefits of e-waste management, so you can spot the opportunities faster)
Depreciates The Value – Old and obsolete electronic equipment has a very good resell value. Storing the old equipment for a long period of time reduces its resell value. If you are doing this, you are facing a considerable loss while losing your hands on return on investment.
By Forsaken Fotos [CC BY 2.0], via Flickr
Increases The Risk Of Data Theft – Computers, printers, copiers, scanners, fax machine, hard drives, data tapes and many other such electronic equipment have the potential to save the data in their memory even after permanently deleting it. Though these old IT assets become outdated or completely dead, their memory never fades. In such case, the companies might risk their sensitive information being exploited or lost.
In big corporates, there are chances of system switching and shifting to other places. Certain security issues may arise if some other person uses that unused gadget.
At the domestic level keeping that gadget always in right place is really tough, hence in case of any accidental loss, our entire data is at risk.
When The IT Asset Disposal Is Not Properly Managed
After gathering some knowledge about how storing the old equipment can turn out to be highly risky and disadvantageous, you would have already decided to dispose of the junk of IT assets. But even here when improper disposal methods are followed, it opens up the risk of getting your data breached or misused. IT products like phones, PC, even Xerox machine by just deleting the data do not assure that it cannot be restored. There are software and companies which work only to recover this useful information and in that case, your security might get compromised.
If the disposal method does not follow safety measures, sensitive data such as social security numbers, financial account numbers, addresses and much other confidential business information might get leaked. This could lead to consequences that may spoil your business reputation with arising risks to your customers, employees, clients and shareholders.
What Should Be Your IT Asset Disposal (ITAD) Strategy?
Having said all the risk this is the time where proper disposal method comes into play. When we talk about proper IT asset disposal it indicates three primary goals that need to be attained: prevention of data leakage, reduction of costs and environmental sustainability. And all of these are possible if you find the right ITAD organization/e-waste recycling company to fulfill the goals in highly compliant and secure procedure.
The Proper Disposal Technique – Authorised ITAD organizations ensure that every step involved in e-waste recycling protects your business reputation and while also maximising your ROI. The recycling companies are aware of the devastating consequences a company might have to face if their data is breached or used illegally.
Now to sell old electronics to the right recycling partner it is very important to have a closer look at what exactly these recycling centers do to dispose of your IT assets with the right technique.
- The company gives the full guarantee of wiping the confidential data with 100% accuracy. It explains the complete process in writing and also provides expert solutions to what should be done when the system fails to wipe or erase the data.
- Authorised ITAD organizations offer a professional service that reflects environmentally friendly asset disposal both in terms of recycling and valuable asset recovery.
- The company follows the set of stringent guidelines that are represented by a standard environment safety agencies.
- The contact system between the customer and the ITAD vendor provides the customer with the facility to track each one of the procedures carried out. In the meantime, they also provide the customer with up to date documentation related to proper disposal and destruction of data.
- These vendors buy IT assets while determining the highest residual value of the used products that can maximise the ROI of each equipment.
One such authorized recycling company in UAE is Veracity World that takes care of every minute operation involved in the disposal of your old electronics including the ones mentioned above. The company is involved in all types of computer recycling, refurbishing along with all other electronic equipment used by businesses and individuals. The company goals are not just about staving off the risk of data theft or maintaining a high ROI for your old electronics. They are also concerned about the proper means of disposing of the equipment. They clearly understand how important it is to treat e-waste with proper disposal methods and that is why they are here. E-waste is already a global problem and is getting worse. In 2016, businesses and consumers generated about 93.5 million tons of e-waste – the increase in rate corresponds to 15-20% each year with the fact that IT has turned into a ubiquitous need in our daily lives.
Fortunately, authorized recyclers like the Veracity World are coming forward with the right kind of infrastructure to deal with this global problem. They are trying their best to mitigate the adverse effects of improper e-waste disposal through environmentally safe and secure recycling and refurbishing process. (To know more, have a look at the latest smart trends going on in UAE for e-waste management)
One more thing you need to consider is that partnering with a single ITAD firm would be more beneficial rather than going for different options every time you want to recycle your e-waste. It not only reduces the time in getting familiar with the procedures, terms and conditions of a new company but also speeds up the operations. Reselling used IT assets to Veracity World will maximise your returns and at the same time prove to be a safe move.
