The Financial Upsides of IT Asset Disposition

With rapid IT refresh cycles becoming the norm, companies have to figure out what to do with outdated hardware that's been swapped for the latest and greatest. IT asset disposition (ITAD) has become an essential practice for organizations undergoing digital transformation and regular technology refresh cycles. ITAD services responsibly manage the disposal of retired IT equipment like computers, servers, and mobile devices.

What many don't realize is that IT asset disposition goes far beyond safe and secure e-waste recycling and can significantly benefit an organization's bottom line. Here's a look at the many cost savings and revenue opportunities of this service.

Slashing Technology Costs

For most companies, IT costs rank among the top five expenses. ITAD gives organizations the opportunity to trim costs in multiple areas:

• Data Breach Avoidance: By using ITAD vendors to fully wipe sensitive data from devices before they are scrapped or resold, companies mitigate the risks of costly privacy lawsuits and fines that result from data exposures. Certified ITAD partners use multiple techniques like degaussing, encryption, shredding and physical destruction to guarantee the secure sanitization of proprietary data.

• Resell functional equipment: Instead of trashing working devices, ITAD facilities can resell to various markets, generating revenue and sharing it with your company. Typically, only newer equipment qualifies to be resold, so it’s important to not keep equipment sitting around for long.
• Lower disposal costs: ITAD vendors remove assets for reselling or recycling, cutting traditional waste removal costs.

• Potential tax deductions: Many ITAD partners will properly prepare devices and ship them to the school or nonprofit of your choice. Organizations that donate used IT assets to charitable causes can reap tax deductions for the appraised value of the equipment (consult a tax attorney).

• Free up storage space: Removing unused IT equipment reduces on-site storage needs and expenses.

Maximizing Revenue Recovery

While ITAD provides notable cost reductions, one of its most valuable benefits is generating revenue from end-of-life electronics in various ways:

• Resale To Secondary Markets: Desktops, laptops, servers and other devices with life left can be resold via ITAD vendors to value-seeking markets like healthcare, education and government. As mentioned before, the most recent models or lightly used equipment has the highest chance to qualify for resale.
  
  
• Internal Equipment Redeployment: With data wiping and minor refurbishing, ITAD creates a means to reuse electronics in other departments within your company. For example, for development environments or replacement parts.

Eco-Friendly Disposal and Recycling

On top of the attractive capital incentives, ITAD also enables companies to responsibly recycle e-waste:

• Responsible data destruction: Certified ITAD vendors use methods like degaussing, shredding, and physical destruction to securely wipe sensitive data from devices headed for reuse or recycling.
  
  
• Safe Recycling: ITAD ensures toxic materials within electronics like lead, cadmium and mercury are disposed of properly rather than dumped in landfills.
  
  
• Recover recyclable materials: Metals, plastics, and other recyclables are extracted from retired equipment and recycled into raw materials for manufacturing new products.
  
  
• Promote equipment reuse: By reselling functional devices to new users, ITAD prolongs product lifecycles rather than destroying equipment that still has value.
  
  
• Ensure compliance: Certified ITAD partners manage the compliant, documented disposal and recycling of e-waste in accordance with environmental regulations.

Choosing the Right ITAD Partner

You’ll notice we often use the term “certified ITAD” partner. That’s because not all recycling companies are qualified to properly dispose of your equipment, and can put your company at risk. Here’s what to look for when choosing a vendor:

• Make sure potential vendors are certified to industry standards like R2, NAID and e-Stewards to ensure compliance and professionalism.
  
  
• ITAD partners should use proven data security methods like disk wiping, physical destruction and degaussing to prevent data breaches. Disk wiping should be conducted using DoD and NIST standards.
  
  
• The recycler should take title to your equipment. That means your assets become their assets, and they are responsible for them.
  
  
• Choose an ITAD provider with reporting and documentation capabilities to track assets and prove secure, compliant disposal. The vendor should provide a Certificate of Disposal (CoD).

Adding to the Bottom Line

The numerous cost and waste reductions, plus revenue streams, highlight why ITAD deserves consideration from any organization. These services deliver savings across IT budgets and the enterprise. They allow organizations to extract the maximum value from technology investments while benefiting the environment. Tapping into these benefits can pay dividends across the enterprise.