Everything on the planet has what is called a “useful lifespan”. A useful lifespan is the estimated lifespan of a depreciable fixed asset, where it can perform its expected duties for your company. Whether it’s your car, your sandwich, or your printer, understanding what to do when your item reaches the end of its usable life is important. IT asset disposition (ITAD) is knowing what to do with your hardware and endpoint devices once they’ve reached the end of their life. This is a crucial step in your overall technology planning.
Your company’s IT asset disposition strategy should include deciding between disposal, retirement, or recycling, and how you plan on removing the asset from use. With today’s eco-friendly technology planning, hardware disposal is typically used as a last resort. Best practice suggests reusing the hardware, which means either recycling it or repairing it and keeping it in circulation.
Sanitizing Your Device
When we talk about sanitizing your device, we don’t mean cleaning it with bleach. We’re talking about the safe removal of data. Many companies overlook data sanitation, but this needs to be an integral part of your overall strategy.
When you dispose of, or recycle your device, you want to make sure that all your data is removed. This step can prevent your client data, brand secrets, proprietary information, and business analytics from falling into the wrong hands. Disposing of a copier from the Finance Department without data sanitization is like a bank not shredding documents before throwing them out.
For larger enterprise organizations there are third-party companies that can help with IT asset disposition. From identifying your outdated hardware, to data sanitation, to picking them up and destroying them. However, for smaller companies, this might not be an option.
For smaller companies, use this strategy to help identify retired assets and their book value. Even if outsourcing is not an option, asset disposition can help protect your data, reduce your costs, and set up processes to reuse or recycle your IT assets.
Why ITAD is Important
As we all strive to lessen our environmental impact, asset retirement is becoming a focal point. It’s not responsible for a company to toss 50 laptops into a landfill, and even less responsible leaving company data on them! The disposition process includes securely removing or deleting data left on your hardware before retiring it.
Currently, many states are following the European example and implementing device disposal legislation. Your strategy should include a framework to keep you compliant with any new regulations.
Six Reasons Why ITAD Matters
IT asset disposition should be a part of your company’s overall IT strategy for many reasons, including:
- It’s environmentally responsible
- It keeps your company data safe
- It can help you budget and plan future purchases
- It keeps your company hardware current
- It can you avoid carrying an inventory of unused hardware
- It helps your company comply with new legislation
Ultimately, disposing of your technology assets safely and securely minimizes risk to the environment and your company’s sensitive data.
About Logista Solutions
Logista Solutions is a nationally recognized leader in a broad range of technology management solutions. As one of the largest technology support providers in the U.S., Logista provides innovative and holistic solutions to help companies take control of their IT infrastructure and achieve better business outcomes. Popular services include Managed IT as a Service, VoIP and Unified Communications, Managed Print, Cloud Services and Asset Disposition.
