Although it’s not always budgeted this way, the costs for IT equipment don’t end at the time of purchase. As you plan to acquire a piece of equipment, you need to consider costs it may incur throughout its life cycle – including the cost of disposition. Does your organization have a program in place to properly dispose of that piece of equipment and others like it following best practices for data destruction and in compliance with state and federal environmental regulations? If so, how much will it cost, and how can you reduce those costs? Preparing for disposition ahead of time will save you time and money down the road. Add disposition costs to your budget – right along with acquisition, installation and maintenance.

How to reduce the cost of IT asset disposition (ITAD)

1. Choose the right partner. Your IT asset disposition partner should be a good match with the needs of your organization. Make sure your vendor has sufficient processing locations to serve all of your sites and the logistical capability to offer the service levels your organization requires at all of its locations. Look for industry certifications to validate their capability and compliance: R2/RIOS certified, e-Stewards, ISO 14001, and NAID AAA. You also are usually best served by a vendor who can provide all of the disposition-related services you require in all locations.
2. Provide as much information as possible in advance. Work with your vendor to forecast disposition needs and prepare them for the types of equipment and materials you will be sending them. This will reduce costs and reduce the chance of unexpected requirements and costs.
3. Consider packing the material yourself. Weigh the cost of having your own resources handle the packing of retired assets (their wages, plus their time lost for doing other work), along with other factors, including whether you have the space to do it and access to packing materials. If you are hoping to remarket the assets, they need to be packed to prevent damage during shipping, or you will lose significant value. Packing this way is more time consuming. Your ITAD partner should provide you with detailed instructions for packing or offer services to pack for you so that shipments meet federal transportation regulations and you protect your assets’ value. It is very important to understand all the costs and risks involved with packaging assets yourself. The money you save by packaging in-house can quickly be overturned if your assets are damaged in transit. This can be avoided by ensuring your packaging process is documented and that the right people are trained. On the other hand, the true cost of having your team do the packing and not doing other projects may be significant.
4. Don’t risk environmental non-compliance. The fines and publicity associated with a violation will far exceed any so-called savings you might realize from low- or no-cost offerings of a non-certified vendor. Look for a vendor certified for electronics recycling. Third-party certifications include R2/RIOS and e-Stewards. Require at least one so that you know your vendor is in full compliance with all state and federal regulations and meets all industry standards and best practices.
5. Don’t risk a data breach – and manage the cost of data sanitization or destruction. Carefully plan and document the process for handling and storing assets from the moment they are retired. Review if and how data is removed from devices by your team, and the quality and consistency of those processes. A NAID AAA certified vendor can help you assess the risks and costs of doing it yourself or having a vendor provide onsite and plant-based data sanitization (wiping) or physical destruction. The costs of a data breach of any type have skyrocketed – work with you vendor to ensure you have in place the best plan for your company.
6. Make sure you are covered. If something does go wrong, you need to be sure your company is protected financially. Validate that your vendor has the right amount and types of coverage, including E&O (errors and omissions), environmental and, especially, data breach. Data breach insurance is a separate policy or rider, specific to data breach costs. Ask for the certificate of insurance – don’t just take someone’s word for it.

A holistic ITAD program saves money

A holistic approach to IT asset disposition is one that takes into account the needs of every stakeholder in your organization – including the need to minimize cost – by implementing an enterprise-wide program with specific roles and procedures for every link in the chain. No one wants to worry about disposition. Our IT Asset Manager’s Guide to Disposition discusses how a holistic ITAD program can respond to your concerns about ITAD costs, investment recovery, and integrating disposition data into your existing asset management system.