Is your company’s retired IT equipment ready to leave your facility? Before your IT asset disposition (ITAD) vendor shows up at your loading dock to collect your assets for disposition, there are several factors to check to ensure the ITAD procedure isn’t costing your organization more than it should, that you’ll get the maximum value for your assets on the resale market, and that asset details from the disposition will be properly integrated into your asset management system.

Here is what to check for before sending your IT assets out for recycling or remarketing:

• Have you included disposition costs as part of the total cost of ownership (TCO) of every piece of equipment?

• Will your vendor recycle your assets according to all state and federal regulations? Have you checked for industry certifications for environmental compliance (R2/RIOS, e-Stewards)?

• Have you packaged your equipment following best practices to prevent damage during shipping and to meet federal transportation regulations?

• Is there any risk of data breach? Is your process in full compliance with all applicable regulations and standards?  (HIPPA/HITECH, PCI, SOX, FACTA, GLB)?

• If you have chosen to physically destroy hard drives instead of sanitizing them, have you ensured it won’t reduce the value of your assets on the resale market?

• Have you verified the data destruction policy, compliance, and capabilities of your IT asset disposition partner by checking for a leading third-party certification, like NAID (National Association for Information Destruction) AAA?

• Is your vendor covered with errors and omissions (E&O), environmental, and data breach insurance? Have you verified it by asking for their Certificate of Insurance?

• Are you remarketing your assets in time to realize maximum value on the resale market? Have they sat too long in storage?

• Are your assets missing any components, the lack of which will reduce their resale value (hard drives, power supplies, batteries, monitor stands)?

• Will your vendor provide detailed audit reports by serial number and asset details?

• Is your vendor’s reporting formatted to meet your system requirements?

• Will your vendor provide you a disposition report within 30 days of the pickup date?

• Is your chain of custody strong enough?  Does your vendor provide onsite scanning of your assets if needed?

With so many factors to consider, having an ITAD program in place that will allow you to check off each item, every time, for every disposition will save you and the other stakeholders in your organization considerable aggravation, work, and money. Our IT Asset Manager’s Guide to Disposition shows why each item on the checklist matters for your ITAD strategy. It discusses how an enterprise-wide IT asset disposition program will meet your priorities as an IT asset manager – reducing costs, maximizing investment recovery, and integrating disposition data into your asset management system – as well as the priorities, goals, and concerns of all the stakeholders in your organization.