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IT Asset Recovery Ultimate Guide: Maximize Returns

Unduit has helped companies of all sizes achieve remarkable IT asset recovery rates. We have successfully boosted recovery rates from minimal fractions to an impressive range of 80-90%, resulting in substantial savings of hundreds of thousands of dollars in IT budgets. What's our secret to success? It's rooted in a decade of dedicated research and mastering the optimization process for complex organizations with thousands of employees spanning the globe.   But here's the best part: we're excited to share all the valuable insights with you. In this ultimate guide to IT asset recovery, you'll find everything you need to know about optimizing your asset recovery process and achieving maximum ROI on your EOL technology. What is IT Asset Recovery? IT asset recovery is the process of retrieving and managing company-owned technology devices from employees or other sources. It helps ensure efficient resource utilization, cost savings, and data security. Sometimes this term is also used to refer to the entire process of retrieving, managing, and potentially extracting value from IT assets that are no longer in use or needed by a company.    Importance of Professional Asset Recovery Service Even though companies have the option to handle asset retrieval in-house, leveraging professional asset recovery services offers several advantages. By partnering with a reputable service provider, organizations can always ensure the following benefits: Cost Savings: Professional services help maximize cost savings by recovering and repurposing IT assets instead of purchasing new devices. Resource Optimization: Partnering with a service provider frees up company resources that would otherwise be dedicated to asset recovery, allowing them to focus on more critical tasks. Data Security: Asset recovery company ensures that sensitive company information is securely handled during the whole process and they can be held accountable if there's any data breach. Environmental Responsibility: Service providers promote sustainability by facilitating proper recycling or refurbishment of recovered assets, reducing electronic waste. Compliance and Risk Mitigation: Specialized organizations specialize in helping companies comply with regulatory requirements and mitigate the risk of data breaches. Automated Workflow: Utilizing an automated workflow system, service providers streamline and ensure efficiency and accuracy at every step.   The Procedure of IT Asset Recovery Assessment and Deployment Recovering company assets is a critical process that begins with a thorough assessment and deployment strategy. This involves identifying the assets to be recovered, evaluating their condition, and determining the most suitable approach for each device. Asset Assignment and Tracking To ensure proper management and accountability, recovered assets are assigned to specific employees or departments. This allows for efficient tracking throughout the recovery process, providing visibility into the ownership and location of each asset. Reporting and Data Security Data security is of utmost importance during the IT asset recovery process. Comprehensive reporting mechanisms are implemented to track the progress and status of each asset. Measures are taken to safeguard sensitive data through secure erasure or destruction methods. Asset Removal and Repurposing Once data security measures are in place, assets are removed from employees' possession. Depending on their condition and company requirements, the recovered assets can be repurposed for internal use or refurbished for resale. Another option is to donate the assets to charitable organizations, extending their lifespan and making a positive social impact. Choosing to Warehouse and Redeploy, Recycle, or Resell Professional asset recovery services usually offer organizations three primary options: warehousing and redeployment, recycling, or reselling. Warehousing and Redeployment  Recovered assets in good condition can be stored in a designated warehouse for future use (after refurbishment). This allows for internal redeployment to other employees or departments, maximizing resource utilization and minimizing unnecessary expenses. Recycling To ensure the safety of company data and minimize environmental impact, assets that are no longer functional or needed can undergo responsible asset disposition.  Reselling Organizations that no longer require old equipment but prefer not to recycle them can opt for liquidation by properly reselling the recovered assets. Liquidation provides an opportunity to recoup some of the investment while ensuring proper data destruction and compliance with regulatory requirements. Choosing the Right Asset Recovery Company It's important to choose a vendor that has extensive experience dealing with retired IT equipment. An experienced team of asset recovery specialists can help you get maximum residual value from every retired IT asset. Here are the major factors when evaluating vendors: Secure Chain of Logistics: Look for a vendor that prioritizes the secure transportation and handling of your assets and offers maximum visibility. This includes secure packing, using asset tag for better asset tracking, chain of custody records, and transportation insurance to safeguard against loss or damage. Global Support: If your organization operates internationally or has a distributed workforce, it's essential to choose a vendor that offers global support. This ensures seamless asset recovery regardless of location, with expertise in navigating local regulations and logistics. Flexibility in Service Options: A reliable vendor should offer flexible service options tailored to your specific requirements, whether on-site asset removal, hard drive destruction, or remarketing assistance. Certificates of Data Destruction: Data security is paramount in asset recovery. Ensure that the vendor provides certified data destruction services, verifying the proper sanitization or destruction of all electronic equipment. Reselling or remarketing: Opt for a vendor with expertise in recovering value from used assets. Look for those with a wide buyer network and the ability to maximize returns on your assets. Environmental Reporting: Choose a vendor with transparent environmental reporting to ensure their commitment to sustainable practices. Certifications and Compliance: Prioritize vendors with certifications like R2 or e-Stewards to ensure compliant e waste recycling. Integration with Systems and Inventory: Opt for a vendor that seamlessly integrates with your current systems to share data about your existing IT assets. This will help minimize conflicts and make the process seamless. Automation and Software Capabilities: Look for vendors leveraging automation and software platforms to take efficiency and visibility to the next level. Typical ITAD service providers usually don't offer this. Other than this, assess reliability through past projects, and client references to ensure their expertise meets your needs. Tips to Maximize Recovery Rates Before discussing best practices to maximize recovery rates, it's important to understand how they are calculated. Recovery rates are simply determined by dividing the number of recovered IT assets by the total number of eligible assets. Early communication with employees Proactively communicate with employees during offboarding, requesting the return of devices and providing reminders at each stage. Automating these communications ensures consistent and timely interactions Utilize automated solutions Implement an automated asset recovery solution to streamline processes, from tracking and management to reporting and disposition. Automation improves efficiency, reduces errors, and optimizes recovery. Ensure full visibility and reporting Establish a system that provides comprehensive visibility and reporting on all levels. Robust tracking mechanisms enable monitoring, and identification of bottlenecks, ensure no valuable assets are lost, and help with informed decision-making. IT Asset Recovery Cost Determining the exact pricing for IT asset recovery services can be a complex task. Here are some of the top factors that impact the cost: Hardware Specifications: The type, age, and condition of recovered IT assets influence pricing. Higher-value or specialized equipment may require extra handling. Electronics Recycling: If included, recycling services add value but can affect costs. The scope of recycling offered may vary. Storage Costs: When warehousing your assets with the vendor, consider expenses related to space, security, and maintenance. The volume of Assets: The quantity or volume of assets being recovered can impact pricing, as larger quantities may require additional resources or processing. Additional Services: Factors like data wiping, asset testing, refurbishment, remarketing, compliance records, and asset management software fees may impact pricing. We hope you found this ultimate guide to IT asset recovery helpful in understanding the importance and intricacies of the process. If you're interested in learning more or need further assistance in optimizing IT asset recovery in your organization, we can help. Get in touch with our team to explore how we can help you maximize returns, streamline your recovery efforts, and maximize ROI on retired assets. Continue reading

Suhaib K.

ITAD specialist

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ITAD

July 14, 2022

What is the ITAD strategy for companies working remotely and how Unduit can help them?

When the calf is separated from the herd, it becomes vulnerable and an easy prey for the pack. IT based companies are forced to send employees home to work remotely because of the pandemic and it has left many IT herds vulnerable to the cybercrime pack. Is fear and hopelessness the only remaining option for these herds? No. With a solid ITAD strategy and services like Unduit, even with the herd scattered there is no need to fear. Organizations looking to secure themselves from cybercrime dangers must not only have a strong firewall but also a complete and efficient ITAD strategy. Some of the important parts of a great ITAD strategy are: Central Control Body: A specific department should be dedicated to handle all cybersecurity risk and ITAD processes. They should also classify the types of data that should be available departmentally and for how long the data should be available for. Then GDPR guidelines should be used to erase the data from the individual databases to avoid any liability issues. Company Asset Register: A register of all devices that are owned by the company and devices being used to access data remotely by employees should be made, authenticated and centralized. This will make sure that if any breach is attempted or made then the source can be tracked. Single Secure Cloud: Pick only one cloud provider that has a secure access point to help your organization be centralized and efficient when it comes to employees working remotely. This will help you manage both security risks and data flow easily through one single platform. Sanitize Old Equipment: Once devices that have been used whether remotely or within the organization, sanitize them according to GDPR guidelines or US state specific guidelines. Maintenance: Devices and equipment must be remotely maintained and have regular security and software updates to keep malware and other liability issues at bay. Proper guidelines must be followed. General Security Plan: a data security plan and policy must be in place that everyone in the organization must follow as a basic company protocol. If these steps are followed correctly the herd is secure from predators waiting to feast but even the strongest of herds fall prey to them except those that are led by a shepherd. Unduit is one such shepherd that is leading the way in ITAD and is a one stop solution for all your organization’s mobility needs. Unduit can retrieve, aggregate, and responsibly dispose of assets from various users and reduce downtime drastically to improve device availability. All devices being refreshed would be available in weeks rather than months. With the enormous ecosystem of apps in the unduit platform all your ITAD issues can be addressed from a single source without having the need to search for multiple vendors. Unduit will do it all.

Lydia Adams

ITAD specialist

ITAD

June 24, 2022

Maximize value on your IT assets ready to be disposed of!

We begin by diving right into understanding a policy by the International Accounting Standards (IAS), IAS-16. This policy outlines the accounting treatment for most types of property, plants, and equipment. The cost of the assets initially measured include all costs necessary to bring the asset into working condition for the intended use. The initial measurement includes the original price and the cost of site preparation, delivery and handling, installation, related professional fees for architects and engineers, the estimated cost of dismantling and removing the asset, and restoring the site. Then a subsequent measurement is performed either using a cost or revaluation model. After the measurements of cost are evaluated, the cost of the asset is depreciated so that the depreciable amount is allocated on a systematic basis over its useful life. Depreciation of a fixed asset should be started when the asset is ready for use, according to IAS-16. In simplified terms the standard for maximizing profit on IT assets ready to be disposed of is asset assessment, revaluation, and asset cost depreciation. The quick lesson on accounting was necessary to explain because disposing of old assets is not the same as selling a packaged good because your company or organization is accountable for its own profit. Whether that asset is a building or an IT asset like a desktop computer this standard is a go to for anyone reevaluating the cost of a fixed asset. A fixed asset can be land, office building, machinery, cars, computers, tables, and others related. Furthermore, taking the same standard into account depreciation of the original cost of your IT asset is not always going to end you up with less revenue because the assessment and revaluation comes before that. A hypothetical scenario would be an IT organization disposing of its core i3 desktops. Almost all core i3 desktops have a decent graphics card and in 2021 those are bought like cheap ice cream on a hot day. If the organization is looking to sell the full desktop, they will not be able to maximize on the asset because if parted out then each part can be of more value than the whole desktop combined. Graphics cards are used to set up GPUs to mine crypto currency, which is another way of maximizing on your IT asset by assessing your asset’s use in other ways to make profit rather than disposing it completely. For instance if the IT asset is not advised to be parted out or sold due to cyber security reasons, even then the organization has the option of using data erasers and data destruction processes to render the security threat 99% deflected and then sell the asset as they please. Such companies that offer these data eraser and data destruction processes offer to sell the assets for them too using the same standard of assessment, revaluation, and cost depreciation to make profit off the disposed goods and charge for their services minus the depreciated cost of the asset that was sold. Making a profit for themselves off the disposed goods and simultaneously charging the client for their services. An organization should use data eraser/destruction services these days (due to cyber security threats at its peak) to make disposing of assets risk free but they should sell the asset off themselves to maximize profit.

Lydia Adams

ITAD specialist

ITAD

August 26, 2021

Step by step guide for companies to dispose of their EOL IT assets successfully!

When you have children, you plan for their future like a responsible parent and the consequences of not doing so could put your own flesh and blood at risk. For IT companies their assets are the same. IT assets have a life cycle of their own and must be managed accordingly for the company to not be at risk of any security or financial issues. This IT asset life cycle has stages just like a growing individual from birth to senility to the inevitable grave. The stages of IT asset management are planning, procurement, deployment, usage, upgrade, decommission, salvage and disposition. Our focus will be on the retirement and funeral management of these machines that work tirelessly for their organizations. All retirement homes and funerals are costly but that is not the same when it comes to IT assets because if the process is managed correctly that obsolete asset can give you returns or even profit. When cost effectiveness is required the finance department of an organization steps forward to bank, invest and ensure that it is achieved. An effective process for IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) would end up with some return. The minimal steps any finance department should take for End Of Life (EOL) IT assets management: Implement policies for ITAD Security preferably according to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and their own local data protection laws. This ensures that the disposed asset does not become a liability in the future for the organization. Prepare a checklist for functionality tests for all computing equipment present. This sets a grading system that can be used to categorize assets into three different ITAD subgroups: Reuse: this category does not only hold the whole asset into account rather parts of the asset can also be reused by the organization if need be. Like monitors, mice, keyboards, hard-drives, RAM and more. Salvage: should only be conducted with proper erasure software implantation first and then all salvaged parts should be sold off to invest into the replacement equipment. Dispose/recycle: Dispose of all assets using ITAD professionals to rule out all liability issues and breaching of national laws. If done using organizational resources, then the Basel Convention policies should be used to make sure that the e-waste is managed properly. After functionality assessment of the asset, reevaluate the comparative cost effectiveness by placing the asset in all three functional categories. This ensures whether over time the asset would yield more profit if reused, cost of parts salvaged would yield greater profit or disposal/recycling would be most cost effective. If disposal is the outcome of the functionality test, then the finance department should broker a deal with a single ITAD company to deal with all types of data disposals whether it being hardware or software. This will ensure that if any security breach occurs the organization would hold one ITAD company responsible rather than multiple. A long-term solution would be to set up an ITAD department for the organization to make the process of EOL IT asset management even more cost effective and potentially profitable. Learn more about IT Asset Disposition in our comprehensive ITAD Guide

Lydia Adams

ITAD specialist

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