If It Isn’t Broken, Should I Still Consider Fixing It? – ITAD Process Perceptions

Man wearing an orange safety vest checking off items on a clipboard for a company's ITAD process.

For over six years, I’ve worked directly and indirectly with corporations throughout the United States helping develop their IT asset disposition strategy. In this time, I’ve come to notice a common theme when discussing interest in Dynamic ITAD’s (IT Asset Disposition) services – “Why should I fix what isn’t broken?”. It’s a legitimate objection and has been for decades, but I would like to add my response to this old adage – “You should always inspect what isn’t broken, to keep it that way.”

Often times, this inspection of a company’s ITAD process and vendor(s) uncovers both existing and potential pain points. Without immediate attention, these issues could lead to serious damages in the near future or further down the road.

You may be wondering what pain points could justify a change in your processes or vendors. Here is a list of issues which corporations have uncovered, sometimes too late – that have caused serious disruption of their businesses:

  1. Your vendor landfills your IT equipment (with your asset tags on it)
  2. Your vendor exports your devices to underdeveloped/undeserved countries (again, with your asset tags remaining), to avoid domestic/proper processing costs
  3. Your satellite locations don’t follow any corporate standard and do whatever they want with their devices
  4. Your vendor isn’t R2 and/or e-Stewards certified (resulting in points 1 and 2 becoming a very REAL possibility)
  5. You don’t receive detailed reporting on data-bearing devices (e.g., serial number, make, model)
  6. You have 1000+ IT users and a 3-year refresh, but have yet to see any ROI
  7. You’ve been auctioning data-bearing devices to anonymous/non-audited buyers
  8. Your patient/student/customer/employee data has been breached due to your vendor’s improper or unaudited data destruction procedures
  9. Your devices were stolen from your vendor’s facility, due to lack of secure facilities and/or employee background checks

How is your company managing its ITAD processes? The key is to imagine your ITAD strategy much like your vehicle, inspecting it frequently, so that it can be reliable for your everyday expectations and for the long haul. Odds are your business may need an ITAD tune-up.

Click here to learn more about the critical components you need to inspect to keep your ITAD processes running smoothly.