Is your business upgrading your fleet of computers in the new year? Avoid the inevitable pile up of old computers and take charge of your retired IT assets by partnering with a certified electronics recycler who can help you get the process started.
From packaging and pickups, to who you can trust with secure data destruction, we have the latest on all things corporate computer recycling.
When is the right time to do a tech refresh?
A comprehensive tech refresh has many perks for businesses, including energy efficiency, lower failure rates and less employee downtime. Before you decide to do a tech refresh on computers or other tech items, you’ll need to consider your equipment, IT replacement strategy, IT budget, and the benefits of replacing versus maintaining aging hardware. Whether you decide to spend years on technology upkeep or replace equipment periodically before it fails, you’ll inevitably need to perform a full tech refresh at some point.
When is the “right” time for an organization to do a tech refresh? Most tech experts agree that there is indeed a “sweet spot” when it comes to the ideal time for a business to do a tech refresh, and that usually falls within three to five years. According to research, server performance declines at a rate of 14% annually, which equates to a 40% drop in performance over a five year period. Consequently, waiting longer than five years to do a tech refresh might result in increased performance issues that require time and resources to remediate.
Some businesses use the beginning of the year as an opportunity to reevaluate and refresh aging equipment and hardware. Often, budgets determined by year-end open up and provide options for projects in the new year. Therefore, the first few months of the year might be an ideal time for your business to take advantage of a revised (or replenished) IT budget.
What are the benefits of corporate computer recycling?
It’s widely accepted that updating IT equipment is a necessary evil, whether it’s done sooner or later. Scheduling hardware refreshes will allow you to focus on predictable costs, rather than unplanned expenses that may postpone or affect other projects. And, while it’s obviously an upfront investment, a technology refresh can help recoup costs in both efficiency as well as income from the resale of your used electronics.
However, the trickier—and sometimes overlooked—aspect of a tech refresh is how to safely and securely dispose of the sensitive or proprietary data stored on those older devices. If tech equipment is not disposed of with data security in mind, hardware can still contain remnants of data. Leftover data can lurk on hard drives, network devices, and even printers.
To ensure proper data destruction, it’s important to work with a reputable recycling or ITAD partner that can guarantee destruction or refurbishment for resale. These businesses should follow rigorous data sanitization practices, and provide thorough documentation of their process and follow through. By partnering with a responsible recycler throughout the data destruction or refurbishment process, you can also avoid your data getting into the wrong hands, as these companies use verified third-parties and vendors.
Partnering with a full-service vendor for corporate computer recycling also streamlines the IT disposal process from start to finish. At Global Electronics Recycling, we provide detailed packaging and pickup instructions and schedules along with an intuitive pickup request form. We follow stringent data cleaning protocols when recycling or refurbishing IT equipment so you can rest assured that your data is secure and protected.
Are you ready for an IT refresh in the new year, but are unsure of where to start? If your business is ready to dispose of your computers or other IT assets, contact us today and learn more about how we can help you get a jumpstart on corporate computer recycling.
Read More:
Logistics at Work: How the Pickup Process Takes the Hassle Out of Electronics Recycling
