Companies are progressively turning more towards third-party IT asset disposition services to help in dealing with IT equipment that needs to be retired. This rising trend, which is mainly driven by increasing concerns about the environmental impact of electronic waste, is causing the ITAD sector to undergo huge transformations. Experts predict that ITAD will slowly become more powerful in terms of articulating its core offerings as businesses are going to be required by regulations to undertake proper retirement and recycling of their electronic IT assets.
The requirement for an all-inclusive IT asset disposition plan is currently resonating well within the commercial industry where businesses are committed to doing their part in protecting the environment. An ITAD firm determines whether the unwanted equipment can be reused or resold, if not, ensure they are properly recycled. In addition, they may even play a critical IT data security role by destroying the hard drives as well as removing any other technology parts that may hold sensitive information.
In researching the impact of ITAD, a survey established that more than 25% of the companies in the study used an external IT asset disposition service. However, while the variation was relatively little across countries, each country had their own unique reasons for turning to a professional ITAD service. Companies in Germany and North America cited data security as a key part of their decision-making process while social responsibilities and environmental mandates were the main concerns in France and the UK.
The research data also evaluates the link between the size of an organization and its likelihood of using an external IT asset disposition service. In this case, ITAD adoption rates were considerably higher for multinational and large companies with over 10,000 workers. However, many smaller businesses with less than 100 workers did not use external IT disposal services. This particular trend is expected to change in the coming years as ITAD start developing and marketing their services to the small business sector as well as the industry comes to better appreciate the risks.
In terms of ITAD adoption across the industries, banks and financial institutions had the highest rates at 63%, followed by government organizations and healthcare. Small home businesses, as well as individual consumers, were least likely to use third party IT asset disposition services.
In conclusion, the importance and need of ITAD is rising for several reasons. For example, consolidation of data centers, virtualization, and migration to the cloud are all creating the problem of unwanted IT equipment. Furthermore, the increasingly high number of devices that are assigned to employees, from laptops and tablets to smartphones, also helps to contribute to increasing the overall volume of e-waste.
About AER Worldwide
AER Worldwide mitigates risk and provides global solution to handle your entire end-of-life materials management needs. We provide eco-friendly solutions and services throughout the entire IT product life cycle. Our Reverse Logistics efforts, or “aftermarket” services, help organizations after the initial sale and provide IT asset disposition support throughout the life of the equipment. With global locations, AER Worldwide will provide eco-friendly services, with certified brand protection techniques. To learn more about AER Worldwide, visit www.aerworldwide.com.
