IT Asset Recovery: Definition, Process, and Tips to Find an IT Asset Recovery Platform

What is IT asset recovery?

This process ensures that IT assets are securely recovered from employees while preserving data security and integrity.

This is implemented to reclaim value from obsolete assets by recovering, refurbishing, recycling, reselling, or employee purchasing programs. It is one of the most crucial parts of ITAM (IT asset management).

IT asset recovery is wise for corporations of small, medium, and large sizes to safeguard their confidential data.

While IT asset recovery maximizes asset utilization, leading to cost-effective usage, it also keeps you sane so that your secure data isn’t prone to revelation.

Regarding e-waste, the total 62 million tons produced in 2022 could build an uninterrupted line of 107,000 of the largest (853-seat) and heaviest (575-tonne) passenger planes in the world. This would stretch from New York to Athens, Nairobi to Hanoi, or Hong Kong to Anchorage.

Can you imagine the volume of e-waste disposed of each year?

What is the significance of IT asset recovery?

According to a study by Deloitte, companies that invest in IT asset recovery can see an average cost savings of 25–30% over a five-year period.

Most of the time, when you send out hardware (assets) that have mines of confidential data for recycling, the IT asset recovery partners sell these assets to third-party recyclers. These hardware pieces are dumped in landfills while the data is still not erased from the assets and can be extracted from potentially threatening parties, leading to data violations and lowered integrity.

This could mean losing tonnes of your confidential data only because you did not take proper recovery steps.

Let’s go through the pain point of a victim for not getting their laptop disposed of properly:

Source

What are the key elements of IT asset recovery?

IT asset recovery management is the key to maximizing the value of depreciating computers, laptops, smartphones, servers, and other devices. By meticulously managing the recovery process, the volume and type of assets to be recovered are clearer, making it easier to make strategic decisions.

Here are the organizational-level elements that are gauged before actually diving into the recovery process:

Assessment

Assets that are no longer needed or underutilized are discarded. An inventory audit is conducted to determine their condition, market value, and potential recovery for further use.

Recovery strategies

The IT team internally dives in to extract the maximum value of the asset. This can be done through refurbishing, employee purchases, redeployment within the organization, or disposal/recycling in an environmentally friendly manner.

Financial analysis

It accounts for the maximum value that can be derived while recovering an asset. Teams account for the various attempts to recover assets, and the ROI related to them is a strategic enabler of business agility.

Legal and regulatory compliance

This is to ensure that the steps taken to recover the IT assets comply with governance rules, country laws, regulations, and contractual obligations.

What is IT Asset Disposal (ITAD)?

IT asset disposal is the elimination of IT scrap from an organization’s custody and FAR (fixed asset register), where the details of all fixed assets are stored in a company. It is a part of IT asset recovery.

While disposing of IT assets, companies should comply with IT disposal norms, avoid landfilling, and adhere to country governance rules.

ITAD is vital because merely taking old hardware to the shredder is no longer acceptable. More so, The Global E-waste Monitor 2024 survey demonstrates that electronic e-waste is growing five times as much as documented e-waste recycling.

Going by numbers, the IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) market was estimated to be USD 15,578.94 million in 2023. The market is anticipated to grow from USD 16,828.37 million in 2024 to USD 32,355.70 million by 2032, providing a CAGR of 8.5% during the forecast period.

Fun Tip: If you want to dispose of the asset (along with data) yourself, here is how you can dabble into it to ensure your data is irretrievable by dismantling the device (or storage disk) irrevocably.

Beat the asset and its parts with a hammer, incineration (be careful of toxic by-products), industrial shredding, drill/drill press, acid, electrolysis, microwaves, and thermite.

Remember to keep your goggles and gloves on, and remember, this is just a fun tip. You can also partner with Workwize for IT asset recovery. 

When should IT assets be disposed of, and steps of implementation?

If you are an IT manager looking to recover or dispose of your IT assets, you must assess your assets meticulously.

IT assets must be disposed of when:

1. An asset is fully depreciated

2. They are sold at a gain or loss due to changes in technology or the company’s business plan

3. In case of unforeseen scenarios, for instance, a fire or flood

4. The cost of managing the asset is higher than buying new assets

Once these factors are adhered to, the disposal/recovery processes are stringently followed:

Here’s an example of how the disposal and recovery process can look like:

• Asset’s scrap list is prepared with IT SPOC approval

• Finance SPOC approves the recovery request

• If a third party is involved in buying or procurement finance team will finalize the quote and date of pickup

• If the assets are to be donated, they are picked up without a quote

• EUC/Asset team ensures data is wiped from the assets

• Give the asset to the vendor with a non-returnable gate pass and sales invoice

• Have disposal/recovery certificate for future records

Factors to consider in IT Asset Recovery

While recovering IT assets, some pivotal steps must be taken into account.

Data Security

Data security, organizational obligations, and environmental protection practices must be adhered to to protect crucial data. To secure confidential data, companies must comply with HIPAA, NIST 800-88, and GDPR standards. A company that is paranoid about data has anything with storage (hard drives, SD cards, USB drives, etc.) removed and stored in a secure bin. 

A vendor can crush the drives and give each drive a certificate. Occasionally, IT managers encounter hardware where the storage is soldered directly onto the motherboard. They can use hammers and tongs to manually disassemble the IICs.

Information Privacy

It ensures that data in any form is kept confidential to preserve its confidentiality, integrity, and availability.

Data Sanitization

 The destruction of all confidential data and licensed software is done with the assets, along with the disposal of electronic data. It can be done either by manually destroying the drives and assets or by using software that deletes the data electronically.

De-Manufacturing

Dismantle physical assets like computers, laptops, and servers and recycle them separately. Also popular as reverse manufacturing, this process extracts maximum value from reusable components or recycles the decommissioned hardware in an environmentally friendly way.

Environmental Protection

Each year, the gross electric and electronic equipment the world utilizes grows by 2.5 million metric tonnes. Phones, radio devices, laptops, and more—if they have a power or battery supply, they're likely to join an increasing mountain of “e-waste” after use. These assets have lead, gold, silver, and copper that can be recycled responsibly, lowering the damage caused by e-waste.

Traceability

Organizations must be able to trace the origin, movement, and ownership of IT assets across their lifecycle. This helps identify and recover stolen or missing assets, reducing financial losses and reputational damage. Tagging RFID, GPS, and QR codes can do this.

Compliance

The recovery process must be compliant with the organization’s, the country's, and environmental laws.

Redeployment 

Once repaired, IT assets can be deployed to different development centers. They can be remodeled, reset, and refurbished for further use.

Remarketing

The old, used, retired, or decommissioned IT assets can be refurbished and remarketed to prospective clients like IT managers or CIOs. It is an integral part of a device's lifecycle to minimize waste and reduce costs associated with acquiring new devices.

Recycling

Devices are collected from recovery stations, where they are responsibly sent for recycling. Asset storage should be available before devices are disposed of to prevent negative environmental impacts or contamination risks. The assets are sorted and separated based on their types and then recovered to derive precious metals and other valuables.

Circular Economy

IT assets undergo a lifecycle during which they are manufactured, procured, used, refurbished, recycled, recovered, and reused until they have no value left. This extends the product's lifecycle, and waste is reduced to a minimum.

Benefits of IT asset recovery process

Integrating the IT asset recovery process mines actionable insights into your business and prolongs the time of operation and functioning of the IT asset. Here are some benefits of using the recovery process:

• Cost/time savings: You can reuse, refurbish, and repair decommissioned IT resources to expand their lifecycle and lower the cost of new acquisitions

• Improved regulatory compliance: The organization has better ITAD outlines built, leading to an environment-friendly disposition

• Improved devices’ lifecycle and reliability: The assets are assessed more frequently for their health and longevity 

• Faster mean time to restore service (MTTRS): As assessment is done more frequently, the devices are repaired before a major fallout

• Control over IT environment: The IT landscape of your company is closely monitored, leading to surveillance of any important events

• Long-term system integrity: The IT assets work in the organization for a longer period

• Streamlined employee onboarding: With proper IT asset recovery, the procedure for global employee onboarding maintains a central mode of operation within multiple development centers

How do you select the right IT asset recovery provider?

A trusted IT asset recovery partner vouches for security and confidentiality norms, leaving you stress-free. Working with a certified IT asset recovery partner is instrumental, as there are tonnes of confidential data in them.

Leaking data compiled under HIPAA or GDPR can lead to defamation, loss of customers’ or patients' trust, loss of business, financial risks, and, in the worst scenario, legal cases.

These checklists should be skimmed while selecting the right IT asset recovery provider.

Provides value for money

A seasoned IT asset recovery provider is highly competent and charges as per industry norms. They destroy data by degaussing, including files on magnetic tapes that cannot be retracted. This can be done via authorized software, viz., Bit Raiser, which works on working HDDs. Their communication must be on point, leading to safe and efficient resource recovery. Workwize has a proven record of dismantling and destroying secure data before the asset is disposed of.

Complies with organizational rules

They should comply with organizational rules and avoid illegal and harmful landfills. Most of the assets’ PCBs (printed circuit boards) contain hazardous materials like lead, arsenic, and mercury that may cause damage. Each company lays down its ITAD-compliant rules that must be adhered to to avoid violations of assets during disposition.

Compliance with regulatory standards

The ministries of environment, forest, and climate change have their own mandates that the IT asset recovery partner should be in sync with. They must be working globally or in your local presence to fit your country’s laws.

Has necessary IT disposal certification

The disposal partner should have certification for legally and responsibly disposing of sold assets. The certificates comprise the Data Degaussing Certificate, ADISA for maintaining security standards, R2, ISO 14000, ISO 27001, and e-Stewards for ensuring environmental responsibility and non-hazardous disposal of assets.

Has appropriate experience

The IT asset recovery partner should have experience working with retired assets and derive maximum value from recycled products. 

1. They should have a long tenure in business, handling different types of IT assets

2. Partners should have experience in a comprehensive range of technology lifecycle management services like data destruction, equipment remarketing, asset tracking, logistics, and secure transportation

3. Lastly, go through their case studies and testimonials to evaluate if they fit the bill

Workwize is what you need to recover your IT assets responsibly 

Finding a reliable and certified IT asset recovery partner can be tiresome and exhausting. Trust us; we understand this.

Workwize is a zero-touch platform built for IT teams to automate the lifecycle of their IT hardware. From procurement, deployment, management, retrievals, and disposal, it has you covered. 

Recover your IT assets, such as PCs, laptops, servers, smartphones, and other devices. With a global presence, ISO 27001 Certification, and certified data erasure (both permanently and irreversibly), you can trust Workwize with your IT asset recovery needs.

Let's have a quick chat about how Workwize can integrate into your business model. Book a demo!