IT Asset Disposal: 8 important things to look for in a top ITAD company

ITAD companies are specialists in the administrating of needless IT assets. These ITAD professionals can dispose of unwanted IT equipment in a secure and environmentally friendly manner. This equipment, such as servers, Datacenter Equipment, laptops, hard drives, and monitors, cannot simply be thrown away, rather it must be securely decommissioned and disposed of by a specialist company, to ensure your data is safe and any recycling is carried out properly.

A clear ITAD process should be part of any latest business strategy, mitigating any risk to your data security whilst enjoying a host of other benefits that the service can bring, from monetary rebates to showing off your security and environmental credentials to your clients.

We recommend that you establish a partnership with a trustable ITAD partner, but which one to choose?

Take a look at our top 8 things to look out for from your future ITAD provider.

 

1. Expertise

Firstly an ITAD company will have a high level of experience in the industry, with good knowledge and expertise. An ITAD company should have well-established processes to carry out these services with security and high efficiency. A well-established company will be more likely to conduct their business in a highly professional manner. Look out for companies that can provide case studies breaking down the processes they use for given services.

These companies understand what their clients require. After all, successful ITAD specialists maintain long-term partnerships with their clients.

2. Data Security

Today more than ever, data security is crucial to the success of businesses of all sizes. When choosing your ITAD Company, you should make sure that they are carrying out their services in a high and secure manner. This means providing industry-approved data destruction services, complete tracking of assets, utilizing highly secure facilities, and so on.

3. Quality

Further proof that an ITAD company is one that you can rely on, can be found in their certifications. A good ITAD specialist will hold a range of certifications, showing that they have been audited by a professional body and found to be following given legislation.

A certification shows that the ITAD provider has had their ITAD processes checked and found to be in order.

 

4. Documentation

A good ITAD company will provide full documentation of the services they are carrying out. This will include tracking of the goods for instance, through to certificates of destruction for each asset – verifying that the item has been wiped, destroyed or recycled in a method agreed upon in an initial contract. Overall you should be left with a full audit trail for every IT asset involved.

 

5. Sustainability

ITAD specialists handle electrical equipment at the end of its lifespan, these companies are morally compelled to ensure their services are as green as possible. Waste electronics can cause severe damage to the environment, and this can occur even when a company believes it has deposited its e-waste with a trusted recycler. Often such e-waste can end up being exported, where it may end up being burned in huge scrap yards to extract small amounts of sellable materials.

A good ITAD specialist will look to minimize their environmental impact. These ITAD companies may also make use of additional green processes such as using solar power to help power the services they offer.

 

6. Remarketing

Following on from these sustainable practices, a trustworthy ITAD provider will be able to provide a remarketing service for those assets which are reusable. Many companies find themselves with large amounts of IT assets which they no longer have any use for.

These items, however, may be far from the end of their working lives. A good ITAD partner will work with you to identify which assets no longer need, collecting them from you as soon as they become redundant to remarket them as quickly as possible, thus extracting the maximum return from their residual value.

 

7. Comprehensive data destruction

A vital aspect of reliable ITAD work is the provision of highly secure process-driven IT destruction. Quite simply this is the identification and erasure of data found on IT devices and can be carried out in several ways. ITAD specialists will be able to offer the secure destruction of devices such as hard drives and USBs, which can potentially hold highly sensitive data.

A reliable ITAD specialist company will offer data destruction through the use of data erasure software, this is a highly reliable process which involves overwriting the data on a media bearing device with meaningless data, rendering the old data forever inaccessible.

Leading ITAD specialists will be able to offer IT asset destruction services either on or off-site for your convenience. They will utilize highly experienced engineers for these services, who have been trained to deal with the disposal of your equipment with extreme care and maximum security.

 

8. Convenience

Lastly, we recommend choosing an ITAD provider which can offer a high level of convenience to you. They will be able to carry out their service at a time which suits you. Ideally, they will also have an easy system for tracking your services. A customer service portal can be a quick and convenient way of managing all aspects of your service and can provide a home for all your documentation. It will allow you to track all of your assets, download reports, and perhaps even identify the environmental benefits of your chosen services, with concrete figures you can even share on your website or with your shareholders.

 

When IT assets are involved, it is extremely important to ensure all of the risks are covered. By following the points above, you can be certain you are receiving the service of a leading ITAD specialist. You will have identified a company which demonstrates a commitment to security, compliance, and sustainability, giving you complete peace of mind