What Impact Has the Pandemic Had on IT Investments and E-Waste?
As vaccines become more widely available and pandemic limitations are lifted, some businesses throughout Canada will resume in-office operations. Others find that continuing to work from home (WFH) makes financial sense; a remote workforce can reduce overhead costs by decreasing or even eliminating the requirement for office space. In either scenario, organizations that restarting in-office operations or preserving WFH arrangements would likely wish to eliminate some of their excess IT expenditures, such as laptops for remote workers or underused desktop units.
The problem is that most businesses do not have a policy in place for dealing with idle IT assets. Typically, this responsibility is delegated to the office manager, who has little to no grasp of why effective IT disposition is critical, let alone how to achieve it. Now is the moment for businesses to plan forward and decide how to handle their gadget surplus. Failure to implement and enforce company-wide protocols might result in the following problems.
Many businesses make the risky assumption that just getting rid of extra equipment by any methods imaginable will address the problem. Nonetheless, Quantum's Director of Sales, Mike Morgan, warns of a situation described as "two people in a pickup truck" showing in and taking assets for free. Sadly, these too-good-to-be-true instances are exactly that. Allowing unqualified persons to transport away your equipment exposes your firm to significant risk.
Clearing your computer's history isn't enough to keep intellectual property from falling into the wrong hands. Most office managers are unsure of the questions to ask when looking for a reliable partner to handle their end-of-life devices. You can avoid risks at every level of the organization in the future by implementing and enforcing company policies for device recycling now.
Professional IT asset disposal (ITAD) providers, such as Quantum, have the training and certifications required to ensure that your hard drives are totally destroyed and that sensitive data does not leave your organization. We can issue certifications of destruction, giving you peace of mind while also meeting your compliance needs.
The COVID epidemic required many firms to spend on technology, with the majority purchasing new devices to accommodate a WFH employee base. As this technology becomes obsolete, only a small percentage of businesses will reuse or resale the devices purchased during the peak of the pandemic. The majority of the remainder will most likely wind up in landfills, potentially exceeding the 20 to 50 million tonnes of e-waste discharged each year under normal conditions.
Working with a reputable third party can help you minimize your company's carbon footprint by allowing you to resale or recycle unwanted equipment. There is usually a market for refurbished gadgets that are only a few years old, but even if a surplus of equipment appears after many organizations reach their "new normal" phase of operations, there is always the option of recycling.
When it comes to disposing of IT assets, many businesses want to do the right thing but don't know where to start. Once you've built a strategy for post-COVID operations, you can utilize this knowledge to make the best decisions for your business and the environment.
