– Cliffie McKay, Head of Operations at DMD Systems Recovery (www.dmdsystems.com), says:
Decide what to do with the equipment
The value of computer equipment changes so fast that a computer worth $50 one month may only be worth $35 the next month. The best course to take is to work with a company that does quarterly or monthly pricing updates. This allows you to estimate the return on your IT assets. While some companies do market equipment themselves, it can be a costly and time consuming process. Whether it is through a retail site or auction, this typically requires additional time by your employees and can be cost prohibitive. Also, companies need to be careful when disposing of equipment. Improper disposal can lead to huge fines and negative publicity. Vetting your recycler is a very important part of the process as well. As a customer, you should be more than welcome to come tour their facility and request information about where your equipment ends its life. While deciding what to do with your excess equipment may seem like a small decision, the incorrect decision could lead to large penalties and negative publicity for your company.
Logistics and Deinstallation
Another common problem that companies run in to is asset deinstallation and logistics. Either their IT staff isn’t big enough to handle removing the old assets or they don’t have the ability to palletize and transport the old assets to the recycler. There are many asset management companies that can assist the datacenters with removing, palletizing, and transporting the equipment. This provides the company with one point of contact making the entire process very smooth. What should you look for in an asset management company that handles logistics? Make sure that they have the technical staff available to handle the deinstallation. Also, request references for work that they have done in the past and make sure that they can add your company to their insurance policy. Finally, teaming with an asset management company for logistics will, typically, get you more competitive transportation rates. Most asset management companies manage large shipments each week, therefore they get a better discount from the trucking companies.
Recycling & Reuse
There are two very confusing terms that Asset Management companies throw out: Recycling and Reuse. These two terms can be very confusing and are often used interchangeably. Recycling, by definition, is “to put or pass through a cycle again, as for further treatment.” At DMD Systems, we believe that the highest form of recycling is reuse. There are some beliefs that recycling is parting out each system to its main components, such as metals, circuit boards, etc., and melting those components down to be used again. At DMD, we call that process the ‘recovery’ process where we are extracting the metals, plastics, cable, and circuitry for reuse. One of the main ways to go green is by ‘reusing’ the equipment, whether that is through redeployment in your organization or resale by an asset management company. By extending the life of the computer, you are limiting the manufacturing of a new computer that would take its place. Therefore, your footprint is less by minimizing the manufacturing of the new computer and prolonging the timeline for demanufacturing of the current system.
