The growing popularity of cloud services has given businesses some great options, from online data storage and backup solutions, to hosted office suites and document collaboration services. Here are top reasons why recycling offers hardware asset management solutions.
But even as more and more businesses use cloud services, that popularity has tended to obscure another fact: their technology is still based on physical equipment, including office computers. The Internet relies on that physical infrastructure, which means a lot of businesses today are updating their office equipment to be sure they can take advantage of the best technology.
And they often end up replacing office equipment, which ends up in storage. But there’s a far better use of those unwanted computers, and that’s getting them recycled. This accomplishes an important goal: an opportunity to find continued value in those older office electronics. An experienced recycling firm can provide you with hardware asset management solutions, which not only identifies the parts within them that still have value and can be recycled to make new products but also provides data security to ensure any confidential information on those computers gets wiped clean.
It’s a much better alternative than allowing everything from your office computers to printers, scanners and copiers to sit in a storage room taking up space. And recycling is definitely a better option than arranging to have those used electronics hauled away as trash.
The bottom line is that hardware Asset Management solutions through recycling helps individuals and businesses get plenty of value from their older computers, including offsetting the cost of your unwanted office electronics.
Why is it Necessary to Recycle E-Waste?
The one thing we definitely don’t want to do is throw away old office electronics. E-waste, or used electronics, contains hazardous materials, including mercury, lead and arsenic. Putting those devices in landfills runs the risk of those chemicals seeping out into the environment, contaminating our soil and water.
And since the number of used electronics being discarded worldwide keeps skyrocketing, this has become a major environmental concern.
And hardware Asset Management (HAM) helps send another message to your customers and the public: that your business cares about the environment. By having your used electronics recycled, you keep them out of landfills and help minimize the environmental risks they pose. Doing so enables you to put the focus on the green benefits of managing hardware as a way to help reduce electronic waste.
But equally important is that e-waste may seem like junk, but these devices still have plenty of valuable parts and components. E-waste contains precious metals, such as gold, silver, platinum, copper, and palladium, and the estimated value of recoverable materials in 2016 was $64.6 billion, larger than the Gross Domestic Product of most countries in the world. E-waste also contains valuable materials like iron, aluminum and plastics that are in high demand among manufacturers who rely on recycled metals for production.
Those are the assets still inside your computers that demonstrate why you shouldn’t simply store them in a warehouse facility or throw them away.
And that’s a clear way that the Asset Management service provided by an experienced recycling firm like Great Lakes Electronics Corporation can help both businesses and individuals find what still has value in their e-waste, and to recover some of your initial investment.
Why are Hardware Asset Management Solutions Important?
It’s important for businesses and organizations to develop a hardware asset management solution strategy for their office desktops, laptops and computer networks when you’re ready to retire that equipment. Just as your software is important, your hardware should also be managed to ensure you get the most out of your initial assessment.
In addition to identifying the parts within your equipment that remain valuable to manufacturers as a recycled product, another key issue here is data security. It’s crucial for businesses (and individuals) to wipe any data from the hardware to protect against cybercrimes. It’s also important to note that if businesses and organizations are storing private information for clients, customers and employees on that equipment, they can get fined significant amounts of money if their data isn’t removed correctly before the equipment is disposed of. It’s also a massive security risk if the company simply decides to throw out those computers like it was regular trash.
Security threats remain a significant risk for a lot of industries, but the bottom line is that a recycling company like Great Lakes Electronics Corporation provides the secure destruction of personal, sensitive, proprietary, or classified information. They will also issue Certificates of Destruction and Certificates of Data Deletion upon request.
Recycling through an experienced firm is the safest approach to complete data destruction and hard drive sanitization.
How Can You Get a Return on Investment?
Today, as advances in computer and software technologies become even more sophisticated, companies have looking to invest in the best equipment possible. That can mean an increase in technology spending, including spending on new hardware. Adopting a hardware asset management solution is a way for companies to demonstrate effective oversight of the computers and equipment being replaced.
Another benefit of effective management of hardware assets is it can help companies save money by getting a return on their investment from their existing IT assets.
And your organization could then devote more resources to newer equipment or technological innovations if you saved money on the replacement of older equipment through an effective asset management program. It can then help your organization budget for next year’s investment in new equipment.
It’s also important to recognize that today, more and more states are banning e-waste disposal in landfills, as state lawmakers recognize the environmental risks. So removing used equipment as solid waste may not even be an option for your company.
That’s why recycling is the safest, greenest, more environmentally friendly and most secure approach to dealing with unwanted equipment, while hardware Asset Management solutions allow you to get a return on your initial investment, and to ensure critical information stored on your computer’s never falls into the wrong hands.
Conclusion
Most companies today want to get value from their older, out of date computers, rather than simply throwing them away. Great Lakes Electronics Corporation offers hardware Asset Management solutions that help companies do just that, offsetting the cost of office electronics no longer in use.
Great Lakes Electronics Corporation can help businesses identify the value of these items and reclaim some of your initial investment.
The same is true for individuals who have used electronics they no longer want or use. It’s important to remember that all the personal information is still being stored on those computers. Great Lakes Electronics Corporation can ensure that all hard drives or other sensitive data on old, unused devices are scrubbed clean to protect your data.
Great Lakes Electronics Corporation provides full, single-source and complete solutions for large organizations, small to midsize companies, government agencies, schools, and nonprofits. They can help you recycle in the Green Way.
Call us today at 888-392-7831 to request a quote.