End-of-life IT: best practices

Management

The ageing of technological equipment is a real headache for some IT managers: maintaining obsolete equipment not only represents a significant cost for the business, it can also slow down growth objectives.

The life cycle of IT equipment

Like any professional equipment, IT equipment follows a life cycle that can be summarized in 7 steps: Planning / Consulting / Sourcing / Deployment / Management / Evolution / Dismantling and Recycling.

This therefore implies :

• Planning : Anticipating the needs per sector of the company;
• Consulting: Offers from suppliers;
• Sourcing: Input, supply of equipment;
• Deployment: Delivery and installation of equipment as planned;
• Management: maintaining the equipment with due diligence, throughout its life cycle;
• Evolution: Anticipating the evolution of obsolete, non-performing equipment through new equipment;
• Dismantling and Recycling of obsolete equipment.

Dealing with the increasing complexity of IT assets

IT and finance managers have to manage increasingly large and more heterogeneous IT fleets while ensuring that the associated budgets are limited: this is an ubiquitous concern for the business.

Managing the IT equipment cycle is often complex. That’s why it is important to correctly identify and inventory all equipment and services in order to obtain a consolidated view of the entire fleet and thus anticipate innovations and evolutions, i.e.:

• Keep it under control ;
• Ensure its coherence ;
• Anticipating needs ;
• Controle and cost reduction.

What about IT equipment at the end of its life?

What are the best practices?

Delete data safely and in accordance with GDPR:

Equipment destruction and data erasure are increasingly strictly regulated. These rules cover electronic waste (WEEE), the deletion of confidential company data and the protection of sensitive customer data (GDPR). It is better to comply with them to avoid fines or sanctions.

Respect the environnement :

The processing of used or obsolete materials is part of an ecological approach that reduces the ecological footprint of companies. Whether it concerns destruction, resale or recycling, make sure that your equipment is safely collected and processed in accordance with applicable legislation.

Recycling :

Recycling IT equipment means giving it a second life while protecting the environment. Most IT equipment can be recycled: servers, screens and computers, laptops, printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, USB sticks, cables, hard drives, etc. and can therefore be put back into circulation as second-hand equipment.  If not, and as a reminder, the following happens with the materials from laptops:

• 40% of the plastic is recycled, especially for automotive parts,
• 15% of electronic cards are sorted and sent to the foundry to recycle the metals,
• 15% ot the ferrous metals are 100% recycled,
• 5% of the non-ferrous metals (aluminum, copper) are recycled,
• 17% of controlled substances (batteries,…) are passed on to specialized bodies,
• 5% of the other materials (foam, rubber, screens) are reused, buried or decontaminated and then removed.