Warehousing old IT equipment – a decision that costs more than money

Posted in Blog

Glenn Laga

IT departments and risk management teams are often unsure what to do with highly sensitive or data-laden equipment. Especially when that hardware is old and has no real market value.

When they don’t know, the default choice is usually to do nothing. Unused laptops, desktops, USB drives, servers, printers, phones and other smart devices eventually move to a drawer then a closet where they’re dust covered and forgotten.

More often, end-of-life IT equipment is collected and locked up in a storage unit or basement, successfully converting it to a “forever” inventory problem.

The delay (or denial) in IT asset disposition decision-making has significant short term and long-term risks:

• Cost of space, storage and auditing
• Opening for theft or damage
• Loss of any remarketing value
• Lack of oversight due to personnel changes
• Opportunity for an embarrassing and unrecoverable data breach

At Guardian, we’re accustomed to working with companies that don’t know how to reduce and eliminate embedded data on stored end-of-life IT equipment. What happens when we walk through a storage unit or warehouse full of old computers? You see technology dinosaurs and we see BIG risk.

No matter what range of devices you find, we work with ITADs, VARs and resellers to develop the data destruction and disposition solution that makes even your most difficult stakeholder satisfied.

Don’t investigate storage facilities or other iffy solutions. Talk to us about a strategy to safely destroy the data and erase your risk. A comprehensive data destruction plan will prudently empty your IT closet or warehouse without any chance of a data breach or long term, ongoing repository and expense.