As a small business owner or employee, are you outsourcing your ITAD (IT asset disposition)? If you’re wondering what in the world ITAD is, you’re definitely not alone, and you are in for a great read while we walk you through what you need to know about ITAD as a small business.

Small Business IT Employees Take Care of any/all IT-related needs, should they?

Part of being a small business is that your employees tend to be the jack-of-all-trades type and handle a lot of tasks that would otherwise be delegated to entire specialized departments at larger organizations. One of those tasks that is sometimes outsourced to a 3rd party in small businesses is information technology (IT). Even if you do have a dedicated IT person on your payroll, outsourcing may want to be considered when it comes specifically to ITAD.

By the time you’re done reading this article, you will have a clear understanding of what ITAD (IT Asset Disposition) encompases:

● What is ITAD?

● What types of devices are subject to ITAD

● Why should my small business implement ITAD?

● Should I outsource my ITAD to a specialist?

● How can ITAD add to my bottom line?

● Should my company have an ITAD plan?

1. What is ITAD?

The acronym ITAD stands for IT Asset Disposition. The name doesn’t really help clarify much; you may still be wondering, “What is IT Asset Disposition?”. IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) is the process of safely and securely decommissioning old electronic devices before you throw them out.

The days of simply throwing out or recycling your outdated obsolete electronics are over. The majority of electronic devices now need special handling before disposal.

These are the Devices subject to ITAD

The types of devices that are subject to the ITAD process include any device that has the ability to store digital private information. So if your device has a memory card (SD or RAM) or a harddrive (SSD or HDD) that has personal or sensitive information embedded, it should be properly disposed of through the ITAD (IT Asset Disposition) process.

A few examples of devices that require ITAD include:

● Servers

● Computers (CPU)

● Laptops

● Cell phones

● Storage devices (USB drives)

● Printers

When your small business is ready to upgrade and replace any of your electronic equipment, it is important to know that most electronics can’t just be thrown in the landfill; they must follow a specialized process called ITAD (IT Asset Disposition).

2. Disregarding ITAD Could Cost Your Small Business

The average cost of a data breach in 2021 was 4.24 million USD per incident according to the IBM/Poneman Institute’s annual “Cost of a Data Breach Report.” The report also found that the majority of data breaches were caused by compromised credentials.

Financial Impact of a Data Breach on Your Small Business

This could mean that even if your disposed devices didn’t contain sensitive personal information, but did contain login credentials that could be recovered by criminals, you are still at a huge risk of enabling a data breach to occur just because a proper ITAD process was not implemented. Most small businesses don’t have an extra 4 or 5 million dollars to spare in the event of a data breach incident.

Legal Requirements of ITAD

Even if you decide that the monetary risk is worth taking, there are other consequences that disregarding ITAD could cause for your business. Most countries have privacy legislation that dictates the proper disposal process required of your old electronics and prohibits the practice of throwing them in the dumpster with everything else.

In the United States, for example, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) laws require covered entities to create policies and procedures on how to secure devices that contain electronic protected health information (e-PHI). Security measures are required during the removal or disposal of e-PHI.

Some other federal regulations in the United States that address ITAD are:

● Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) for financial institutions

● Federal Information Security Modernization Act (FISMA) for government institutions and contractors

Legal ITAD requirements are not limited to the federal level. Individual states can also have laws that can dictate how businesses must dispose of their electronics. California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), is an example of one of these laws that gives consumers the right to request the destruction of data that a business has collected on them.

Fines, Fees & Penalties: The Consequences of Violating ITAD

The fines, fees, and penalties for neglecting to protect personal information can be steep. HIPAA penalties can range from $100 to $50,000 per violation. Those involved in the data breach can be subject to prison time as well, up to 10 years. The GLBA also has even heftier fines up to $100,000 per violation with personal fines for upper management of up to $10,000 and up to 5 years of jail time.

An Unrecoverable Consequence: Smearing Your Reputation

As if the above reasons weren't enough to show you why proper ITAD procedure is important, there is one more motivator and it could be considered worse than facing your government's wrath: public humiliation and destruction of your business’s reputation. Customers become very upset when they find that their information was handled inappropriately and that measures were not taken to protect the sensitive info that they trusted you with. You do not want to go down in infamy, like Yahoo or Facebook, being known as an irresponsible company whose private data was breached.

3. Go with a professional for your ITAD needs

Now that you understand what ITAD is and why ignoring it could be a bad idea, let’s talk about the best way to approach taking care of your small business’s ITAD needs. In the digital world, deleting is not the same as destroying. Instead, deleting is more like hiding files from the common user. If you thought you could just drag everything to the recycling bin before throwing the equipment out, unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work that way anymore because most cybercriminals know how to recover deleted data.

Limit Your Company’s Liability

While it may seem like a task that your in-house IT professional could take care of along with their other job duties, it may be a better idea to have someone who specializes in data destruction. When it comes to an issue as potentially damaging as being liable for a data breach; why not take the risk completely off your company’s hands?

There are a lot of companies out there who specialize in ITAD. There are trained, certified experts who keep up to date with the changing ITAD legislation. These professionals can focus on the task at hand (destroying and disposing of your devices securely and legally) and assure you that your recycled equipment is in compliance.

What to Look for When Choosing an ITAD Company

Having a dedicated team who eats, sleeps, and drinks ITAD can help you sleep easy knowing that they know what they're doing so you don’t have to worry about it. When choosing which ITAD company, look for the following criteria to ensure you’re truly getting your money's worth:

● ADISA Certification (Asset Disposal and Information Security Alliance)

● They provide a chain-of-custody for each item

● They provide a certificate of destruction for each item

These items are essential to ensure you are dealing with a legitimate and accredited organization. ADISA Certification is a very high standard to meet and requires at least two audits per year to achieve. The chain-of-custody and certificate of destruction documents are essential to show officials that you did your due diligence in providing all equipment to your ITAD company for sanitation.

4. You can MAKE money during the ITAD process!

If the thought of paying to hire a professional ITAD company is deterring your decision to outsource, just realize that ITAD service costs can be offset or even overcome completely by parts-harvesting recovery income.

How Much Does ITAD Cost?

The cost of ITAD asset recovery is minimal, if anything at all. More than likely, you will actually receive a check from your ITAD company. There are small fees for device pickup and processing; however, these fees are usually overcome by the asset recovery value of the parts from your decommissioned equipment.

How Much Can My Business Get Paid for ITAD?

The amount your business can recover will vary widely depending on your device type, the age of the device, and the quantity. Using a budget tool, like an ITAD recovery calculator, the typical recovery value of ITAD Services are listed below for 1 of each item, although the rates per each item may change when adding large quantities:

Device Type Recovery Value @ 5 Years Recovery Value @ 2 Years

Desktop PC $35 $105

Laptop PC $35 $105

Network Devices (Switches, Routers) $49 $210

Telecom (IP Phones) $10.50 $56

Servers $210 $2,100

Fees for all 5 items $90 $90

Net Settlement $249.50 $2,486

As you can see, upgrading your data center hardware more frequently will result in higher recovery values. Not only will your equipment always be in top functioning shape if upgraded more often, but it will also be worth a higher resale value and a byproduct will be lower operating costs. On the other hand, if you wait until your equipment or systems fail, your cost ends up being much higher and there will be a major loss in productivity, costing your small business more money in the long run.

Where do I sell my ITAD Equipment?

BuySellRam is an ITAD company and we can get you top dollar for your decommissioned electronics, fast! We buy all the following:

● Memory (RAM)

● CPUs (Processors)

● GPUs/Graphics Cards

● SSDs/HDDs

● Apple Devices

● Smartphones/Mobile Phones

● Laptops/Tablets

● Test Equipment

● Lab Equipment

● Video/Photo Equipment

● Gaming Equipment

● Networking Equipment

The 3 step process of turning your business’s old computer equipment into cash is simple:

1. Go to our website and fill out the form to get a quick quote based on your quantities.

2. We will send you shipping labels in most cases.

3. Once the items are inspected, we will get your cash within 1-2 business days through a check, wire-transfer, or PayPal.

Now that you can see how ITAD can have a clear advantage when it comes to your business recovering its assets, are you ready to make an ITAD plan for your business?

5. Make an ITAD plan/procedure

Although some types of organizations are legally required to have an ITAD plan with policies and procedures, it’s not a bad idea for all businesses to be proactive and establish a set of procedures when it comes to getting rid of old equipment.

Here are Some Things that Should be in your Small Business’s ITAD Plan

Some important things that should be touched on in your ITAD Plan are the following:

1. Decide How to Keep an Inventory of all electronic devices.

From the moment a new electronic is purchased, it should be added to a spreadsheet where a current inventory can be kept. Some suggested columns to track for each item might be:

● Date of Purchase

● ITAD required (Yes or No)

● Device Type

● Asset Recovery Value in 2 years, 5 years, 10 years

● Physical location of device

● Date of Destruction

2. Plan to Update your inventory list regularly.

Not only is creating the initial inventory spreadsheet going to be important, but you will also need someone to regularly update it (weekly or monthly depending on how often you are purchasing new equipment). Your ITAD inventory should be updated during these events:

● Purchase New Equipment

● Disposing of Old Equipment

● Equipment is moved within your facility

● New hire (assign which items will be in their custody)

● Employment termination (re-assign items, schedule ITAD for decommissioned items such as company cell phones).

3. Decide who to Assign the duty of enforcing the ITAD plan

Depending on the size of your business and whether or not you have outsourced your IT needs, the person or people that will manage your ITAD plan will vary. Decide who in your organization will setup and organize your inventory and manage the acquisition and decommissioning of all electronics.

4. Decide What Your target Lifecycle will be on your Technology and set dates

As mentioned earlier, the recovery costs will increase the sooner you recycle your devices. Decide ahead of time what your target timeframe will be for cycling out your old technology. Track it on your spreadsheet and set up alerts to get equipment scheduled for replacement.

5. E-Recycling Plan

Once you decide your cycle of how often you will need to replace your business’s equipment, make a step-by-step plan of how to proceed with the process including:

● Name of preferred ITAD Company

● Phone number of preferred ITAD Company

● Confirm which devices will need to be sanitized

6. Check the Latest ITAD Laws

As a final note, always check at least on an annual basis for updates on legislation to be sure you are in full compliance with your ITAD plan.

Operating a small business can be complicated with big responsibilities. Understanding ITAD can be vital to the success of many businesses. Making a formal plan is an important step to providing security and compliance.