Global trends

As computing technology capability and capacity grows in sophistication across the globe, and our reliance on the systems and processes it provides us never diminishes, the turnover of equipment is high. While simply keeping up can feel like a full-time job, there are pressures not just from your industry marketplace, but from regulatory frameworks that you must work within such as the WEEE Directive, GDPR and many more, standards to uphold, systems and processes to instigate and oversee. The risk of inefficiency, data breaches and lost revenues – either through fines or poorly managed IT estate – is ever-present. 

Is innovation keeping up with demand? Emphatically, yes. Are we going to disappear under a mountain of redundant computing devices? We sincerely hope not. We unravel our three threads a little more here. 

Security

The continuous advancement of AI, cloud erasure solutions and techniques are driving this part of IT asset management (ITAM), all underpinned by the need to protect data. 

Data wiping, degaussing and physical destruction processes, such as shredding, pulverisation, and digital data overwriting remain reliable, developing methods of destruction to ensure no one outside your business can access your confidential information. Expect blockchain technology to be increasingly used to enhance security and process transparency. Integrating one of the new AI lifecycle tools into your systems and protocols will contribute to keeping data safe. 

Efficiency

It’s not exactly news, and many of us are already using them, but the continuous innovation in AI tools for productivity, resilience and the ability to thrive that usually consolidate a five-tool process into just one tool, creates an exponential need for devices that can handle them. The resultant high asset turnover needs tight management to keep data protection and sustainability requirements under control. The cycle can be virtuous or vicious, depending on how you adopt and adapt technology to meet your company’s needs.

Within the IT asset recovery industry, we are keeping a close eye on developments for the integration of AI in operational efficiency that use big data and analytics to optimise physical processes such as sorting, picking and streamlining equipment, as well as managing lifecycle and re-use possibilities. 

Artificial Intelligence steps up here. By automating record keeping, inventories, workflows, remote working ITAM, licence compliance, device tracking and multi-platform control, AI tools help you keep tabs on who has what and where, including remote workers, leaving fewer gaps for risk and more opportunities for a watertight asset management strategy to fall into place.

E-waste is a fact of life, and the UK is a culprit in the vast quantity we turn over and throw away each year. Many of us wish we could be more firmly entrenched in the circular economy that our ESG policies espouse. Fortunately, the recycling industry is on the brink of an explosion in growth, thanks to new ways of using chemicals, heat, gases, and mechanical processes that are coming online. 

Witness the Royal Mint announcing recently that its new south Wales facility would use a brand-new type of chemical recycling of computer motherboards to quickly, and non-toxically, extract the gold typically used in their manufacture, for recycling and re-use at the Mint. 

There are thousands of micro-businesses and start-ups around the world working on solutions to our plastics crisis, for example, using hydrothermal treatment, pyrolysis, and gasification, including processes that convert waste plastics into almost-virgin-resource-quality recycled hydrocarbons. In the news at the end of September was a new type of plastic for electronic product circuit boards and body components that is water-soluble. The future is coming at us, fast!

Endowing materials with an extended lifecycle, managing waste with a non-polluting environmental focus, evaluating e-waste for its financial and community potential, and recycling robots are a few of the ideas being worked on as pivot points in assisting you and professional ITAM companies keep pace with market needs.

An end-to-end lifecycle package for your customers – smooth, seamless partnership between manufacturer/vendor and trusted, professional ITAM companies, such as Restore Technology, guarantees efficiency, security and sustainability are built into the packages you offer into your own customers.

Time to dip your toe into the future?

The need for a trusted partner who is expert in IT asset recovery processes, whether through re-sale, re-use, or recycling for constituent parts/elements, and at the leading edge of what technology has to offer at all stages of the IT disposal process, is essential, for your business’ reputation and budget.