Your Guide to IT Asset Disposal Process Flow

Published: March 12, 2021

Asset disposition isn’t complicated. It can be broken down into one smooth IT asset disposal process flow. Let’s take a look at the narrower scope of what happens when you call your local IT asset lifecycle management company to retire your tech assets via IT asset management tools. 

Whether you’re looking to clean up the clutter of your computer closet or you’re upgrading 300 computers in your offices, you need to find the best IT asset disposition company to help retire your assets and bring you the most benefits, whether that means financial return or charity and environmental perks. 

Either way, sail along the IT asset disposal process flow to gain more knowledge about what IT asset management is and how it can be a rewarding experience for you as a client and for the company whose services you retain for asset disposition.

What Is IT Asset Management?

Essentially at its core, you may wonder “what is IT asset management?”. This process, also referred to as IT asset disposition, is the easiest and most cost-effective environmental way to eliminate old computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones, and Chromebooks from your offices or home without flooding our landfills with toxins. 

IT asset disposal services use specific IT asset management tools as well as follow IT asset disposal best practices to safely and securely destroy sensitive data, refurbish and repair your tech assets, and deploy them in whatever way possible that benefits you and the company, including methods like donation, reselling, or trade-in methods. That’s the basics of what IT asset management is.

IT Asset Disposal Best Practices

Asset disposition companies, at least the reputable and superior ones, follow federal and governmental guidelines set forth to protect consumers, companies, and the environment. This body that governs IT asset disposal best practices is called the NIST, or the National Institute of Standards and Technology. 

The IT asset disposal process flow would be nothing without these IT asset management tools, which include the following: 

• Chain-of-custody reporting – This means that the entire IT asset disposal process flow is documented from the time the company picks up your computers (or you ship them) through the process of secure data destruction to repairs and upgrades to deployment of refurbished tech to authorized resellers or charities. 
• Data destruction – One of the most important parts of secure asset disposition is simply an imperative IT asset disposal best practice, and this is the certificate of data destruction. Any experienced, professional IT asset disposition company will give you an authorized and a signed certificate stating the details of your data destruction – proof of removal of your sensitive personal or company data.
• Social benefits – A good asset disposition company will donate refurbished assets to charities or schools as part of their IT asset disposal process flow. It’s just the right thing to do and benefits a circular economy. Plus, it feels good to help others who need tech but don’t have the budget for it, such as schoolchildren.
• Environmental perks – Since tech assets are chock-full of toxic chemicals that can potentially destroy our planet, it’s wise to ensure the asset disposition company you retain uses IT asset disposal best practices to reduce, reuse, and recycle. 

The IT Asset Disposal Process Flow

The basics of IT asset disposal aside, here are some key parts of the overall IT asset disposal process flow so you can see how IT asset management tools fit into the process. 

• Asset requisition – The company obtains your assets. 
• Asset review – What type of shape is your asset? Are there repairs and upgrades needed? 
• Asset tracking – Using IT asset management tools to assign assets a unique number to keep track of the asset throughout the entire process. 
• Data destruction – Secure deletion of sensitive data following NIST guidelines and issuing a certificate of data destruction.
• Valuing assets – What is your asset worth now that it’s been refurbished? 
• Deploying assets – Whether it’s donating, reselling, or safely recycling unusable assets, this is the end of the line! If your asset is resold, you’ll get the profits, and the circle continues.

Retaining a Reputable Secure IT Asset Disposition Company

Let us show you how we put IT asset disposal best practices into place during our IT asset disposal process flow. Contact PlanITROI for a consultation today for secure IT asset disposition and see what rewards it brings.