Guide to Choosing an IT Asset Management and Disposition Company

You may have heard the industry term “ITAD” before, but if you’re not in tune with the technology world, you might not have understood what it means.

ITAD stands for “Information Technology Asset Disposition.” That’s a fancy way to refer to how surplus computer equipment is managed and disposed of. Businesses that specialize in ITAD can securely destroy the data stored on old, damaged or unwanted IT assets. They also find environmentally-friendly ways of recycling or safely disposing of those items.  

These companies often offer other services including asset management, on-site hard drive shredding, decommissioning and relocation services, and buyout programs, among others. 

The services offered by IT asset management and disposition companies are all performed with the same goal of ensuring compliance with the health and safety, financial, and security standards of all parties involved. 

On-Site Data Destruction

When you decide to hand off your data in the form of IT assets like hard drives for sanitization or destruction, you want to be sure that the company you’re working with will protect your sensitive information and your company brand. 

Unfortunately, just because a Hard Disk Drive has been wiped of its data, it does not mean that the data is free from theft and the hard drive can simply be thrown away. Someone who knows how to retrieve information from a wiped hard drive could easily access sensitive information from it. Unless you’re going to reuse a wiped hard drive, secure destruction is paramount. 

Services like those provided by PROSHRED® San Francisco Bay Area offer secure data wiping and liability transfer as well as on-site or off-site hard drive destruction. PROSHRED® shredding trucks are capable of securely destroying hard drives on-site, right before your eyes, so you don’t have to worry about chain of custody issues. We also provide certificates of destruction, which show the time and date that the hard drives were picked up and destroyed. 

When you’re looking for a company to trust with your data destruction needs, look for proof of certifications like NAID AAA Certification, which verifies a company’s compliance with data protection laws. Businesses that have a ISO 9001:2015 certification mean they are certified with the most widely recognized quality management system worldwide. Also look for companies that follow NIST Publication 800-88 standards for data sanitization.

Data Center Disposition

The everyday person may not be familiar with the term “data center,” or at least not know exactly what it entails. A data center is a physical facility or infrastructure that houses an organization’s computing and digital storage resources. It is responsible for storing, processing and disseminating data and supporting business applications and activities, such as emailing. 

Elements of a data center can include servers, routers, switches, storage devices, firewalls, and other IT assets. There are various types of data centers, from data centers that are built by large companies and housed on a corporate campus, to data centers that are managed by a third party and leased to a company, to virtual cloud-based data centers. 

With the working world becoming increasingly digital and remote, many companies are opting to transition from traditional physical data centers to cloud-based data centers. This leaves companies with a lot of now useless data center assets that have to be wiped and disposed of. That’s where companies that offer data center disposition can be incredibly helpful. 

PROSHRED® San Francisco, for example, works to help clients make the move to a cloud provider, while still recovering value from their existing data center assets.

Trusted Recycling Partner

Because ITAD includes both data center hardware as well as devices such as laptops or cell phones, it’s important that you know where your items will end up once they are in the hands of an IT asset  disposition company. Many companies that offer ITAD services not only wipe data and securely destroy old, broken or unwanted assets, but also partner with recycling centers and resale companies to create value from what was considered e-waste. 

Many work with a zero-landfill policy and a commitment to sustainability and reuse. When an item cannot be reused or repurposed, it must be disposed of. Disposal of IT assets nowadays consists of a n ITAD company partnering with a trusted recycling partner that will take apart old equipment to its most basic elements, sort those items and recycle them according to industry standards. 

PROSHRED® San Francisco Bay Area offers certified recycling services through such a partner. We also offer pickup programs and collection bins for unwanted electronic items to be taken for recycling. 

These recycling practices are not only environmentally responsible but follow strict chain of custody reporting. Each item is documented by its make, model and serial number as it makes its way through the system.

San Francisco IT Asset Management and Disposition

Choosing a company that offers ITAD services can seem like a daunting process, but it doesn’t have to be. PROSHRED® San Francisco Bay Area offers IT asset management and disposition services for commercial customers. From on-site destruction or wiping of old hard drives to disassembly and recycling of data centers, PROSHRED®  San Francisco wants to help you recover as much value as possible from your unwanted IT assets. Call today for more information about our ITAD services! 1-925-271-7566