AMI recently conducted a survey of 137 senior IT decision-makers throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland, with the aim of gaining an insight into organisations’ approach to disposing of end-of-life IT assets. The results highlight a number of interesting findings, including the fact that a significant number of Irish companies are leaving themselves open to huge GDPR fines.
Companies leaving themselves open to huge GDPR fines
Almost one-third of respondents (32%) who say that they use third-party IT retirement companies admitted that they do not receive formal confirmation from their providers that their data has been completely erased. Under GDPR this would constitute a data breach, and companies could be liable to fines of up to €20 million or 4% of global turnover, depending on which is greater. Businesses need to therefore make sure that they are getting the required assurances that their data has been completely destroyed, and that it cannot be recovered.
As well as this, the results reveal that the majority of organisations fail to recover the value of old assets that they dispose of, despite the significant value of IT equipment. 70% of businesses say that they don’t recover any value when retiring old assets.
AMI regularly returns the value of old IT to clients
These companies are missing out on a potentially lucrative revenue stream; AMI regularly returns the value of old IT to clients. Where possible, we focus on recovering the residual value for all client devices. In fact, we refurbished and resold 40,000 PCs and laptops in 2015, and returned €2.2 million to our customers. This money can be used as the client sees fit – to upgrade the existing IT infrastructure for example. Alternatively, value from resold devices can be donated to a charity of the client’s choice. It often doesn’t occur to companies that there is any value in their old IT equipment.
Due to security concerns, some businesses are reluctant to agree to their old IT devices being resold. A third of survey respondents (33%) said that they would not allow it. However, working with a trusted and experienced partner like AMI will ensure that your redundant IT equipment is securely wiped with a bespoke audit tracking system. Your IT assets are tracked from the initial collection onsite through to the resale. This delivers a comprehensive audit trail for each individual ICT Asset. A Certificate of Destruction is issued to guarantee the items have been recycled.
Watch out for our next blog, in which we’ll outline some more of our survey findings, and explain how AMI can help to ensure the lowest risk of harmful data leaks.
Contact us today to find out more about how AMI can help your organisation to discover the value in old IT. If you’d prefer, fill in your contact details below and we’ll call you…
