Many employees dread receiving an email with the subject line: Time for a device upgrade. Adopting new technology should spark excitement, but the traditional device return experience often overshadows that excitement.
Consider the IT teams' experience managing device recovery in a hybrid or remote corporate environment. With some—if not all—employees working remotely, dispersed across the country or around the world, this process is now more complex than ever.
There are many reasons why companies choose to upgrade—or refresh—their mobile IT assets, but some of the most common reasons include:
Enrolling IT assets in a Unified Endpoint Management (UEM) environment is easiest when an asset becomes eligible for an upgrade. Deploying UEM software to all company-owned IT assets is important because the software enables companies to:
Older IT assets are more vulnerable to security risks like malware and cyber attacks. Due to standard manufacturer warranties providing limited coverage, older IT assets often aren’t supported by new manufacturers’ software updates. Once an older model IT asset no longer receives software and security updates from the manufacturer, its valuable corporate data becomes vulnerable and exposed.
Additionally, older IT assets require more maintenance due to battery failure and insufficient storage.
Repairing older IT assets results in higher IT support costs and lost time due to troubleshooting, which can quickly diminish savings. Older IT assets have a higher likelihood of device failure, leading to downtime during the workday for employees, which is why we recommend retiring older IT assets when upgraded models are available.
Newer IT assets increase end-user productivity and tend to have faster operating speeds and battery efficiency. Enabling your workforce with new device features allows employees to sync notes between their phones and computers, keep tabs on your competition, utilize the Do Not Disturb feature, and increase overall end-user productivity.
An IT asset recovery rate is the percentage of IT assets recovered out of IT assets eligible for recovery. Typically, the IT asset recovery rate is calculated for a specific project or over a specified period of time, such as one year.
Using traditional IT asset recovery methods, a company can expect a rate of around 30 percent. On average, Apkudo’s customers achieve an IT asset recovery rate of about 95 percent—approximately three times the industry average.
So what’s the secret? Three primary components drive our high IT asset recovery rates:
From our very first call with a customer, we set each IT asset recovery program up for success. We actively contribute to the program's design and share our expert knowledge and best practices for program success.
Our software increases visibility into the end-of-lifecycle process for our customers, and once in place, they can see what happens to an asset once it’s been decommissioned.
Our customers can track which end users are compliant during IT asset recovery and quickly identify who still needs to return their company-issued devices. Then, they can take action on those reports within the software platform, such as sending recovery reminders via email.
Automation of manual IT asset recovery processes also enables high recovery rates. From the start of the recovery process, it is essential to find efficiencies and a reliable data source for determining when an IT asset is rendered unused and eligible for recovery.
Modernizing your company’s IT asset recovery process with the addition of a software-driven IT asset recovery partner will transform the way you and your team approach the end of an asset’s lifecycle.
The first step in making an informed vendor decision is understanding your company's growing IT asset recovery needs. We’ve outlined key considerations to help you choose the right vendor.
Reusing recovered IT assets gives individuals in the secondhand market—such as education or under-resourced communities—the opportunity to use newer technologies.
An ideal IT asset recovery vendor will provide you with a secure chain of logistics and Certificate of Data Erasure for every asset recovered and processed by its team. These certificates can prove compliance when your company is audited for data security standards and regulations.
An effective IT asset recovery strategy also addresses what to do with retired IT assets that may no longer be useful for your company but could be useful for someone else.
An ideal IT asset recovery vendor should assist you with reselling IT assets through an established marketplace of buyers. Knowing your idle IT assets’ worth can help your organization maximize return and further additional IT projects by converting idle inventory into usable capital.
When IT assets are no longer usable and have no residual value, responsibly recycling them is essential. Assets should be dismantled to recover parts and base components, including precious metals, for reuse with an R2 Certified recycling vendor.
Extending IT asset lifecycles benefits the environment by preventing electronics from becoming e-waste or ending up in landfills. An ideal IT asset recovery vendor should provide customized environmental impact reports to show your impact in easy-to-understand comparisons and measurements.
Recovering or refreshing IT assets manually can be overwhelming and may lead to burnout for your team. Automating manual processes will rejuvenate your IT asset recovery strategy, as it saves you time, eliminates the risk of errors during large projects, and reduces your organization’s workload in logistics, recovery, and processing.
Choosing an IT asset recovery vendor with a software-driven approach and automation capabilities will decrease the time your team spends recovering IT assets and increase your overall recovery rate.
Experience matters—for IT teams and employees. Now is the perfect time to revisit your current program and achieve recovery rates well over the industry average. Contact us to get started.
