Pandemic could drive further automation in the ITAD industry
Pandemic could drive further automation in the ITAD industry
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A recent webinar featured three panelists who spoke about dealing with businesses and their electronics recycling and information technology asset disposition (ITAD) needs, specifically what they’ll look like over the coming months as recovery from the pandemic continues.
This webinar was just one of 10 hosted by the Secure Information Governance & Management Association (i-SIGMA), based in Phoenix. The webinars make up the Road to Recovery series the association is hosting that covers topics from medical waste and insurance to how to handle communication during a crisis.
Brent Berry spoke first, sharing his thoughts on how businesses approach electronics recycling differently than individuals. He’s the executive director of ITAD and reverse logistics at Ingram Micro, an Irvine, California-based logistics and device life cycle services company.
Berry said businesses are focused on their assets, and what they need is often very customized for their entire workforce, whereas individuals are often only focused on one asset.
Neil Peters-Michaud, CEO and cofounder of Cascade Asset Management, an ITAD services company based in Madison, Wisconsin, added that having strong relationships with businesses during these tough times might help in the long-run, where an individual customer might opt to keep his or her computer or tablet rather than recycle it.
Attendees also heard from Jade Lee, president and CEO of Supply-Chain Services Inc., an electronics recycling and ITAD company based in Lombard, Illinois.
The webinar was in a round-table format, as all three panelists offered their opinions on a variety of topics that included how COVID-19 affects the disposition cycle, if refurbished equipment will make it back to consumers and how the ITAD industry will recover from the pandemic.
Peters-Michaud said the beginning of the year was great and he believed growth was on the horizon.
“We were very excited,” he said. “But what I thought was interesting was in Q1, we saw some people come to recognize that this pandemic was going to be an economic threat earlier than others.”
Because the company works internationally, he said it was helpful to be able to anticipate what could happen in the United States a few weeks later.
“We didn’t really start feeling the financial impact until May, June,” Berry added. “There was a little bit of buffer between recognition and impact.”
Going forward, all three panelists said in-person meetings with customers have changed a great deal over the last few months, having been replaced by conference calls and video meetings to keep businesses informed and letting them know they were still open, despite COVID-19.
“More than ever, it’s important to keep in touch with customers,” Lee said. “Their requirements have changed, or they are struggling sometimes to find what they need to do in all the chaos. We want to have a more frequent conversation with them.”
Berry said it isn’t just about talking to customers more but also about finding what additional services ITAD companies can offer them. Because many businesses have said the majority of staff will continue working from home, ITAD companies and electronics recyclers must consider what they can offer them.
“Remote access, remote erasure, being able to handle things remotely, tying into a platform where you can manage assets and hit those assets from a data erasure perspective remotely,” Berry said, “this is going to drive us to another level of automation and non-touch work environment that we would not have had in the next 10 years.”
To wrap up the webinar, all three shared their outlooks for the industry going forward.
Peters-Michaud said he believes layoffs will continue at the companies ITAD firms serve, but that means a lot of equipment will be sitting around.
“That’s something where we need to be able to come in there, help people out from a security standpoint, protect their reputation, turn that equipment into cash for folks,” he said.
Lee added that ITAD isn’t immune to the struggles other businesses are facing during this pandemic. Because so many businesses are keeping employees at home, they need more computers, printers and other materials, so while that material isn’t coming in to be recycled, those companies still need security services to protect their networks and data.
“This is our new normal for quite an extended period of time,” Berry added. “It’s going to be different for all of us. You’re going to have to do more, be more, in the future.”
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Source: Recycling Today
Pandemic could drive further automation in the ITAD industry
<![CDATA[A recent webinar featured three panelists who spoke about dealing with businesses and their electronics recycling and information technology asset disposition (ITAD) needs, specifically what they’ll look like over the coming months as recovery from the pandemic continues. This webinar was just one of 10 hosted by the Secure Information Governance & Management Association (i-SIGMA), based in Phoenix. The webinars make up the Road to Recovery series the association is hosting that covers topics from medical waste and insurance to how to handle communication during a crisis. Brent Berry spoke first, sharing his thoughts on how businesses approach electronics recycling differently than individuals. He’s the executive director of ITAD and reverse logistics at Ingram Micro, an Irvine, California-based logistics and device life cycle services company.Berry said businesses are focused on their assets, and what they need is often very customized for their entire workforce, whereas individuals are often only focused on one asset. Neil Peters-Michaud, CEO and cofounder of Cascade Asset Management, an ITAD services company based in Madison, Wisconsin, added that having strong relationships with businesses during these tough times might help in the long-run, where an individual customer might opt to keep his or her computer or tablet rather than recycle it.…