The management of
end of life IT assets is now an essential element of all IT
resource deployment, whether for project rollouts or as part
of a normal replacement program. It is a complex area of IT
management full of potential hazards, which affect many disciplines
within all large companies and government departments.
What are the issues ?
Legal
Data Protection, Health and Safety and Environmental Protection
are the key risk areas with severe penalties for non-compliance.
Each of these areas is governed by legislation that places a
direct duty of care on the senior management of the company
or government body.
Financial
On the financial side there are many issues to be considered
- the optimisation of revenues from redundant assets, the
efficient removal of equipment from maintenance schedules,
a complete audit of costs and revenues for the accurate maintenance
of the asset register, cost effective upgrade for re-use and
accurate detailed billing for cost allocation.
Operational
It is a simple statement of fact to say that the
scale of redundant IT management is comparable to the scale
of the deployment of new equipment. It all went in; it all has
to come out. With large estates there are logistical and operational
requirements, which, in many cases, are complicated by the need
to interface with teams deploying new equipment. For commercial
reasons, there may also be a requirement to integrate refurbished
equipment into refresh programs.
These issues need good general account management
coupled with project management skills as and when required.
Environmental
All government bodies and large-scale enterprises
are increasingly compelled to take account of the impact of
environmental issues across all of their activities. Most financial
institutions now offer "Green Funds" which are limited to investments
in environmentally friendly companies. Employees are also keen
to promote and support environmentally friendly policies within
their working environment.
The correct management of redundant inventory
offers a number of benefits in this area. In particular, detailed
reporting on all aspects of end of life processing can support
annual reports and internal marketing of the company's environmental
performance.
Staff Purchase
From the HR perspective, many companies wish
to offer their staff the opportunity to purchase redundant equipment
without hassle and without any repercussions in terms of payroll.
Most companies have experienced problems with this type of service
in the past, particularly with regard to health and safety on
second-hand equipment and post sales support.
Charitable Donations
Many bodies wish to donate equipment to charity.
In a similar vein to the issue of Staff Purchase, they wish
to do this without hassle whilst ensuring that the transactions
are handled in line with tax and charity legislation.
What is the answer ?
In short the answer is RDC.
Key Service Areas:
Account Management
Project Management
Logistics/Transport
Technical Processing
Redeployment
Recycling
Remarketing
Staff Purchase
Charity Donation
Unique Features of RDC
• RDC is the largest end of life service provider in UK
in terms of staff (120), contracts (444) and premises (120,000
sq ft).
• RDC
has the capacity to process 50,000 units per month.
• RDC
has developed a comprehensive and robust software suite which
manages ALL of its business functions. It is the only company
in this field that can track every single item through all of
its processes and report on its ultimate fate at the touch of
a button.
• RDC
is the only company that has IS0 9001:2000 accreditation for
its entire business process. This is supplemented by our ISO
14001 accreditation for our internal Environmental Management
System. These awards are vetted by the BSI and have been in
place since 2000 and 2001 respectively.
• RDC
is wholly owned by Computacenter PLC, one of the largest and
most respected IT services companies in the UK. Through Computacenter,
RDC can integrate its services with large-scale rollouts of
new equipment and business as usual requirements.
• RDC
has a web sales operation that is fully integrated with its
core software suite with hourly updates of available equipment.
This suite manages the provision of employee purchase schemes.
• RDC
is the only company in its field that can automatically produce
reports which demonstrate compliance with proposed UK and European
legislation on electrical waste (WEEE directive). These are
available NOW.
• RDC
is the only company in its field that has fully automated billing
down to item level for all of its activities. This billing can
be structured to reflect important decisions on cost/revenue
allocation.
•RDC
has recently won the prestigious Queen's Award for Enterprise
for its innovation in our sector.
The citation reads: "RDC receives the award
for introducing a comprehensive service for the disposal of
redundant computer equipment. Those intending to recycle such
equipment need to take account of the requirements of data protection
and electrical safety legislation whilst disposal needs to be
carried out in accordance with environmental protection rules.
The company takes full responsibility for disposing of client's
unwanted computer equipment, re-using or recycling it where
possible in accordance with legislation and disposing of it
to landfill where necessary in a legal manner. As a result,
clients realise a better return from their unwanted equipment
and rates of re-use and recycling are maximised"
In summary, RDC is a totally unique service in its field for
corporate and government bodies. It combines financial security
as part of Computacenter (turnover in 2001 of £2 billion) with
a full suite of services for end of life asset management.
With RDC you can have the best of both worlds -complete risk
management with aggressive optimisation of revenue.
Service
Capabilities
Logistics -
Pan-European collection, inventory tracking and delivery.
Technical Processing -
Data wiping, PAT testing, functionality testing, cosmetic
cleansing, inventory reporting.
Re-Marketing -
Resale in the open market to return residual revenue
back to the client.
Financial