End of Life IT Asset Management

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.

Recycling -

Legal & ethical disposal of non-working items.

Redeployment -

Re-imaging, configuration, refurbishment, upgrades, tailored services.

Employee Purchase -

Managing the sale of a client's surplus equipment to their employees.

Charity Donation -

Donation of client equipment to the charitable sector.