How Wisetek Helps You Maintain Efficient and Ethical Supply Chains
As technology continues to evolve and mature, the value of a capable ITAD company, such as Wisetek, is becoming more and more apparent.
Supply Chains and Reverse Logistics
Not least in the area of supply chain and reverse logistics. Any supply chain that involves IT assets carries with it inherent risks that require mitigation or removal, for both financial and social reasons. The fact that an inefficient supply chain can hurt your organization’s bottom line will drive the point home for many, but CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) is also a significant factor.
The transfer of IT assets, regardless of the direction in which it is flowing, includes both legal and environmental risks. The legalities will vary from country to country, but, as an example, it is often the case that you are not allowed to dispose of your retired IT equipment in traditional landfills. The risks to your business are not just legal in nature, of course. Disposing of retired IT assets can present significant security risks for companies with sensitive data. Electronic recycling and data destruction are critical services that any IT asset disposal company will offer.
From a more social standpoint, data leaks as a result of mismanaged IT assets can destroy your brand and damage the trust your customers have in you. It should be the goal of any ethical company not to be beholden only to their bottom line. Of course, a large corporation is a complicated machine, and the good intentions of some rarely lead to the good actions of the whole. That is why an effective CSR strategy is needed.
What Does CSR Look Like?
Corporate Social Responsibility can mean many things. In the context of a supply chain; how environmentally friendly is it? Does your supply chain benefit from inhumane work conditions? Whether your company performs volunteer work or contributes to charities also factors into CSR, but is less relevant from an ITAD perspective. In the past, CSR has acted as a kind of self-regulation for corporate entities. However, increasing fears over both the handling of personal data and protecting our environment have led to increased regulation. One of the benefits of working with Wisetek is the confidence that you will not fall foul of any national or international regulations regarding the transfer of IT assets. For ITAD companies, the supply chain is where CSR plays the most significant role – responsible IT asset disposal, secure destruction of data in any form, and recycling.
These are the tools that we can provide: Certified recycling and Re-marketing
All IT hardware, from phones to data center servers, contain materials known as “rare earth elements”. As the name suggests, these are not materials we have in abundance on Earth. Consisting of elements such as platinum, indium, and silver, rare earth materials are a finite resource that are mostly found in China. It is the rarity of these materials—and the impact extracting them has on the environment—that makes it vitally important to recycle and reuse IT assets wherever possible. IT asset disposition can play many roles in this respect. Assets that have reached their End of Life, or EOL, can be thoroughly stripped of all usable parts. They can then be used in your organization as spares or re-marketed through our global networks.
Either way, the lifetime value of that asset is extended while simultaneously protecting the environment from unnecessary waste. When re-marketing or recycling IT assets, from business phones to decommissioned data center assets, proper secure data destruction must be employed. The shine of Big Data has rubbed off somewhat in recent years with every costly data leak that has occurred, and disposing of IT assets without proper consideration to the data on those assets opens your business up to this kind of risk. Only you can know the value of sensitive proprietary data. But the cost of data leaks that include customer data has been shown repeatedly in recent years.
With Wisetek, from stringent certifications to video evidence, and even onsite data shredding services, you will be left in no doubt that your data is gone, and safe from falling into malicious hands.
Global Certification:
Ensuring the supply chain is ethically managed is not always an easy task, particularly for large, global companies that work with international partners. Say your business makes a deal with a distributor on the other side of the globe. And that distributor uses a particular manufacturer, and that manufacturer contracts some work out to a small, local, workshop. It would be challenging for you to ensure that every step of that chain is ethical. This challenge only grows when you add in multiple distributors, manufacturers, and contractors. There are ways to mitigate the risk of unintentionally benefiting from an unethical supply chain, however, such as certification. By making sure your new assets are TCO certified, you significantly reduce the risk of your supply chain negatively affecting the environment.
It is crucial to consider your reputation
The effects of a bad reputation are not as immediate as, say, a drop in sales, but they can be just as devastating and have far longer-lasting consequences. As the world shifts evermore towards sustainability and a circular economy, environmental consciousness, and increased human and worker rights, leaving your business exposed to unethical practices makes less and less sense. Wisetek can take the burden through comprehensive global re-marketing networks, secure data destruction, and strict adherence to a wide range of certifications, we can can keep your supply chains ethical.
It is our business to ensure the smooth up and downstream operation of your supply chains, as well as protect your businesses interests through comprehensive data destruction services. Also, implementing an effective CSR strategy is no small task, but it is not a task you need to undertake alone.
Speak to a member of our expert ITAD team today. Contact Now