All businesses today rely on electronics in order to survive. Electronics have a limited lifespan and it’s with the great necessity to understand when to recycle your business electronics! This is one of the problems with this. It’s not a matter of whether they will fail one day; it’s just when. Business owners, purchasing managers, and IT managers need to be ready for the inevitable and have a plan to ensure continuity.
This is particularly important for financial and legal services, which handle a large amount of client data. Downtime of devices can pose security risks that could compromise the trust foundation of your business.
Planning for the lifecycle and knowing when to recycle your business electronics will help you make smart business decisions. These are some tips to help you manage your business electronics and when to recycle them.
Device Life Expectancy
No matter if it’s a printer, phone, or laptop, all devices have an expected life expectancy. You can often find the expected lifespan by doing a quick Google search. This should be considered when planning your lifecycle. You can plan for your laptop’s eventual failure after three years by planning now. This gives you three years to prepare for the inevitable.
Equipment Performance
Your electronics’ performance will decrease over time. You may notice your devices acting slower, crashing unexpectedly, and other symptoms. These symptoms should be treated as a sign that your device is nearing the time to be repaired or replaced.
Repair vs Replace
It can be difficult to decide whether to repair or replace your electronics. It is crucial to do a thorough financial analysis in order to decide if the shorter lifespan of repairing your device is worth the savings compared to replacing it with newer equipment. It may be worthwhile to buy new if you can save 50% on a new device while repairing one that’s already in use. If the cost of repairing a device is comparable to that of replacing it, then the same applies.
Replace vs Upgrade
You have two options if you want to replace your device. One is to either replace it with a comparable model or upgrade it to something better. The final decision is ultimately down to your financial situation. If you have the money to do one, will the upgrade provide disproportionately better performance than your current equipment?
Sometimes the decision is made for you. If your products are no more available, you might be forced to upgrade. Sometimes, however, it is worth looking at the numbers to determine if an upgrade is a good idea or if it would be better to keep your current level of electronics.
Responsible Electronics Disposal
Responsible disposal of end-of-life electronic devices has two facets: ensuring that your electronics are disposed of or recycled in as environmentally friendly a manner as possible, and ensuring that you have safeguarded against any potential data breaches associated with disposing of your electronics.
For the first, it is crucial to work with an electronics recycling company that is certified to make sure your devices don’t end up in a landfill. It is worth collaborating with a data destruction firm to protect your data while recycling electronics. This is an important step that you shouldn’t ignore, considering that more than 30 percent of all data breaches are caused by end-of-life electronic devices. Additionally, the potential fines for such breaches can be severe.
Conclusion
A clear plan for the day when your electronic devices end their lifecycle is both practical and financially sound. You can create a plan that will work for you and your business, and also protect you from potential cybersecurity disasters.
Contact us today for more information on when and how to recycle your business electronics!