HOW TO MASTER ASSET LIFE CYCLES
It’s no secret that IT professionals are the superheroes of the modern world. On any given day, it’s the IT department that saves the business from pitfalls like malware, unreliable internet, and the whole gambit of technological disasters. These dedicated workers are not only performing heroic deeds, but they’re doing it within the confines of a budget.
While the IT department is capable of saving the day, they cannot do so without knowing every facet of how the organization’s technology operates. After all, what good is a mechanic who doesn’t know how an engine functions? If you want to be the all-around IT hero for your company, then an integral part of that training is learning about asset life cycles.
Plan Now to Save Later
The professionals at Computer World assert that planning ahead for the “end of life” for your company’s technology can aid in budgeting resources appropriately. Logically, this makes perfect sense. By knowing when your technology will need to be replaced, you can ensure that you’re ready to replace these assets when the time comes.
Without proper preparation, however, your business may find itself unable to replace assets when they have reached the end of their lifespan. Not only will a lack of planning lead to your organization not having the appropriate funds to replace old assets, but you will enter the market with an immediate need and considerably less time to replace your assets. If a computer is suddenly broken beyond repair, for instance, you will quickly find yourself with no time to find the most cost-effective replacement.
By properly planning for the end of an asset’s life, you will have ample time to find a suitable replacement that is within your organization’s budget. Of course, to make these plans, you will need to have an understanding of an asset’s lifespan and how long you can confidently rely on it to work for your organization.
Average Asset Lifespans
It should be noted that the lifecycle of an asset will vary slightly depending upon the specifications that it must live up to. For example, a cell phone used by an active CEO will invariably need to be replaced sooner than one owned by a farmer due to the disparity in the frequency of use.
That said, there are general guidelines to be followed that can assist in planning your organization’s IT future. The typical IT asset lifespans are as follows:
• Cell phones: Two years.
• Laptops: Three years.
• Desktops: Four years.
• Servers: Five years.
• Networking Equipment: Five years.
• Monitors: Eight years.
Creating an Asset’s Lifecycle Record
How can you use this information? Once you have purchased an asset, you should note how long you can reasonably expect to keep it in working condition. This is not a one-time note to be made, however, but a constant record to be updated. In this record, you should include information such as maintenance, hardware replacements, and frequency of usage to have a comprehensive understanding of how long your assets will continue to function for your organization.
This may sound like a tedious task, but it is absolutely essential for planning a record on which to base your asset purchases. If you purchased a laptop three years ago, but it has undergone significant hardware updates, then you may reasonably be able to rely on it for another year or two. By failing to keep a comprehensive record, you can easily end up wasting your organization’s resources by replacing an asset before it has outlived usefulness or after it has ceased functioning.
Thankfully, you may not have to maintain this record by yourself. There is a wide array of asset management software that will allow you to record your updates on an asset’s lifecycle and help you estimate how long that asset will continue to be useful.
Maximizing Your Profits
You should now know how to anticipate the end of an asset’s lifecycle, but that is only the first part of handling this delicate IT situation. Do you simply toss out your outdated assets after they have outlived their usefulness? Of course not. To do so would be a waste of environmental resources as well as a missed opportunity for your organization to profit from its unwanted technology.
Clarabyte’s solution, ClaraSell, brings a new level of ease to listing and reselling your unwanted devices. ClaraSell’s primary functions are to find the hidden value of your hardware, post your listings and sell them on your behalf, all without wasting the time of your employees.
This process not only ensures that your discarded assets are contributing to environmental stability by not sitting in a landfill, but it also allows you to capitalize on your unwanted assets and maximize your profits without letting other tasks fall to the wayside. For organizations who value efficiency and capitalizing on assets while protecting natural resources, it is hard to imagine a better arrangement.
Protecting Your Privacy
Regardless of how you sell your decommissioned assets, you should note that they can pose a significant security risk when not handled properly. Simply deleting old files is not enough to stop thieves from stealing sensitive data off your discarded hardware and using that information to ruin your business. When you utilize a reliable data wipe, however, you are protected from thieves who would steal information from unwanted devices.
Clarabyte’s wipe is more than qualified to clear any and all information stored on your hardware and is remarkably easy to operate. When seeking to protect your privacy, it’s always best to err on the side of caution, so schedule a demo and test out Clarabyte’s data wipe to ensure that it’s the best option for your organization.
Regardless of your decision, it is imperative that you use protective measures like data wipes to protect yourself as you near the end of an asset’s lifecycle. By employing these simple security protocols and making the most of your unwanted devices, your mastery of asset lifecycles will greatly benefit the profits and security of your organization.