When it comes to data security, do you have ‘skin in the game’? Absolutely. Having skin in the game means that you have an investment in the data security process and its outcome. Your ITAD’s reputation and business is at stake and so is your customer’s when it comes to properly managing data security in your service offering. The people you employee, the processes you choose, and the vendors you select are all evidence of your skin in the game with your business.
Your end customer and data controller have skin in the game too. They understand the high risks of getting IT Asset Disposition wrong. In 2010, Gartner presented at E-Scrap Conference in New Orleans, where the message was performing ITAD services properly is not a break even proposition. In other words, the true cost of doing ITAD services properly per industry compliance standards could not be offset solely by giving away the hardware assets. Standards have improved and “proper, compliant ITAD is not cheap”1.
Gartner was educating business leaders about the cost of ITAD and that the future thinking was to minimize the net ITAD cost versus eliminate it. Furthermore, ITAD expense should be taken inconsideration as an “upfront expense” and included in the budget during IT acquisition process. In many cases, 14-17% of the cost of a new IT purchase should be budgeted to properly perform end of life asset disposition.
The same is true when ITADs select a data erasure solution or your hard drive erasing software. To do data security properly to keep up with certification may no longer be a no cost proposition. There are a variety of data erasure software solutions in the market place to help you meet your process goals. However, there is sourcing decisions based on price alone allow uncontrolled risk into the ITAD process. Also, such no cost solutions don’t offer more benefit as far as service and process efficiencies.
FREEWARE
There are many free to download products which claim to erase data but some of these are an unknown quality. In any market there are products that command a premium and then there are freeware or shareware products. Freeware has its place. For one, it gives consumers and others an option to clear their computer of information when there is no other financial option.
Freeware often gets written once and works well for that moment in time. But, technology evolves, and evolves quickly and the freeware solution may still work; however, now it works for for fewer and fewer computer types. Think about improvements and changes in RAID and hard drives, like SATA, SAS, and solid state. Well, freeware may not keep up with these advances. And why should it, as there is no financial obligation or recourse if freeware does not deliver.
When you compete in market for customer business, you have to provide a competitive solution now, and in the future. Competition makes products better and delivers more features over time or companies go under. Freeware does not participate in this landscape. They have limited ‘skin’ in the outcome of the product. For instance, the liability of a freeware solution that says it erases all areas of the drive, but doesn’t is nil. However, a product vested in covering your interests will be vigil to keep it working in a certified fashion all the time and back the product with product liability insurance to the tune of millions of dollars of coverage.
to be continued.....
References
1 The Bucks Stop at IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) Presentation by Robert Schafer, Gartner, Inc.
About the Author
Joe Mount, VP of Sales & Marketing, Tabernus
Joe Mount is Vice President responsible for sales and marketing leadership for Tabernus. Since joining Tabernus in 2004, Joe has been instrumental in securing major customer relationships, developing the E-series hardware product offerings, and scaling delivery of Enterprise Erase® software brand to global clientele. Prior to joining Tabernus, Joe held various leadership and engineering positions at Dell Inc, Applied Materials, and U.S. Army. Joe holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering degree from Georgia Institute of Technology
About Tabernus
Tabernus is a leading provider of certified data erasure software and hardware solutions used by companies of all sizes to completely remove all data from hard drive storage devices. With headquarters in Austin, Texas, its European offices are in London and South Wales.
Established in 2002, the company now offers easy to install and operate data erasure tools as both software and hardware solutions.
Tabernus has been formally certified for government use to securely erase protectively marked data after independent testing carried out by QinetiQ, a British global defence technology company under contract to the Government’s Communications-Electronics Security Group (CESG).
Tabernus partners include the OEM, Defence, Public/Private Sector, Health Care and IT Recycling and Disposal sectors.
www.tabernus.com
For North America please call the Sales and Operations team at 1-888-700-8560 or email: sales@tabernus.com.
For UK and Europe please call the UK based Sales and Operations Team direct at +44 (0) 845 689 1350 or email: uksales@tabernus.com
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