IT systems are a vital part of the NHS, yet often you may view them as a budgetary burden when they reach the end of their life-span with disposal costs that need to factor-in environmental impact and data security. However, when managed effectively these old systems can actually become your assets again, with careful recycling to ensure any residual value is extracted whilst ensuring any residual data is safely disposed of to uphold data security, writes Andrew Blocksage, pictured, Sales Director at The ITAD Works.
To add to your challenges, the UK Information Commissioner’s department was granted new powers from 1st February this year; to subject public healthcare organisations to a compulsory audit. These audits review how the NHS handles patients’ personal information and can also review areas such as the security of your data, records management, staff training and data sharing – so the scrutiny has never been sharper. To ensure your NHS Trust meets these criteria, it’s vital to have comprehensive IT lifecycle management in place.
Like all parts of the NHS, your Trust has a vital challenge to ensure IT systems are cost-efficient, compliant to data privacy legislation and the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Directive. The penalties (both financial and reputational) and real-world consequences to your Trust make it an essential consideration. The move away from traditional PCs, laptops and servers to mobile smart devices has made the challenge even more acute. Naturally your Trust will already be reaping numerous benefits from using this technology, but the flip-side is that it also carry lots of data and is more susceptible to loss or theft – especially when it reaches the end of its life-cycle. With so many factors involved, ensuring the ‘cleaning’ of the data from your used IT assets is something that needs to be done by an expert.
Peace of mind
This is where IT life-cycle advice can really help, because it is possible to significantly reduce information leakage and at the same time reduce your total cost of ownership. This applies to all parts of the modern IT infrastructure – wiping data, and where necessarily safely destroying the whole device for complete assurance. At The ITAD Works for example, we have been approved for procurement framework by the NHS, due to our high levels of professional accreditation, diligence, expertise and processes.
Reclaiming value
Your old IT equipment doesn’t necessarily have to be scrapped when it has finished its initial lifespan. Whilst a used computer hard disk drive (HDD) can pose an obvious threat to data loss, the rest of the machine may be fully serviceable and safe to re-use with a new HDD – or even with the original one professionally magnetically wiped. This makes it fully possible to offer your Trust a cash return on a percentage of these unwanted IT assets. True IT life-cycle management looks at the overall cost of these systems and aims to reduce this wherever possible – recycling is just as prevalent and useful in IT as any other waste management!
Ensuring safe disposal
Naturally there are some instances where some of your IT assets have no intrinsic value left in them (either the item is outmoded or unable to meet evolving demands). This is where your environmental concerns can come to the fore too, with some items harbouring dangerous substances and chemicals. An expert disposal team such as The ITAD Works can remove your hazardous items for safe disposal and shred what is left to ensure minimum impact and to assure your peace of mind.
With so much trust placed in the NHS, you need to be assured of the safe disposal of your IT assets. Equally these IT assets need to offer you the best return on invest at all stages of the lifecycle. Working with the right partner will ensure you gain all of these benefits.
As experts we recognise that quality controlled processes are the key to achieving this balance. Like your team, we adhere to strict processes and protocols which ensure that not only is data fully contained, the hardware its self is safely and efficiently disposed of too. It’s important that you think of the entire IT life-cycle from purchase to disposal and to see that the end of this can offer your Trust overall benefits, rather than just being a begrudged cost or inconvenience.
Visit www.theitadworks.com.
