Every office will eventually need to dispose of old equipment. As new servers and PCs are purchased and put into use, old devices and hard drives, stack up in office spaces and storage closets, consuming much-needed square footage. Many businesses put off disposing of old equipment because they lack the resources, time, and expertise necessary to responsibly recycle computers and servers.
That s where NCWS comes in. We have more than a decade of experience in meeting businesses IT needs, working with companies across the country. We have a well-honed process that ensures that when a business recycles its equipment, the data that resides on each server and computer is completely inaccessible to anyone else.
Business Liability
Data breaches cost businesses an average of $154 per leaked record. For organizations that store information on thousands of customers, that can quickly add up. In addition to the cost of notifying customers and repairing the issue that caused the breach, a business may be required to pay hefty fines. Additionally, there s the reputation damage that comes from a data breach, with customers often shying away from businesses that have had security issues for years afterward.
Large corporations often have the backing necessary to survive a costly data breach. For small and midsized businesses, however, the financial loss can eventually destroy them. IT leaders invest most of their manpower in securing information at the server level, but most data breaches occur directly on devices. An easily-guessed password or misplaced device can lead to serious problems for a business. But all too often, IT departments forget how vulnerable old electronics can be.
Over the course of a given workday, employees send and receive numerous emails, downloading attachments to various areas of a hard drive. Even when workers are explicitly directed to save all documents to network drives, files somehow end up on the hard drive itself. This means information such as customer social security numbers, credit card information, and contact addresses and phone numbers can be intercepted, especially if the company donates the equipment for continued use.
Disposal Options
Often teams choose NCWS s equipment disposal services in preparation for an office or data center relocation. Once they ve worked with us during that process, they contact us any time they need equipment removed. A business doesn t have to move to use our services, though. We can remove one or two pieces of equipment or take a truckload. We also work directly with each team to define a disposal method that works for them.
There are several equipment disposal options available to businesses, including:
- Donating to associates
- Donating to nonprofit organizations
- Selling to an equipment reseller or computer manufacturer
- Sending to a recycling center
The chosen option will determine the drive destruction method. Organizations that choose to donate or sell equipment may find that the drive must remain fully intact to sell, which means shredding isn t an option. NCWS will then erase the drive using the most thorough technology available to ensure a computer s new owner can t retrieve any data that might remain on it.
Our Services
NCWS provides a variety of recycling services based on a business s unique preferences. Our project managers meet with leaders to craft a customized plan based on their own needs. Our services include:
- Inventorying equipment to be recycled and recommending a course of action
- A two-step process that includes degaussing and shredding each drive
- Mobile shredders to destroy drives on site
- Compliance with HIPAA and EPA regulations
- Specialized compliance services available upon request
Benefits of Our Services
When a business chooses our equipment disposal services, they know they re benefiting from years of expertise. By first degaussing each drive to make all of its data unreadable then following up by shredding the drive, we keep data from being retrievable. Standard hard drive erasure methods can leave room for doubt, but our two-step process is the top technology available to secure drives before disposal.
When our services are complete, we ll provide documentation to detail how the drive was destroyed before the equipment was offloaded. When a business is audited, this paperwork satisfies regulatory requirements and keeps clients happy. If a breach should occur, leaders can pull the appropriate paperwork necessary to reduce liability for that breach, proving that efforts were made on the device side to keep customer information safe.
When a business needs an office or data center decommissioned, responsible recycling is essential, both to protect customer information and be as environmentally friendly as possible. NCWS s qualified IT specialists work directly with a business to come up with a suite of solutions that meet its own regulatory requirements. The end result is a recycling method that reduces that organization s liability and protects its customers and clients from a data breach.