Every piece of hardware in your office will eventually need to be retired. Laptops slow down. Servers reach end of life. Storage drives fill up and get replaced. The question is: what happens to the data on those devices when they leave your building?
Simply wiping a drive and dropping the equipment at an electronics recycler isn’t enough—especially if that device ever contained client information, financial data, or anything else you’d rather not see in the wrong hands. That’s where IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) comes in: a structured process for retiring hardware securely.
Here are five practical steps to build into your technology lifecycle.
1. Write It Down: Create a Formal ITAD Policy
Before you can follow a process, you need to define one. Your ITAD policy doesn’t need to be complicated—it just needs to answer the key questions:
- What triggers the retirement process? (Age, failure, upgrade cycle?)
- Who’s responsible for each step?
- What data destruction standards will you follow?
- What documentation do you need to keep?
A written policy turns one-off decisions into a consistent, repeatable process. It also gives you something to point to during audits.
2. Build ITAD Into Employee Offboarding
A surprising number of data incidents start with unreturned devices. When someone leaves the company, their laptop, phone, and any storage drives need to come back—and then be properly handled.
Add device recovery to your offboarding checklist. Once a device is returned:
- Wipe it using approved data sanitization methods
- Decide if it can be reissued to another employee or needs to be retired
- If retiring, move it into your ITAD process
This closes a common gap where devices sit in closets for months before anyone thinks to wipe them.
3. Track Everything: Maintain a Chain of Custody
From the moment a device leaves an employee’s hands to the moment it’s recycled or destroyed, you should be able to trace every step. Who had it? Where was it stored? When did it move?
This doesn’t require fancy software—a spreadsheet works if you’re diligent. The point is accountability. If a device goes missing or data surfaces somewhere it shouldn’t, you can trace what happened.
4. Prefer Data Sanitization Over Physical Destruction
Physical destruction—shredding hard drives—feels definitive, but it’s often overkill and always wasteful. Modern data sanitization software overwrites storage with random data, making the original information completely unrecoverable.
The advantage? Sanitized devices can be refurbished and reused, either internally or through resale. This extends the lifecycle of your equipment and reduces electronic waste. Physical destruction should be reserved for devices that are truly beyond reuse.
5. Partner With a Certified ITAD Provider
Most small and mid-sized businesses don’t have the specialized tools for secure data destruction—and that’s fine. What you need is a partner who does.
When evaluating ITAD vendors, look for certifications like:
- e-Stewards or R2 for electronics recycling
- NAID AAA for data destruction
These certifications confirm the vendor follows strict security and environmental standards. After processing, they should provide a certificate of disposal documenting exactly what happened to each device. Keep these on file for compliance purposes.
The Bigger Picture
Your retired hardware isn’t just old equipment—it’s a liability until it’s properly handled. A clear ITAD process protects you from data breaches, keeps you compliant with regulations, and supports sustainability by extending the useful life of technology.
And it doesn’t have to be complicated. A written policy, consistent offboarding, good record-keeping, and a reliable ITAD partner cover most of what you need.
Need help setting up an ITAD process? We can help you think through the policy and connect you with certified partners. Let us know if you’d like to talk it through.
Easier IT, Happier Employees.
