Glimpses of Gartner
By Carol Baroudi
When it comes to IT asset disposition as a topic of interest, I think the Gartner IT Financial, Procurement & Asset Management Summit is the place to be. And I want to thank Gartner for honoring our request to put IT asset disposition at the beginning of the conference. Too often the neglected stepchild, ITAD needs to take its rightful place when it comes to thinking about total cost of ownership, total asset management, end-to-end data security and the overall integrity of a brand.
Gartner chose two fabulous keynote speakers. Joe Navarro presented “The Power of Nonverbal Communications,” which was fascinating and functional. Patrick Lencioni presented “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team,” equally fascinating and functional. I’ve ordered their books from my local library.
New and notable in the Gartner messaging was a recommendation that organizations consider buying used IT equipment. This came through in the opening keynote from Jo Ann Rosenberger as well as in Rob Schafer’s “Effective IT Asset Disposition: A Prerequisite to Controlling Costs and Mitigating Risk.” There’s plenty of warrantied, refurbished equipment with a lot of useful life left, so when cost is a concern or when looking to replace existing equipment with like equipment that is no longer available in the primary market, “previously owned” might be a good choice.
What I didn’t glimpse from the conference was any discussion of sustainability, energy efficiency or environmental awareness (with the exception of Rob Schafer’s remarks). And this needs to be part of the agenda. Reducing the data center’s electricity spend should be a target for IT procurement. I would suggest developing research that would help organizations create a strategy toward sustainable IT, which would include environmentally preferable purchasing. Adding these topics would make the Gartner IT Financial, Procurement & Asset Management Summit a “must attend.”
Carol Baroudi works for Arrow’s Value Recovery business, promoting sustainability awareness and action. She is the lead author of Green IT For Dummies. Her particular focus is on electronics at the IT asset disposition stage, e-waste and everything connected. Follow her on Twitter @carol_baroudi and connect with her on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/carolbaroudi.
