Gartner's Magic Quadrant Tracks the Evolution of E-Waste Disposal
"Out of sight, out of mind" is no longer a viable IT asset disposition strategy, and a definitive taxonomy from research firm Gartner spells out which firms are best able to meet companies' needs for secure, responsible electronics recycling. Read More
Industries are subject to the same rules of natural selection as carbon-based life forms, evolving from rudimentary to more complex. Electronics recycling and “IT Asset Disposition” (ITAD) are no different.
When my company, Redemtech, was founded in 1998, many clients saw their dumpster as a legitimate alternative to recycling. Back then, customers commonly challenged the need to erase confidential data and sold their surplus IT by lot bid, “as-is, where-is,” without a requirement for reporting or any accountability.
“Out of sight, out of mind” is no longer a viable IT asset disposition strategy. ITAD practices have progressed through the years until finally, in 2010, real standards emerged. The e-Stewards and R2 standards established the first independently audited certifications for electronics recyclers.
The e-Stewards Electronic Recycling Certification is the only standard supported by the environmental community and represents the more rigorous of the two. It is Redemtech’s choice as the most likely to prevail, and therefore best for our customers. Whenever an industry adopts certified standards, it generates a kind of extinction event for vendors that are unwilling or unable to evolve—a good thing, given the e-waste electronics industry’s history of polluting developing countries.
Now Gartner has published the definitive taxonomy for the ITAD Industry in its first ever “Magic Quadrant for North America Information Technology Asset Disposition.” The Magic Quadrant (pictured at the bottom of this post) evaluates vendors based on “completeness of vision” and “ability to execute.” Gartner considered hundreds of service providers to arrive at the 13 described in this most-read of all Gartner research documents.
Creating a Magic Quadrant represents a substantial investment on Gartner’s part, and is only possible when an industry has matured sufficiently to have well-defined best practices. Further, the research topic must represent sufficient value for enterprise IT to be meaningful to Gartner subscribers. Having a Magic Quadrant means the ITAD industry has really come down from the trees.
That said, the marketplace is still teeming with thousands of under-capitalized IT asset disposition providers boasting little more than nice-looking websites and well-spoken salespeople in Brooks Brothers suits. Corporations seeking to proactively manage the environmental and privacy risks of asset disposition have found it challenging to evaluate vendor strength and capabilities, frequently exposing themselves unwittingly to the risk of an unqualified service provider.
The typical RFP process is little help, usually devolving to a pricing exercise with limited ability to predict a vendor’s performance. And dueling PowerPoints never reveal the true leader among vendors. Gartner’s Magic Quadrant research is objective, thorough and detailed, drawing validation from interviews with vendor customers. By benchmarking the ITAD industry, the Magic Quadrant gives enterprise IT an unprecedented tool to improve its business processes by making better, less risky vendor choices.
The Magic Quadrant divides the vendor world into leaders, challengers, niche players and visionaries. Leaders offer comprehensive solutions and a proven ability to execute. Challengers may be strong on execution in focused areas, but lack a developed solutions offering. Visionaries may be able to describe the full flower of a comprehensive solution, but with less proven ability to execute. Niche is niche. All of the vendors represented on the Magic Quadrant subscribe in large degree to Gartner’s definition of industry best practices. All are mature and reliable compared to the norm in our highly fragmented industry, where barriers to entry are low and vendor transparency is often limited.
Even companies that apply due diligence often focus first on managing risks, setting financial expectations for their ITAD programs that are superficially concerned only with service fees and asset resale. A mature disposition program benefits multiple stakeholders, and is a critical cog of enterprise IT asset management. ITAD can — and should — be a hub process, capable of facilitating better asset utilization, asset reuse and process improvement for asset refresh — all critical drivers for reducing cost of ownership and capital requirements. In technology-intensive companies, the CFO will find as much to like about a well-developed ITAD process as the CIO.
Well-executed IT asset management brings together accountability, security and thrift — a combination which leads inevitably to improved sustainability, lower costs, less risk and better business. A more rigorous vendor selection process, supported by the Magic Quadrant and good, old-fashioned due diligence around this critical part of the IT lifecycle, can make the benefits and accountability of professional IT asset disposition the norm for good business. That is when we will know that our industry has truly come of age.
We welcome you to download a free copy of the Gartner “Magic Quadrant for North America Information Technology Asset Disposition” from the Redemtech website at www.Redemtech.com/GartnerITADMQ.
