For Medica, Asset Management is Good Business

Peter Rudolf, asset manager with Medica, is passionate about his job – making sure all Medica’s physical assets, including computers and

other data-carrying devices, are properly destroyed. Headlines about personal data left on old computers would mean Rudolf is not doing his job – and those kinds of headlines are bad news for any business, but especially risky for a company that deals with as much sensitive information as Medica.

A case for preventive asset care

It’s not a very sexy or even exciting part of business – building processes and documentation that demonstrates you have properly managed and destroyed your electronic assets. You need to show that data was properly destroyed, that electronic components were responsibly recycled – and try to get a return on remaining value of the equipment wherever possible.

“People just take it for granted and there certainly is not much corporate visibility on asset management. It’s really never discussed. Nonetheless, it makes good business sense to have solid end-of-life processes,” says Rudolf. “I would strongly recommend every business have some sort of end-of-life process that first establishes how often your assets are to be refreshed. At Medica, we’ve established our life-cycle refresh timing based on research into what is recommended, plus we looked at the equipment warranties which helped us understand the risks associated with keeping an asset beyond the warranty period. Everyone’s asset life cycle is different.

In-house end-of-life or outsource – that is the question

“I’ve been in this business for more than twenty years and have done it all including trying to remarket our own assets. There is overhead when you try to sell it yourself and just not enough return– and it presents its own risks in doing your own remarketing,” explains Rudolf. “Donations of computers was challenging when we were doing it ourselves. What would happen if there was a company asset tag on it and some time later it that party through it in the trash? We would be getting the call from the EPA and we would be liable.

“That’s why companies should look for a third-party vendor that provides end-of-life services,” says Rudolf. “But be careful of who you select since you might hear from a vendor, ‘we’ll take your stuff,’ but that’s usually with a fee, and typically without many guarantees of how they will dispose of the assets. You should find a partner that first will ensure—and that means with certifications and indemnification documentation – that your assets are always properly disposed,” recommends Rudolf.

Compliant, lower risks, increased value, no negative news – with Maxxum

“Asset management is my passion. It’s important from many different aspects to partner with an organization that is properly managing end-of-life processes—the documentation, the shared passion, eco-friendly and assisting you to keep up to date on the trends.

“It’s the job that Maxxum is providing to Medica, where we are getting documentation to demonstrate without question what is happening to the assets. Maxxum and their partners give us the confidence that the right processes are adhered to,” explains Rudolf about Medica’s use of Maxxum to provide it with complete end-of-life asset management services.

“With Maxxum, they typically provide us a return. They find value that off-sets, or even provides a positive revenue stream, to dispose of our assets. We use Maxxum to improve our end-of-life processes. We also utilize MaxxumSafe, an online portal where we can go to get all our information including our certification of destruction. Maxxum gives us total peace of mind.”