2025 Is Here: How IT Teams Can Thrive

As 2025 begins IT teams find themselves navigating a perfect storm of challenges. With tighter budgets and fewer resources, these teams are being asked to maintain or increase productivity, ensure security, and adapt to the ever-expanding remote work environment. It’s no small task, and for many IT leaders, it feels like the deck is stacked against them.

The question is clear: how can IT departments do more with less while meeting the demands of a decentralized workforce? 

Doing More with Less: A Familiar Challenge

Budget cuts and resource constraints are not new to IT teams, but the pressures have intensified in recent years. The expectation to deliver seamless technology support and efficient hardware management remains unchanged, despite having fewer hands on deck.

Tasks like employee offboarding, lease returns, and device disposition, while critical, are often tedious and time-consuming. These administrative burdens pull IT professionals away from strategic projects. 

In this constrained environment, every minute and dollar counts. IT teams need solutions that reduce friction, automate processes, and maximize efficiency without sacrificing control or visibility. 

The Remote Work Reality: A New Layer of Complexity

At the same time, the rise of remote work has transformed the IT landscape. Employees are no longer concentrated in a single office—they’re spread across cities, states, and even continents.

This shift has created logistical nightmares for IT departments tasked with recovering, tracking, and processing IT assets from remote locations. It’s no longer as simple as collecting a laptop from an employee’s desk; every return requires coordination, communication, and careful management to ensure devices arrive safely and securely. 

Without the right tools, chaos can ensue. Devices get lost in transit, tracking becomes a black hole, and IT teams are left scrambling to piece together fragmented information. For businesses, the costs of these inefficiencies can quickly add up—both in terms of time wasted and the risk of data breaches. 

The ReturnCenter Box Program: A Solution for 2025 and Beyond

Enter the ReturnCenter Box Program, a game-changer for IT teams navigating these challenges. Designed with the realities of modern work in mind, the Box Program offers a seamless, scalable solution for managing remote hardware returns. Here’s how it works:

Streamlined Logistics: The Box Program makes returning IT assets as simple as possible. Businesses send pre-labeled, trackable boxes to employees, who can securely package and ship their devices back without added hassle.

End-to-End Visibility: With built-in tracking, IT teams can monitor every device from shipment to receipt. No more black holes—the entire return process is transparent, ensuring that no device is lost or unaccounted for.

Scalability for Remote Workforces: Whether it’s one device or hundreds, the Box Program scales effortlessly to meet the needs of growing and dispersed teams.

Time and Cost Savings: By automating key steps and reducing manual oversight, the Box Program frees IT teams to focus on higher-value tasks, helping businesses save both time and money.

The ReturnCenter Box Program is also available through ServiceNow. This integration provides identical tracking and end-to-end visibility, allowing IT departments to handle all the same lifecycle transitions without ever leaving the ServiceNow interface.

By leveraging this native integration with ServiceNow, IT teams can schedule asset shipments, simplify workflows and eliminate manual data entry. Download the app and start using today. 

Thriving Teams in 2025

As we move into 2025, businesses can’t afford to let inefficiencies in IT asset management hold them back. The challenges of doing more with less and managing a remote workforce aren’t going away—but with the right tools, they can be overcome. 

The ReturnCenter Box Program empowers IT teams to meet these challenges head-on, transforming logistical headaches into streamlined processes. By adopting smarter, scalable solutions like the Box Program, businesses can position themselves for success in a rapidly changing world.

Ready to Take the Next Step?

This year, make a resolution to equip your IT team with the tools they need to thrive. Learn more about how the ReturnCenter Box Program can revolutionize your IT asset management—and start 2025 off on the right foot. 

IT Sustainability Think Tank: The economic benefits of going green

Carmen Ene, ComputerWeekly.com, December 16, 2024

Despite the news cycle being awash with coverage of the dire consequences of climate change, environmental advocates have struggled to make the case for a sustainable transition in 2024.

In some parts of the world, politicians have weaponised action on the environment, pedalling the misconception that sustainability is expensive, burdensome, and a threat to affordability and prosperity. Amidst a cost-of-living crisis and rising global energy prices, this has resonated, weakening support for a swift end to fossil fuels.

The EU’s resolve on climate policy is under pressure, too. Last month, the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the EU would simplify three core pieces of environmental legislation, reversing changes that were made only in the last Parliament.

In this complex environment, it is not surprising that some businesses have become more hesitant to embrace sustainable alternatives and even revised their environmental, social and governance (ESG) targets, wary of the complexities of sustainability reporting, the perceived cost of implementing green solutions, and the impact on competitiveness.

However, the evidence tells a different story.

A 2014 Harvard University study  comparing 90 “High Sustainability” companies with 90 “Low Sustainability” companies over 18 years (1993-2010) found that high-sustainability companies significantly outperformed their counterparts across key economic indicators, including proxies for economic growth and financial leverage.

To access the full story, click here

Producing circuit boards from leaves would prevent millions of tons of e-waste

Scientists take inspiration from trees to make electronics greener

Christie Wilcox, Science.org, November 25, 2024

In a literally green technological advance, a team of researchers has found a way to replace the conventional printed circuit board (PCB) in electronic devices with a biodegradable alternative made out of tree leaves. Reported earlier this month in Science Advances, such “leaftronics” could help reduce the tens of millions of tons of electronic waste, or e-waste, humanity produces every year.

The idea is “very exciting” and “quite promising,” says Lan Yin, a materials scientist and engineer at Tsinghua University who works on developing biodegradable electronics but was not involved in the study.

E-waste is everywhere and piling up fast. In 2022, manufacturers produced 62 million tons of e-waste globally. And that figure is expected to increase by more than 30% by 2030, because modern electronics are designed to be disposable, says Rakesh Nair, a postdoctoral researcher and engineer with the Institute for Applied Physics at the Dresden University of Technology (TU Dresden). “We can easily make electronics that last for 10 or 20, 30 years, but we deliberately make them so that you buy the new model,” Nair says.

By mass, circuit boards—the panels that electronic components attach to—make up as much as 60% of e-waste. PCBs are typically made of extremely tough plastic or fiberglass infused with epoxy, an unrecyclable substrate that is “the core of the problem,” says Hans Kleemann, an experimental physicist at TU Dresden and Nair’s adviser. “It really stops you from all these important things like recycling and reusing components.” So Kleemann, Nair, and colleagues set out to find a greener alternative.

Nair first thought of using paper for the boards but was dissuaded by the amount of water and pollutants needed to generate paper. One day, when looking at the large magnolia tree near his institute, “it just clicked”: He could use its leaves instead.

To access the full article, click here

Learn more about ReturnCenter’s commitment to circularity and sustainability 

Solving our e-waste problem could help save forests

Forests are being destroyed to clear land for mining. We can save trees by wasting less of what we already have.

EnvironmentAmerica.org, November 27, 2024

What do cell phones and laptops have to do with deforestation?

More than you might think. The metals and minerals used to manufacture many of the electronics we use every day need to be mined from the earth. As demand for materials increases, more and more land is cleared to make space for mining.

Forest destruction for mining is sweeping the globe. Tropical forests are being razed to make way for coal mines in Indonesia. Much closer to home, over 120,000 hectares of forest in Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee have been lost to surface coal mining in the last 20 years.

But there’s a far better way to meet our material needs than destroying forest ecosystems.

How much forest does mining destroy?

Mining across the world has skyrocketed in the last 20 years, as manufacturers race to provide the materials for electronics and energy companies dig for coal to fuel power plants. Over the period between 2001 and 2020, a recent report estimates that the world lost nearly 1.4 million hectares of trees due to mining.

That’s a massive area – picture an area of clear-cutting three times the size of Grand Canyon National Park. And many of the trees that are being impacted are those the planet can least afford to lose. Much of the loss was in primary tropical forests.

Primary forest is habitat that has never been significantly disturbed by humanity. It’s full of mature trees and tons of biodiversity. Destroyed primary forest won’t recover in our lifetimes. We need to preserve as much of this vital ecosystem as we can before it’s gone.

The real area affected by mining-related deforestation is likely even bigger than the estimates, since the estimate did not include deforestation for mining-related infrastructure like roads and storage facilities.

To access the full article click here.

Learn more about ReturnCenter’s commitment to sustainability

Should you make your IT devices last longer?

Steve Brooks, Enterprise Times, November 4, 2024

Atos has published a report on digital workplace sustainability. The report “Increasing digital workplace sustainability: Data-driven strategy to accelerate progress together” finds that there are high levels of waste across the IT industry. It also found that using a data-driven condition-based approach can extend the lifespan of assets. From the standard 3-5 years to potentially as long as ten years.

While one might think that employees want the latest and best technology, in fact, 75% of employees are happy to keep their existing devices. Especially if they understand the environmental benefits of doing so.

Leon Gilbert, Senior Vice President Digital Workplace, Atos, said, “We wanted to leverage the vast quantities of data available to Atos and our partners to challenge convention and pinpoint new opportunities for enterprises and their IT service providers. Some findings surprised even our experts. We can now see how the financial, environmental and social value of every device can be increased while still delighting users.”

What is in the report

The fifteen-page report is based on 25 data points from over 28.5 million devices. With information provided by Atos services, Nexthink digital experience management platform, Tier 1 and Circular computing. The datasets used include device agent data, user behaviour analysis, digital experience metrics, aggregated help desk data, IT service management data and analytics, and asset disposal data.

The report also references a range of secondary sources and provides a comprehensive insight for IT leaders looking to increase the sustainability of their IT estate.

The main section of the report is divided into four sections:

To access the full article, click here. 

Learn more about ReturnCenter’s commitment to sustainability and building the circular economy.

Generative AI Has a Massive E-Waste Problem

Katherine Bourzac, IEEE Spectrum.org, November 4, 2024

Rapid growth could result in an annual e-waste stream of 2.5 million tonnes by 2030.

Private investment in generative AI has grown from about US $3 billion in 2022 to $25 billion in 2023, and about 80 percent of private companies expect AI to drive their business in the next 3 years, according to Deloitte. Keeping up with the latest advancements means upgrading GPUs, CPUs, and other electronic equipment in data centers as newer, more advanced chips become available. And that, researchers project, will lead to an explosion in the production of electronic waste.

A study published last week in the journal Nature Computational Science estimates that aggressive adoption of large language models (LLMs) alone will generate 2.5 million tonnes of e-waste per year by 2030.

“AI doesn’t exist in a vacuum; it relies on substantial hardware resources that have tangible environmental footprints,” says study coauthor Asaf Tzachor, a sustainability and climate researcher at Reichman University, in Israel. “Awareness of the e-waste issue is crucial for developing strategies that mitigate negative environmental impacts while allowing us to reap the benefits of AI advancements,” he says.

Most research on AI sustainability has focused on these models’ energy and water use and their concomitant carbon emissions. Tzachor worked with Peng Wang and Wei-Qiang Chen, both professors at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, to calculate the potential increase in e-waste associated with generative AI. The study is intended to provide an estimate of the potential scale of the problem, and the researchers hope it will spur companies to adopt more sustainable practices.

The Scale of the E-Waste Problem

Electronic waste contains toxic metals and other chemicals that can leach out into the environment and cause health problems. In 2022, the world produced 62 million tonnes of e-waste in total, according to the United Nations Global E-waste Monitor. This waste stream is growing five times as fast as recycling programs, the U.N. found.

To access the full article, click here. 

Learn more about ReturnCenter’s commitment to sustainable practices.

The Horror Stories of IT Asset Management (ITAM)

When visibility fades, nightmares begin. Don’t fall prey to these ITAM Horror Stories.

As the chill of autumn settles in and Halloween draws near, many of us embrace the eerie thrill of haunted houses and ghost stories. But in the business world, the scariest tales come not from specters, but from something far more insidious: losing sight of your IT assets as they transition through critical phases.

Offboarding employees, returning leased equipment, or preparing devices for disposal should be simple—but when visibility disappears, it’s easy for these processes to slip into chaos.

Drawing inspiration from some classic horror films in honor of the holiday, let’s explore the very real consequences of IT asset mismanagement, and how ReturnCenter can save your company from its worst IT nightmares. 

The Rogue Assets of “Frankenstein”  

Much like Dr. Frankenstein’s ill-fated creation, rogue IT assets can wreak havoc if they aren’t carefully monitored. We need to be especially vigilant with offsite devices ready for offboarding, refurbishment, or decommissioning. They can become lost or forgotten, spiraling out of control. In the confusion, assets go missing, deadlines are missed, and security vulnerabilities emerge. 

Here, ReturnCenter steps in to restore order. The Box Program is especially helpful to collect assets from remote users, ensuring that individual devices like laptops are securely packaged and returned, avoiding potential chaos and loss during these transitions.  

By tracking your IT assets as they make their way to their next destination—whether back to your facility, a leasing company, or an IT asset disposition partner — ReturnCenter ensures that no rogue assets are left to roam free.

The “Psycho” Data Breach: A Sudden Horror 

There’s an almost visceral terror to the iconic shower scene in Psycho—that moment when safety and comfort are shattered by the suddenness of a surprise attack. Similarly, a data breach can strike when least expected, particularly if IT assets containing sensitive information are improperly handled or lost during offboarding or disposal. 

With ReturnCenter, such horrors are kept at bay.  Our logistics solution gives you the choice of simple pickup, packing, and tagging each individual asset, providing the exact level of security and tracking that works for you. Combined with the comprehensive dashboard, you have visibility into your assets’ whereabouts as they are securely transported to trusted ITAD partners. With ReturnCenter overseeing the process, the risk of sensitive information slipping through the cracks is minimized. 

The “Night of the Living Dead” Hardware: The Undead Haunting Your Storage 

There’s something uniquely unsettling about the idea of the undead—relics of the past that refuse to stay buried. In the IT world, outdated hardware can become your version of the undead, lingering long after their usefulness has ended.

Much like the zombies in Night of the Living Dead, legacy IT equipment can waste valuable resources, filling up storage space and draining your budget if not properly dealt with. 

ReturnCenter ensures that these relics are laid to rest in a timely manner. By coordinating the movement of outdated devices—whether for recycling or for responsible disposition—we help your business avoid becoming a graveyard for “undead” hardware. 

ReturnCenter for ServiceNow: Lifting the “Fog” of Uncertainty 

In The Fog, thick mist shrouds the characters’ surroundings, hiding unseen threats and creating a sense of helplessness. Managing IT assets without full visibility can feel much the same. Without a comprehensive view of where assets are as they move through their lifecycle—whether during offboarding or relocation—your team may be left to navigate in the dark. 

For those using ServiceNow, ReturnCenter for ServiceNow cuts through the fog. The ReturnCenter app in ServiceNow enables users to schedule, track, and report on transportation of hardware assets right in ServiceNow, avoiding the back and forth fog between unconnected systems. By integrating ReturnCenter’s powerful tracking capabilities directly into the ServiceNow ecosystem, you get real-time insights into your IT assets’ locations and status, ensuring they move smoothly through critical transitions without getting lost in the mist. 

ReturnCenter Automate: Banishing the “Ghosts” of IT Asset Disposition 

In Ghostbusters, the heroes face invisible threats causing chaos until they can be tracked and eliminated. Managing IT asset disposition can feel much the same—an invisible burden of manually recording every milestone, from state changes to uploading documents, creating a painstaking and error-prone process. 

ReturnCenter Automate for ServiceNow offers a solution to this ghostly problem. By providing automatic updates on the state, substate, retired date, vendor disposal ID, and resale value of each asset in a disposition shipment, it eliminates the need for manual tracking.

Your IT team no longer has to chase down these details or worry about missing critical updates. Additionally, any related documentation uploaded by your ITAD partner is instantly available, giving you immediate access to critical information. With ReturnCenter Automate, the ghosts of IT asset management are banished, ensuring a smooth and transparent process. 

The “Jaws” of Non-Compliance: Danger Below the Surface 

In Jaws, the danger lies beneath the surface, waiting to strike when least expected. In the world of IT asset management, non-compliance risks often lurk unseen.

Whether due to improper tracking of assets during transitions or failure to meet regulatory requirements for disposal, businesses can find themselves facing steep fines and penalties when compliance issues rise to the surface. 

ReturnCenter provides the oversight needed to avoid these hidden dangers. By carefully tracking your IT assets through every transition, we ensure that they are responsibly handled, helping your business stay in compliance with environmental regulations and data security standards. With ReturnCenter, there’s no need to fear what may be lurking beneath. 

Put Your IT Lifecycle Nightmares to Rest

The most terrifying stories in IT asset management are those of lost visibility and control. Rogue assets, non-compliance, data breaches, outdated hardware, and lost productivity all loom large when your IT lifecycle is not properly managed. But with ReturnCenter, The ReturnCenter Box Program, ReturnCenter for ServiceNow, and ReturnCenter Automate, your business can rest assured that its assets will be easily tracked, managed, and securely transported at every step of the process. 

This Halloween don’t let your IT assets become the stuff of nightmares. With ReturnCenter, you can ensure that your hardware remains visible, your processes stay compliant, and your transitions run smoothly, keeping all the real monsters at bay. 

Right to repair hits its stride

Dan Holtmeyer and Marissa Heffernan, E-Scrap News, September 26, 2024

Though the right to repair consumer electronics has been written into law in only a handful of states, the past year has nevertheless brought a sea change to the movement.

Oregon and Colorado both passed right-to-repair legislation last spring, two years after New York became the first state to do so and a year after Minnesota and California followed suit.

Though they differ in specifics, generally these laws require OEMs to make available to independent repair shops and consumers the parts, tools and documentation needed to fix devices. Manufacturers have traditionally controlled repair work in various ways, such as by limiting repairs to authorized providers.

While Oregon and Colorado were fourth and fifth in line, respectively, they were the first to ban the use of software to ensure a device will only operate with specific individual parts, or parts pairing, which can interfere with third-party repairs or with device functionality afterward.

“We have supported legislative efforts to protect a consumer’s right to repair their own products because doing so reduces waste, saves consumers money and offers consumers more choice when it comes to maintaining their expensive gadgets and appliances,” Justin Brookman, director of tech policy at Consumer Reports, said in a written statement after Oregon’s passage.

“With software becoming an essential element in today’s products, Consumer Reports backs laws that prevent software from becoming a tool to enforce manufacturers’ monopolies on the repair process.”
Apple voiced its opposition to Oregon’s parts pairing provision, according to TechCrunch, with John Perry, senior manager of secure system design, telling lawmakers in February that the ban will undermine security and privacy for customers.

To access the full article, click here.

To learn more about ReturnCenter’s commitment to sustainability and creating a circular economy, visit our Sustainability page.

Ever-smarter consumer electronics push world toward environmental brink

Gerry McGovern, Sue Branford, MongaBay.com, September 30, 2024

In recent decades, the electronics industry experienced meteoric growth as it swiftly invented and marketed a galaxy of novel products for consumers hungry for the next innovation, better performance and greater convenience. In 2024, the consumer electronics market alone is expected to top $809 billion, exceeding $1.4 trillion by 2034.

But there’s a dark side to this tech miracle: Our digital age love affair with ever-more-powerful cell phones, smart TVs, laptops, tablets, gaming consoles and other devices comes with a high price.

The environmental and social costs of producing the trillions of silicon semiconductor chips needed to run our gadgets and to operate remote data centers is escalating incredibly fast and “fostering an environmental time bomb,” warns Ian Williams, professor of applied environmental science at the University of Southampton, U.K.

“The environmental impact of making semiconductor chips is already huge and increasing rapidly,” Williams tells Mongabay. Today, the complex integrated circuitry inside an electronic device is a miracle of miniaturization and nanometer-accurate precision with each millimeter-thick, fingernail-sized silicon chip incorporating 30-100 sandwiched layers of etched interconnected transistors and electronic components.

But chip structure and computing power doesn’t stand still: It must keep pace with new tech innovations. “Each new generation requires more energy and water and generates more greenhouse gases than the previous generation,” Williams explains.

However, few seem aware of the looming risk. Competition among tech giants to produce faster, more advanced devices is leading to unbridled demand for increasingly sophisticated semiconductors, worsening global impacts.

To access the full article, click here.

To learn more about ReturnCenter’s commitment to creating a circular economy, visit our Sustainability page.

Why Letting Employees Keep Laptops Can Backfire

Why Letting Employees Keep Their Laptops Can Backfire: Key Reasons to Reclaim Company Equipment

When organizations provide computer equipment to employees, they assume responsibility for the impact of those assets. Allowing employees to retain this equipment after their employment ends can lead to significant risks and missed opportunities. Here’s why it’s not only crucial but beneficial for companies to maintain control over their company hardware.

Ensuring Proper Disposition of Assets

Deciding not to reclaim equipment, such as monitors and laptops given to remote workers, means losing control over their ultimate disposal. This lack of oversight can lead to serious consequences that the company is still accountable for. Here are a few scenarios to consider:

Early or Unnecessary Disposal: How many printers or monitors are discarded by individuals because they don’t want them anymore rather than when they are truly at the end of life? By maintaining control over assets, the company ensures a full first life, maximizing the chances of reuse.

Untracked Disposal: If employees are merely advised to donate their monitors to local charities like Goodwill, there is no guarantee that this will happen. The company loses the ability to verify the monitors’ final destination.

Partial Tracking: Providing a QR code for parcel carriers to send the equipment to recyclers offers some tracking ability. The company can at least monitor how many items are returned and processed correctly.

Full Recovery: The most effective method is to provide an easy process for returning equipment during the employee offboarding process. Providing the actual means to return equipment to you maximizes the chances of recovering the equipment and minimizes the risk of improper disposal, such as ending up in landfills.

Addressing Corporate Responsibility

Some companies try to avoid this discussion by giving remote workers funds to purchase their own equipment. This could be seen as shifting the disposal responsibility to the employees, potentially easing the company’s ties. However, it raises questions about the organization’s commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Even from a practical standpoint, companies must be deliberate and clear on how much they are willing to invest in being responsible corporate citizens. This includes taking proactive steps to manage their IT lifecycle and ensuring they adhere to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards. CSR teams, especially those reporting impact metrics to ESG frameworks or the SEC, should be involved in these decisions to ensure all steps are taken to minimize environmental impact, and that the right information is shared between departments.

Managing Data-Bearing Devices

The stakes are even higher for data-bearing devices due to the security risks and compliance requirements involved. Devices that have stored company data pose a significant risk of data breaches if not properly handled. For healthcare companies, HIPAA compliance is a concern, while public companies must consider SARBOX compliance. Devices that were connected to a company VPN might still be vulnerable to hacks. Additionally, software licenses on these devices could be reassigned, presenting another layer of potential loss.

Considering Social Impact

Beyond environmental and security concerns, companies should also think about the social impact of their equipment disposal strategies. Recovering and repurposing data-bearing assets can have significant social benefits:

Community Donations: Donating equipment to underserved communities can address digital equity issues and support education, veterans, or elderly populations. This aligns with broader ESG priorities around community impact.

Employee Benefits: Offering low-cost equipment to current employees can be a valuable benefit, enhancing employee satisfaction and retention.

Financial Implications

Retaining control over company equipment also has financial implications that can impact the bottom line. Allowing employees to keep their laptops and other devices might seem cost-effective in the short term, but it can lead to hidden expenses down the line. For instance:

Depreciation and Write-Offs: Companies can better manage depreciation and optimize write-offs by reclaiming and reselling or refurbishing old equipment.

Replacement Costs: By recovering equipment, companies can reduce the need to purchase new devices for incoming employees, thereby lowering overall IT expenses.

Warranty and Maintenance: Reclaimed equipment still under warranty can be serviced or repaired at a lower cost, extending its useful life and maximizing return on investment.

Taking responsibility for the equipment provided to employees is not just a policy—it’s a commitment to sustainability and social responsibility. Organizations must implement robust strategies for recovering and disposing of these assets to minimize environmental impact, ensure data security, and maximize social benefits. By doing so, companies can demonstrate their dedication to CSR and ESG principles, ultimately fostering a more sustainable, equitable, and investable future.