Secure shredding companies who wish to expand into handling computer hard drives have several approaches to choose from, but should be aware of the pros and cons of those approaches ahead of time.
“It’s a material that many document destruction professionals are challenged by,” said Joseph Harford, who introduced the two co-presenters at a presentation on the topic at the NAID (National Association for Information Destruction) Annual Conference, which took place in Phoenix in mid-May.
Harford’s business partner Angie Keating, of Reclamere Inc., Tyrone, Pa., outlined some of those options along with Bob Haskins of GigaBiter Inc., West Norriton, Pa.
Keating and Haskins noted that those taking on the responsibility of hard drives have safety and environmental considerations to address as well as additional data security issues that may not come into play as often on the paper document side of the business.
In terms of accepting electronics, Haskins reminded attendees, “If it has a circuit board, it has toxic material.” In terms of the safety and environmental considerations, “Your customer doesn’t really know the whole story,” he added.
Such considerations can make finding a business partner or third party ally an ideal situation, according to the speakers. “It makes entry into the market quicker and easier,” said Haskins, who also added that “it can be problematic if [the relationship] doesn’t work out.”
Choosing the wrong partner “can reflect poorly on your core business,” Keating stated, noting that customers who have a bad experience with the electronics recycler or hard drive destruction company may conclude that they don’t wish to trust documents with the company that made the referral.
Secure shredding firms can also choose to accept hard drives only and then purchase equipment that punctures or otherwise destroys hard drives. This is an affordable way to enter that field, but the limitation is that there may not be many customers who wish to ship only hard drives as opposed to entire computers.
Those who have the capital could choose to handle the full stream of electronics and even run a shredding plant for complete destruction and materials recycling. Haskins and Keating noted that this is a capital-intensive process that requires environmental permitting and a large flow of material to be cost-effective.
No matter what path is chosen, Keating and Haskins stressed that due diligence is critical.
The NAID Conference was held at the Arizona Biltmore Resort in Phoenix and was attended by more than 850 information destruction professionals and their suppliers.