IBM GARS
IBM has been a pioneer of IT asset disposition, having been involved in the sector since at least 1989. Its current unit tasked to handled ITAD is housed within the IBM Global Financing unit, and as such, ITAD is offered as part of its leasing/financing offerings. While the company’s most recent focus has been digital transformation, hybrid cloud and AI, hardware is a major component of its broad offerings, and that was the case since the company began offering take-back programs in the early years.
Over the years, IBM shifted strategies, often in an effort to balance between the need to fulfill its obligations as a leasing and financing provider and the need to transform GARS into a profitable unit. Achieving profitability has always been challenging for any vendor in the sector, let alone for a company the size and scope of IBM. In an effort to reach profitability, IBM leverages several areas it seeks to control:
1- Controlling its partner ecosystem: in this context IBM outsources almost all areas of ITAD operations, from managing the sites to labor.
2- IBM amphasises reuse as a way to solidify its position in the secondary markets
3- IBM areas of excellence include business intelligence and analytics in managing all the details of ITAD transactions, including pricing and placing assets in the secondary markets, so as to maximize return.
In its global communications, IBM’s GARS emphasizes on the amount of materials it processes, parts it harvests and units it re-markets.
Having been in the ITAD business for decades, IBM GARS managed to maintain excellent reputation among its customers. Data gathered by Compliance Standards show that the company is a tier-one ITAD vendor, with strong Broad Market Penetration and Positive Satisfaction Rating.