Accelerate Your ITAD Business Processes with Intelligent Business Routing (IBR) from Blancco

Aug 04, 2020 Blog Article

Blancco introduces a new and powerful, subscription-based tool to improve ITAD business process management. Based on customizable workflows and seamless integration with a broad range of industry applications, this first-of-its-kind solution minimizes manual procedures for tracking, grading, erasing, reimaging and reporting on assets entering the recovery and resale market. The result? Easily customized automations—and vastly streamlined operations.

Russ Ernst, Blancco VP of Products & Technology

Russ Ernst As Blancco CTO, Russ drives product strategy and execution across our Blancco solutions suite. At IT and data security industry conferences, he addresses data lifecycle management, end-of-life IT management, and data sanitization best practices. He also covers how organizations can reach their sustainability goals and fuel the circular economy through secure disposal processes. In addition to the Blancco website, you'll find his insights in Recycling Today, Security Boulevard, Data Center Knowledge, Business Insider, and The Fast Mode, as well as in the upcoming book, Net Zeros and Ones: How Data Erasure Promotes Sustainability, Privacy, and Security.

IBR: A Strategic Solution for More Efficient ITAD Business Processes

ITADs large and small are familiar with the software-based drive sanitization and reporting available through Blancco Drive Eraser (BDE) and Blancco Management Console (BMC).* Thanks to Blancco’s patent-pending Two-Way Communication, these processes also integrate with ITAD asset management systems to seamlessly exchange information, specify erasure standards and make ITAD erasure processes more efficient.

Intelligent Business Routing (IBR) takes automation to the next level, harnessing Blancco-patented workflow technologies as a strategic solution for business process management across ITAD operations. This means automation can be applied beyond data erasure, incorporating applications throughout the entire device processing ecosystem. The result is a robust, yet simple-to-use subscription service that dramatically decreases the time required to move decommissioned drives and devices from receipt to resale.

Easy-to-Customize Drive Erasure Workflows Speed Up Sanitization, Reduce Touch Time

Built on the success we’ve had in establishing automated back-of-house workflows for mobile device processing, IBR integrates both automation and integration to increase efficiency and reduce human error throughout all the steps needed to process a device.

IBR-enabled drive erasure is based on a series of commands between Blancco Drive Eraser and Blancco Management Console. Authorized ITAD managers specify these commands through an intuitive, drag-and-drop interface within the Workflow Editor.

By stringing together commands in the form of individual, connectable widgets, managers easily create as many workflows as they need. Highly customizable, these workflows can be as simple or as complex as desired to move assets through the erasure, validation and reporting stages.

When it’s time to erase assets, the Blancco Management Console sends the specified set of actions to Blancco Drive Eraser. The system then automatically executes the erasure without the need for any operator involvement. This accelerates processing time while reducing manual intervention. Initial pilot results show a 10 to 20 percent time savings compared to executing data erasure without IBR.

Seamless Integrations Enable Customer-Specific Processes, Grading and More

This time savings increases even more when IBR integrates with asset management systems and other external applications, from device grading to asset discovery and reimaging processes.

For instance, IBR integrations easily accommodate and launch customer-specific procedures. If a bank wants its computers to be erased to NIST Clear levels but a hospital wants its loose drives erased using the DoD three-pass method while also including diagnostics, IBR can virtually eliminate the manual steps involved in customizing these processes for each project.

Instead, Two-Way Communication seamlessly feeds customer and drive information to and from an ITAD’s asset management system (AMS) or enterprise resource planning (ERP) software during, or inside, a Blancco Drive Eraser session. This allows ITADs to capture detailed reporting information for every erasure, specify data erasure standards based on customer specifications or drive type and determine next steps based on AMS/ERP-provided data.

ITADs can also automatically route devices through different processes based on almost any number of factors. This vastly improves the speed at which ITADs can separate marketable devices from those best reserved for reusable parts or recyclable components. ITAD operations managers or other authorized users can determine the cut line for each segment based on (for example) type of device, hardware configuration and the condition of various components. Easily programmed instructions can even assign different processes for premium products that are more immediately ready for resale versus lesser-value products to be sold in packaged sets. All of this is automated and repeatable, virtually eliminating ad hoc decisions for each project and shortening the time from receiving a device to recouping its value.

In short, Intelligent Business Routing streamlines and accelerates ITAD business processes by automating tracking, grading, sanitizing, reimaging and reporting for IT assets. We cover much of this in three :30 recorded IBR webinars, and we invite you to view those.

Streamline ITAD Business Processes: Learn More About Intelligent Business Routing for ITADs

Highly versatile yet easy-to-use, IBR allows ITAD operators to streamline workflows, automate manual processes, eliminate downtime and integrate with the broad variety of ITAD systems used when processing devices for recycling or resale.

To learn how Intelligent Business Routing can simplify and accelerate your ITAD operations, download our IBR solution brief, contact your account manager directly, or use our Contact Us form for a personal demonstration.

*IBR requires a minimum of BMC version 5.4 and BDE version 6.13.

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