How Refurbished Technology Is Helping Educational Institutions
Computer equipment needs to be hardwearing in any workplace environment. Still, few sectors provide as many challenges as schools, colleges, and universities when it comes to stocking a consistent amount of this useful technology.
The combination of younger users and busy activity makes maintaining your current collection difficult and expensive, forcing many headteachers to look for more financially efficient methods for the acquisition and disposal of computer assets.
This is where the benefits of refurbished technology come in. Read on to explore how our IT asset disposal services are supporting educational institutions nationwide.
Addressing the Demand for Affordable Computers
It has been recorded by the UK Department of Education that, on average, schools are spending roughly £470 million on computer equipment annually. Additionally, colleges are spending, on average, £140 million on similar technology, and universities are at least matching that number.
These staggering figures from recent years are currently even larger due to the popularity of home study during the pandemic. For example, the Department of Education ran an initiative called ‘Get Help with Technology’ (GHWT) that, in 2022, successfully distributed 1.35 million laptops and tablets by providing mainstream academies and schools with various grants to offset the costs of new equipment. Whilst this initiative ended in December 2023, the demand for replacement equipment remains a consistent challenge for procurement executives to overcome.
Most establishments have explored new, financially efficient methods of acquiring the units they need whilst compensating for increasing costs everywhere. This is why the refurbished computer sector exists today and is making excellent progress at not only reducing expenses but also helping the environment.
Are Refurbished Laptops the Best Choice for Education?
With our extensive experience with IT asset disposal across the UK, we have worked with a broad range of learning centres to help them remove their obsolete equipment so it can be replaced with better, more sustainable alternatives. We have worked with over 360 educational establishments, and here are some examples of the sectors from that collection that have benefitted from investing in refurbished technology:
- Nurseries
- Primary Schools
- Secondary School
- Sport Academies
- Colleges
- Universities
While choosing to repair or refurbish any electronic technology you use will have its benefits, there is one choice that seems to be the most popular for the previously listed, and that’s refurbished laptops. Here are the core models and specifications that we provide our clients.
There are several reasons why the Department of Education chose to provide grants for laptops and tablets specifically. The all-in-one nature of laptops makes their use for learning streamlined for an efficient experience for both the institution and the student.
Firstly, the student doesn’t have to be concerned with external peripherals such as monitors and keyboards. Secondly, they are much easier to store efficiently when a student no longer needs them. Thirdly, current laptops provide the required capabilities needed for education whilst also being versatile enough to be used in any location. This means the student will be able to have the same features available both at home and in the classroom without issue.
Refurbished Laptops and their Long-Term Investments
It’s clear that there are user benefits to choosing laptops for your students, but that is true of both new and refurbished laptops, so why is refurbished a better investment for your establishment? Essentially, it’s the reduced costs combined with no environmental impact.
Increased Longevity with Reduced Costs
Finding long-lasting equipment at lower prices is the ideal situation when working to reduce your budget requirements, and refurbished technology provides this. What you’ll see at the initial purchase is that compared to choosing exclusively new models, they are significantly cheaper due to the graded nature of the technology that forces suppliers to reduce their prices by up to 40%.
After purchase, your laptops will still provide financial benefits as they fulfil the required role for a surprisingly long time. This longevity is supported by the in-depth work our team conducts during the refurbishment and also the additional 3-year warranty our laptops come with.
Carbon Neutral Refurbished Laptops
We are heavily invested in supporting technological sustainability here at ICT Reverse, and we are constantly exploring improved processes for our client’s e-waste. This popular element of our partnership with Circular Computing™ supports sustainable strategies such as reuse and recycling but also helps reduce the costs of purchasing new equipment for your establishment.
Many people discuss carbon footprints in manufacturing, but there are other areas to consider. Every new laptop has not only carbon but also a water, mineral, and ecosystem impact associated with it. With our refurbished units, we dramatically reduce or eliminate these requirements, and we even work against our competitor’s impact by planting five trees for every laptop we receive for refurbishment, with another five planted when it is resold.
Every laptop we work with generates only 6.34% of carbon compared to new models, but it results in the same creation of a working laptop. Additionally, this is before we consider the long-lasting implications of discarded laptops becoming landfill e-waste and harming the environment further.
Effective IT Asset Disposal for Educational Establishments with ICT Reverse
Despite the reduced environmental impact and the lower costs, these enterprise-grade laptops will operate virtually as effectively as new models. Remanufactured and refurbished versions of the leading brands offer 97% of their original performance after they have been through our process.
By choosing us, you are picking a committed and reliable IT disposal business that provides a number of popular services, such as data shredding, to ensure the data security of your disposed-of assets whilst helping you to secure new, financially efficient options like our previously mentioned remanufactured laptops.
Contact us today to discuss your institution’s computer needs and discover how our services will not only dispose of old ones within regulations but also provide you with new, refurbished units with minimal downtime in between.
