The IT service provider Technogroup, an Evernex company, has won an award from IFS, a global provider of corporate software solutions, for its sustainable business model of repair, reuse and recycling. Its services help companies to curb the ecological consequences of digitisation.
IFS has presented the annual IFS Change for Good Sustainability Award in Miami for the second time. This award honours outstanding performance in the area of sustainability and Technogroup won over the top-class jury in the category “Most innovative solution for sustainability”. The jury justified its decision as follows:
“Technogroup is thinking beyond today and using technology to make sure technology is used wisely, thoughtfully and sustainably in the future.”
Arnd Krämer, Managing Director of Technogroup, which as part of the Evernex Group is the European market leader in third-party maintenance in data centres, is proud of the award: “It shows that sustainability in data centres is not limited to green electricity and using waste heat. Optimising the life cycle of hardware helps reduce the ecological footprint of IT.”
Three pillars of sustainability: TPM, Refurbished Hardware and Recycling
An optimised life cycle consists of three levels: repair, reuse, recycling.
The first level includes the concept of third-party maintenance (TPM), which Technogroup brought to the market many years ago as an economically and ecologically sensible alternative to manufacturer maintenance. Technogroup takes over the maintenance of hardware components, including after the end of manufacturer support, which is mostly limited to three to five years. As a result, the equipment can be used safely and highly performantly for up to three times as long. This allows entire generations of equipment to be saved. Not only does this avoid generating electronic scrap, but also emissions, which occur during the production of hardware and are caused by supply chains for raw materials, intermediate and end products.
The second level – reuse – relates to utilising used hardware. Refurbished hardware involves modern, professionally prepared, overhauled and carefully quality-checked components or complete systems. Their use does not require companies to make any sacrifices in quality, function or performance – but they are up to 50 per cent cheaper than comparable new ware. An extended life cycle thanks to refurbished hardware ensures that less new equipment has to be produced.
Last but not least, what persuaded the jury was their assessment of the triad of sustainability of the recycling range implemented by Technogroup and Evernex: 15 per cent of all the equipment given to Evernex as IT scrap can be reused. This means more than 50,000 components every year goes into the joint spare parts inventory of Evernex and Technogroup. Of the remaining 85%, 93% is recycled and processed to form a secondary commodity. The sale of these usable raw materials is worthwhile for companies and supports the ROI of the original hardware investment.
“Our business model shows that ecological and economical sustainability are in harmony and that through the optimised use of resources in both areas companies can act responsibly,” says Arnd Krämer.