Modern life has become a relentless pursuit of both innovation and money. In the technology industry, that means new products and services launched multiple times a year, every year. And while that undoubtedly helps us progress and advance our hardware, it also creates a troubling carbon footprint.
However, we can resist the temptation of something new and instead opt for a thing that is ‘renewed’. This is where businesses and governments will strike a sustainable balance. By 2031, the global market for refurbished PCs is forecast to increase to $11.8bn, according to Statista. It was reportedly less than $5bn in 2022.
France is at the forefront of this renewable IT charge. The current government has introduced legislation to reduce technological waste by mandating that some 20% of all IT devices brought by organizations must be refurbished. And, it doesn’t intend to stop there with a target of 40% for 2040. What’s more, the legislation is tougher on the country’s public sector with a target of 50% by the end of 2025.
“When you get into these government tenders, like in France, those IT professionals are ultimately going to end up with eight new and two refurbished or renewed devices,” Grant Hoffman, SVP Operations & Portfolio, HP Solutions explains. “And we want to make sure that experience is going to be the same across all 10 of those devices.”
Hoffman is a native of Chicago and a veteran of the IT industry. He has been with HP for almost two years, coming to the company via its acquisition of Poly. His work with HP has given him a vast insight into the world of refurbished IT and what it can do for businesses. And as other governments begin to move like France, Hoffman says that thanks to Renew HP is ready to meet the demand.
“I think California is probably as far ahead as anybody in the US but there's a lot of legislation across the EU and we're ready to go,” Hoffman says. “We are working on all the enablements, and we'll be in the UK in the spring with renewable devices, both PC and print. And we'll also be in Spain in the spring as well.
“We have a rollout plan for many more other countries within the EU as well, so we will stay ahead of any legislation. We're confident and we're looking forward to it. We would support any customer that needs a requirement, whether it's sustainability or some other reason that governments put things into place, we will be able to support it.”
Refurbished by design
There are a number of reasons for businesses to opt for refurbished hardware beyond sustainability and government policies. Cost is far and away the most appealing factor, with refurbished devices offering near-new performance for less – and the ability to extend the life of your existing stock of laptops a surefire way to make the most of your capital expenditure and monetize your old devices through ITAD solutions to reduce costs when upgrading your IT fleet."
“I think what we're hoping our customers are seeing is that the user experience is just as good as new,” Hoffman says. “It looks good. It works. The battery is strong. The performance is good. Making sure we don’t have a drop in that quality is super important for us.
“There are definitely companies that have, whether it's workforces that peak at some times, or they have maybe a high turnover within their company and so maybe their turnover percentages, say 15% versus maybe 5%, and with a higher turnover rate, they have the ability to reuse those PCs.”
The warranty is key for HP; within its portfolio, the company looks back three to four years for its refurbished devices. That way the customer can still have enough warranty left for its use and guaranteed software support.
“For us, that sweet spot is maybe three years old because then we know we can add at least two years onto it with a warranty and a care pack,” Hoffman says. “And then obviously it's supported by all the software requirements as well. But it depends on the device. Print is a different story.”
‘Refurbishable’ is very much a part of the process at HP, according to Hoffman. But it's not just about putting sustainable materials in the device. It’s also about improving the ability of its new products to be refurbished in the future. HP sees renewable IT as its heritage – Hoffman even suggests it’s in its DNA – and it wants devices to be refurbished. It isn’t just a focus of Hoffman and the HP Renew Solutions teams, it goes all the way to the very beginning – to the people designing and building the laptops and printers.
Learning through real-world experience
HP has evolved its strategy, learning through customer studies. Indeed, from working closely with large customers who buy significant amounts of HP kit, the company has discovered that one of the most important factors is how seamless the process needs to be.
For example, the equipment can't show up in a different configuration. There also can't be two different ways to deploy the devices into one workforce. There needs to be consistency.
“They want to have one deployment plan,” Hoffman says. “We've done everything we can to make sure that when the IT professional gets the devices it's seamless whether it's a new or renewed device.”
That’s at a foundational level, but HP wants to go one step beyond that, with Hoffman saying things can be tailored based on specific user needs and role demands.
Hoffman adds: “[We want people to be able to say] Oh, this person is a high power-user because they're doing engineering and other activities. They [then] get this new device over here and then maybe [we have] a salesperson that is okay with the basic refurbished device.”
“That can go there and ultimately they can deploy the same security measures and BIOS and everything else that they do across both of those devices. We heard it loud and clear and so far I think we've done a really good job of that.”
