Yes, refurbished IT hardware can address supply chain issues
Maybe not all issues but, refurbished hardware can certainly solve some of the issues AND, the products are readily available!
Do you find yourself in a position where
- It will be weeks, even months before the IT products you ordered are delivered?
- Upper management is constantly calling you, asking where the products you ordered are?
- Lengthy backorders are costing your business thousands of dollars everyday?
- The IT supply chain issues are causing you to lose market share?
Answered yes to any of these questions?
You are not alone!
This being said, there is one way to help solve the problems you’re faced with. Use refurbished hardware!
As a business owner or a senior executive, it’s your responsibility to find ways to grow your business and its revenues. It’s also your responsibility to find ways to solve or, at the very least, find workarounds, that will address situations that negatively impact your business!
Nowadays, information technologies play a critical role in achieving that goal. However, the chip and semiconductors shortages have caused a lot of turmoil in the IT industry. Being that a lot of those products are manufactured and shipped from China, the situation was only made worse by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lockdowns in China have stopped production lines and shipping has slowed down to a crawl. Everything needed to make a bad situation worse!
What exactly are you supposed to do here?
Wait until the situation is resolved and everything gets back to normal? Maybe in some cases that's the only option BUT, what if you don't have to?
"Possible" solution to supply chain issues!
As outlined in our article “Where do refurbished products come from?” data centers use top of the line hardware that, in a lot of cases, are priced out of reach for a lot of businesses.
In order to be able to meet their contractual obligations and the service level agreements they have in place with their customers, data centers regularly need to upgrade their IT infrastructures to the latest and greatest.
More often than not, this top of the line hardware finds its way into the secondary market.
Although some companies in the secondary market will resale that hardware as is,meaning it’s used, reputable companies will put the hardware through a thorough refurbishing process prior to putting it back on the market.
Those resellers are the people you want to deal with. Those are the people who can help solve “some” of your IT hardware supply chain issues.
Refurbished hardware “may” provide the solution you need
Whether it’s as a temporary or permanent fix, there are quite a few refurbished products in the secondary market that “may” be able to address the issues you’re currently faced with.
As previously mentioned, data centers use top of the line hardware which they often need to upgrade to the latest and greatest, in order to maintain their level of service.
Once replaced and refurbished, those products are made available at a fraction of their original cost!
Yes some of these products may be discontinued, some may even be end-of-life (EoL) and support contracts may no longer be available for them BUT, it doesn’t mean they are obsolete! Far from it!
Remember, because of their price, those products were out of reach for most. That “may” no longer be the case.
Facts are facts!
Facing unacceptable delivery delays?
You’re faced with a situation where it will be weeks, even months, before the IT products you ordered are delivered?
Even if they are discontinued or EoL, the refurbished products currently available “may” still be able to meet your needs for years to come!
As far as supporting the products is concerned, if you’re dealing with a reputable supplier, that supplier will be in a position to support you for as long as you use the product(s).
The refurbished products available are overkill for your needs?
Short answer to that statement is; so what?
If it meets and exceeds your needs, it just means you won’t need to replace it for years!
Bottom line, not having to replace the hardware for years means you’re saving money! As a business owner, saving money should appeal to you.
Delivery delays have a negative impact on your revenues?
Lengthy IT hardware backorders are costing your business thousands of dollars everyday?
Again, there may be refurbished products available in the secondary market that will meet, maybe even exceed, your requirements.
Even if it’s a temporary fix until you get the hardware you ordered, using those products enables you to get your project going and, stop loosing money!
And who knows, once you receive the product you ordered, further to seeing how they work, it is conceivable you may find another use for those products.
If not, your supplier, or someone else, may be willing to buy it back from you.
The refurbished products are too expensive!
The situation is that even if they are refurbished, the products available are still too expensive!
If the backorders are penalizing your business and the simple facts are:
- Your production has stalled because you can’t get the products you ordered in a timely manner.
- You’re losing revenues and market share.
Just ask yourself; How much is my business worth?
If the refurbished product meets your needs, chances are that your business is worth far more than the price of the refurbished products being offered to you!
Also, as previously mentioned, once you get the products you ordered, your supplier may be open to buying back the hardware that was supplied to you.
In conclusion
In our article “Why buying refurbished hardware makes good business sense”, we talk about the benefits refurbished hardware offer businesses of all shapes and sizes.
Having said that, in these turbulent times we live in, in order to continue operating at peak performance, it’s time to think outside the box. Otherwise, you may find yourself paying a steep price!
When it comes to finding the hardware you desperately need to keep operating at peak performance, thinking outside the box may mean looking at what's available in the refurbished market.
Who knows, refurbished hardware "may" indeed help solve some of the IT supply chain issues you're faced with.
