What should you do with unused mobile devices?

How Unused Corporate Phones Threaten Security, Budgets, and Sustainability

We are pleased to announce that our next webinar, “What Should You Do with Unused Mobile Devices?”, will take place on October 8, 2025.

Unused business phones and tablets create significant risks, particularly in terms of security and finances. Forgotten smartphones often still contain emails, passwords, business applications, employee records, customer information, and other sensitive data. If a device is lost or stolen, the company may face a costly data breach, with the average cost of an incident in the United States now reaching $4.4 million (IBM). In addition, organizations often suffer major reputational damage as customer trust declines.

These security incidents also disrupt day-to-day operations, forcing IT and leadership teams to divert time and resources away from strategic priorities in order to manage investigations, remediation efforts, and regulatory reporting.

Beyond these operational costs, companies continue to incur financial losses simply by holding onto unused devices. Organizations pay for every mobile line, whether it is being used or not. For example, the City of Syracuse, New York, spent nearly $300,000 over six years on unused wireless devices (GovTech).

Beyond the financial and operational impact, unused devices also affect the environment. Every smartphone contains rare earth elements, plastics, and metals whose extraction and manufacturing require significant energy consumption. Without proper recycling, companies contribute to the 62 million tonnes of electronic waste generated globally each year (ITU).

Would you like to stop paying for unused phones, protect your company’s data, and achieve your ESG goals?

1. Security and Risk Mitigation
   – Ensure certified data erasure and destruction (e.g., R2 certification).
   – Track every device throughout its lifecycle.
   – Automatically identify devices ready for recycling using platforms such as mytem360.
2. Cost Recovery
   – Recover value from old devices through resale or reuse.
   – Use refurbished inventory for replacements instead of paying full price for upgrades.
   – Centralize device management to reduce IT workload and operational costs.
3. Environmental Sustainability
   – Reduce electronic waste through organized recycling programs.µ
   – Dispose of devices through R2-certified recycling processes.
   – Use metrics such as battery age to determine when mobile phones should be retired.
4. Emergency Preparedness
   – Maintain a stock of hot-swappable replacement devices for emergency situations.
   – Track devices, manage inventory, and configure devices in real time.
   – Manage multi-site deployments through centralized logistics.
5. Implementation Challenges and Strategic Planning
   – Overcome lack of executive support or internal buy-in.
   – Standardize device collection and recycling processes.