Case study: Virgin

Touched for the second time: the Virgin Group was impressed by Computer Aid's professionalism and the thoroughness of its data-wiping process

The Virgin Group was particularly keen to donate its legacy equipment to organisations in Africa.

The fact that the firm has operations in South Africa first prompted Virgin to consider donating its used PCs to Computer Aid International.

But what really clinched the deal was the professionalism and thoroughness with which the charity refurbishes equipment, says Eileen Donnelly, manager of the organisation’s charity arm Virgin Aware.

“The security and data-wiping processes mean we kill two birds with one stone because our IT people are confident that our equipment is being securely disposed of while donating to a good cause,” she says.

And there are other benefits to doing a good turn. The business case for donating to Computer Aid was not just a straightforward financial one.

In fact, the firm was not spending much on decommissioning and data-wiping PCs because a lot of companies in the Virgin Group were not getting rid of their equipment soon enough, says Donnelly.

“Certainly a lot of our smaller groups were hanging on to old equipment and refurbishing PCs that really should have seen the end of their lives,” she says.

Removing legacy equipment was the only answer, so Donnelly explored a number of different options.

“I investigated using a company that disposed of computers and offered money back as it sold them on,” she says.

But the initiative was not worth the small profit that such a large corporation could gain from selling on old equipment.

The outcome was a wake-up call and highlighted the need for a best practice guideline for renewing PC equipment every two years, meaning that the turnover of new equipment would become more frequent.

“One of the biggest benefits of Computer Aid is the good story of the donations and community investment is so much stronger,” says Donnelly.

And the good news is also a boost to company morale. “As you would imagine, it is all about the culture of working within a Virgin company, so we use every communication vehicle we have to talk about the charity work we do,” says Donnelly.

Staff feedback has been excellent and people feel very positive about Virgin’s work with Computer Aid, she says.