The IT department of Out of Use is currently in a start-up phase, but the plans are ambitious. The company wants to build a strategic IT department and raise awareness about the circular economy among businesses.
Exactly one month in and already fully immersed in the sustainable story that characterizes Out of Use: Luc Witters, CIO of Out of Use, explains in detail to ITdaily how promising the future of the company, and its IT department, looks.
Out of Use is a family business that gives discarded electronics a second life. They want to make a difference in the sustainable and circular economy. That’s why they try to reuse devices, extract parts, and recycle.
ITdaily: What does the IT environment you’re responsible for look like?
Witters: “Our IT is currently in a start-up phase. Until now, Out Of Use has mainly worked with external support, but with my arrival, the intention is to really develop IT into a strategic department within the organization. We are working on our own policy, clear vision, and technology choices for the future. The goal is to make our IT environment future-proof and proactively respond to the company’s growth. We want to maximize what’s available, and do so under the best possible conditions.”
“It’s very clear to the management that there’s a need for a well-developed IT department. That’s very important to me, I like to build to make truly strategic choices. I’ve brought my experience from the hospital world and Studio 100 to put our company on the map IT-wise.”
“With the arrival of our new CEO Yannick, that process has shifted into a higher gear. We need to better substantiate ourselves in strategic places, and that awareness is there. This facilitates the process and makes it an interesting story that’s never really finished.”
What are the main priorities right now?
Witters: “Our main priority is to further expand our activities around the circular economy. We are pioneers in Belgium, but there’s still potential for further growth. We’re investigating how we can sustainably deal with raw materials to effectively give everything we’ve used a second life. That’s why we’ve invested in additional warehouse space, for example, to efficiently process the large quantities we receive.”
“In addition, we’re fully engaged in expanding into new sectors, such as automotive. So we’re not just processing IT equipment, but also batteries, airbags, and electronics from cars. Basically, anything that electricity runs through, in any sector. This is a fairly new activity for us, in which we want to grow in the coming years.”
“Furthermore, we’re focusing on innovation and research into ways of reuse, for example, what we can still do with discarded car batteries or solar panels. We don’t just want to break down and recycle, but especially stimulate reuse.”
Does the business sufficiently understand the IT challenges?
Witters: “Yes, absolutely. Out of Use has attracted people with a lot of knowledge and experience in their field, so that we can all think, anticipate, and decide at a higher level. But we keep our feet on the ground: it’s important to grow sustainable by making well-considered choices. Our CEO Yannick himself has a background at ING and understands the importance of strategic IT very well.”
Does your CIO organization have access to sufficient people and resources
Witters: “At this moment, we certainly have sufficient resources for our plans, it’s not my intention to immediately post many job openings. We consciously choose to work with specialized partners who help us take big steps quickly. This way, we can make progress without having to hire a large team right away.”
Is the future of Out of Use’s IT environment in the cloud, on-premises, or a combination of both?
Witters: “For Out of Use, a hybrid approach is clearly the right choice. Cloud offers us flexibility, especially in scalability and quick access to applications. But because we focus so strongly on reuse and refurbishing, we already have used but still high-quality equipment available from data centers. We can deploy that infrastructure ourselves within our company.”
“Our entire infrastructure for testing, wiping, and refurbishing equipment operates now and in the future completely on-premises. We use our own hardware at minimal costs, so there’s no advantage in cloud. However, we do use cloud applications when they offer us relevant flexibility, such as our ERP systems.”
What impact do regulations such as NIS2 have on policy?
Witters: “It compels us to deal more consciously with data protection and cybersecurity, both internally and with our customers. We need to ensure that we protect our own cocoon, but it also gives us the opportunity to warn companies about the security of old hardware. We have a role to play in that as well.
“We provide certificates to customers to remain fully transparent about how their data and equipment are processed. We also have options to destroy data on-site at the customer’s location or provide secure transport of hardware to our company. This aligns perfectly with the NIS2 legislation.”
“The geopolitical context also plays a role today: we consciously choose European suppliers of security services, based on the idea of ‘Europe first’. This way, we also comply with increasingly stringent regulations and compliance, while keeping an eye on our costs.”
How does Out of Use deal with the AI hype?
Witters: “We look at AI pragmatically, but certainly use it for strategic matters. A concrete example for us is the Reuse Rocket project. Here, we use AI for automatic recognition and value determination of incoming equipment. Operators cannot possibly know the exact value of each device, let alone every component. AI plays an important role here.”
“We are currently testing a prototype where operators can take a photo of the device and immediately see its value via AI and whether there is potential for reuse. This makes our processes less time-consuming and also more efficient and accurate. Importantly, it remains a supportive tool. Our employees are not being replaced.”
What are the main plans and challenges in the near future?
Witters: “Our future is scaling to a larger level. We want to operate in European countries such as the Netherlands, France, and Germany. We aim to set up local units there to minimize transport and keep our ecological footprint as small as possible.”
“We are also strongly focused on sustainability in technology. We are investigating how we can consume less energy in our processes and data centers. Additionally, we want to collaborate with local and European partners. We strongly believe in a European system where sustainability and innovation are central. We also want to continuously develop and strengthen our pioneering role in the circular economy.”
“A major challenge remains raising awareness among companies. Many companies are unaware of the possibilities of circular economy and sustainable IT management. Out of Use wants to make it clear to them that it not only offers financial benefits but also social and ecological ones.”