When looking for a hardware lifecycle management service to handle their abundance of enterprise hardware, it was extremely important to Allbirds that they worked with an organization that was aligned with their commitment to sustainability - Revivn. We spoke with Allbirds’ Information Technology System Administrator, Rey Davila, about Allbirds’ partnership with Revivn.
Q: Do you know why the team chose Revivn over other potential services?
A: Repurposing of the hardware was a big aspect of it. Our whole company DNA is centered around being sustainable and trying to reuse whenever we can. So bringing that mentality over to the gear that we use and what happens to it afterward played a huge part in it.
Q: How many assets would you say you're typically managing in a year? What types of assets do you call upon Revivn for help with?
A: In terms of how many devices we manage, it really depends. Every store has about five iPads and four Chromebooks. We have about 25 stores, with more on the way, and on top of that, we have all of our corporate hardware. This includes laptops for employees, iPads for others, and most employees have work-from-home monitors as well as monitors in the office.
Q: How has Revivn made managing the end-of-life cycle process for these assets easier for you?
A: It gives us extra value that we can put these devices towards. We use an internal asset management software to keep track of what needs to get recycled, but the actual pickup of the hardware is all Revivn, and it's great.
Q: Could you tell me a little bit about how has the communication been with Revivn? If you needed to solve a problem or had to question, was it resolved in a timely manner?
A: That part has been stellar, especially going back to the fact that we don't reach out that frequently. Often times we need clarification as to what we need to do to get the drop-off set up, and every time we've reached out, it's been great.
Q: How is working with a B-Corp like Revivn beneficial? Is it important to your business that you're working with a company that has similar values to Allbirds?
A: 100%. We are on a mission to remove carbon from every part of our business.
Q: How does this relationship help you achieve your sustainability commitments? Is it just an added bonus that you have a vendor that can help you in this way?
A: We have a flight plan to get Allbirds as a business to true carbon zero - i.e. not through offsets - and we can’t do that on our own. Partnerships like this is what will help us make the changes we need to.
Q: If you could share what the key benefit using Revivn has provided you, what would that be?
A: I would say peace of mind. The hardware is going to be used because if we didn't use Revivn, it would be a cloud over our heads. Where is all this stuff? I mean, the junkyard? We don't want that. Yeah - peace of mind.
Q: What would you say are your priorities as an IT leader? Has Revivn helped you meet the priorities you're looking to achieve around device management?
A: When we have the three-year upgrade cycle for employees, we want to make sure that people have the gear they need to get their job done. That obviously means switching out gear every now and then. There would be more friction switching out the gear if we didn't have a clear plan for what we wanted to do with the old gear. So in that regard, it does help us meet our goal of making sure people have the right tools to work on without having them use older hardware.
Q: How would you say Revivn’s services have improved your workplace? What were the results of the engagements that you've had with Revivn?
A: They help us keep our offices nice and tidy. We had a big move in the middle of the pandemic from one office to another, so working with Revivn we were able to clear out a bunch of e-waste that was piling up. It allowed us to move in fresh to our new offices.
