Q&A: Computer Aid founder Tony Roberts

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What’s difficult is to get in the door, because your IT manager or your CIO is constantly besieged by people trying to sell them stuff.

When Computer Aid first started 12 years ago, it was much easier for us.

Because at that point, people were throwing their old computers in skips. Our value proposition is instead of this waste, we can reuse it, it costs you nothing and it is an easy sell.

But today [because] everyone’s got a solution in place, they think they’ve dealt with that issue. We’re asking them to do something much more complicated, kind of unwind their existing position, say that it was wrong, and put in place a different solution.

It’s a difficult thing to do in an email or in other correspondence. We need to get through the door and get 30 minutes of that person’s time. When we do, in the majority of cases, people donate.

If you had two minutes to pitch to corporate IT departments, what would you say?

We can take care of all their compliance needs, we can certificate data destruction, we can show them environment agency registration, and we can track the assets both those that go overseas and are donated to schools and hospitals. We can tell them where they went.

Where there’s equipment we can’t reuse – waste – we can document the waste streams right down to the smelting plant and how much copper was recovered and how it’s reused.

Do they have to pay anything or do any work?

They don’t have to do anything and it’s completely free. It’s a good deal and that’s why generally if we get in front of them, a person with decision-making power, normally we’re able to work with them. It’s just very difficult to get to do the elevator pitch.

Click here to set up a meeting with Computer Aid, and read on for more on tech charities that need your help.

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