IT REFRESH CYCLES
Rethinking IT refresh cycles: lifecycle extension as the smarter business choice
Refurbishment can help devices such as laptops to reach the end of their lifecycle more effectively, as well as delivering cost and sustainability savings to enterprise customers, as Alexandra Asanache, sustainability solutions consultant at Lenovo, explains.
For a long time, IT refresh cycles have been treated as a matter of operational hygiene or common sense. Devices were replaced according to fixed calendars, depreciation rules or procurement habits. We rarely stop to ask whether these cycles still make sense, not only financially, but operationally and environmentally. But much of the value of technology is created neither at the moment of purchase nor at end-of-life, but in the long middle where devices are in use.
be allocated, and perfectly functional machines that quietly move one step closer to waste. At scale, this is not a marginal inefficiency; it is a structural one that does not eliminate risk. At the opposite end of the spectrum, extending device use well beyond its intended lifespan is often presented as responsible consumption. In reality, in large organisations, it tends to create a different kind of cost, which is harder to track and easier to underestimate. Older machines consume more energy, slow people down, fail more often and carry growing security risks. What looks like responsibility can quickly turn into fragility, especially in environments where reliability actually matters such as healthcare, education, or regulated industries where reliability is not optional. Longevity without control is not sustainability, it is deferred exposure.
Alexandra Asanache
Connecting the refresh approach The central issue is not whether
lenovo.com
organisations refresh their technology too often or too slowly. It is that refresh decisions are still largely disconnected from how devices are actually designed, used and capable of performing over time. When sustainability is understood as end-to-end risk and value management rather than emissions accounting alone, lifecycle extension through refurbishment emerges as a logical answer. Replacing enterprise laptops after three years is a good example. These devices were actually designed to last longer. Four to five years, in fact. Retiring them earlier does not make them safer or smarter; it simply leaves value on the table. Carbon that did not need to be spent, money that did not need to
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Much of the value of technology is created neither at the moment of purchase nor at end-of-life, but in the long middle where devices are in use.
Simplifying the debate Somewhere between these two
extremes, the industry started talking about ‘dynamic refresh’, the idea that devices should be replaced individually, based on real usage and need rather than fixed cycles. Conceptually, it is appealing. Practically, it is chaotic. Large organisations depend on predictability. Finance, procurement and IT operations
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