Start with how your business makes money
ITAD companies do not all run the same way. One may earn most of its margin from remarketing, another from service fees, and another from recycling material by weight. Software that suits one model can be a poor fit for another.
Before speaking to vendors, write down how you charge, what you resell, and what clients demand as proof. Those answers decide which features matter and which are only nice to have.
ITAD software, general ERP, or spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are cheap to start with and hard to defend. They do not record who changed what, and answering a question about one serial number can mean searching through several files.
A general ERP handles accounting and standard inventory well, but it may assume you buy a known product and sell it. ITAD is different: you often do not know exactly what you have until it arrives, each device has its own condition and history, and the customer may share in the proceeds.
Software built for ITAD should treat those as normal cases. It should handle a serialized asset record, custody events, erasure evidence, grading, and settlements without a pile of workarounds.
The capabilities worth testing
Follow the work rather than the menu. Check receiving against an order, audit and erasure evidence on the asset, grading to your own standard, serialized inventory, resale, contract terms, settlements, and client reporting.
Then look at what connects to it. Ask about your erasure tool, accounting package, carriers, marketplaces, and any system your enterprise clients expect you to work with. For each one, ask who built the connection and who supports it.
Run one real job through every vendor
Give each vendor the same job, including its awkward parts: a shortage at the dock, a device that was not on the manifest, a drive that fails erasure, a custom client contract, and a settlement dispute months later.
Watch for the moments when someone leaves the system, retypes data, or says “we would handle that outside”. Those moments are what your team will live with every day.
See it the way your client would
Ask to see the same job from the client’s side. Can they follow its status, find a device, and download a certificate without emailing you? A strong client experience can be a sales advantage as well as a time saver.
Check security, migration, and support
Your clients will ask you about your vendors, so request security documentation early. Ask who has access to your data, and how you would get it back if you ever left.
Ask what data can be migrated, who cleans it, and how the cutover works. Ask to speak with a customer similar to you, and find out what took longer than expected.