Brian Folkes

CEO & Strategic Visionary

I always enjoyed figuring things out.  I wasn’t that great at putting puzzles together or outwitting Sherlock Holmes, but I developed the ability for deconstructing problems and looking at them differently.  Sometimes I even solved the great mysteries of life.

That was the genesis of IT Asset Recovery: I started solving such problems as finding a device that hadn’t been manufactured in 10 years for a customer or answering the question “How do you responsibly handle surplus technology equipment?”.  In the case of the former I developed resources to either locate legacy equipment or devised an alternative that worked as well, if not better.  In the latter situation, I developed the tools to maximize ROI of surplus IT equipment or coordinated local responsible recycling options.

IT-AR is not a cookie-cutter organization where one solution fits all situations.  Neither do we try to be all things to all people.  There are many companies in the surplus technology arena and secondary legacy marketplace.  It is a brutal way to do business.  You either have to give away product just to take an order or grow so large that you are the 8000 lbs. gorilla in the room.  That’s not the market we care to participate in.  We want to bring our value proposition to our customers.  Let the rest scramble to beat the low price leader while scrimping on quality product and service.

Years ago I heard a saying that was attributed to a vendor trying to deal with IBM:  “When you dance with elephants, you are either quick or dead.”  That pretty much sums us up.