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Malaysian businesses need to know how green IT management can help with their bottom-lines while improving sustainable practices and reducing carbon footprints.

With the Government pressuring businesses to operate sustainably, Malaysia’s small to medium enterprises (SMEs) will have to face the increasingly urgent question of how to be sustainable without busting their budgets.

One avenue is to reduce e-waste, said Leanne Ooi, Chief Executive Officer of Rentwise, at the Green IT Saves Money seminar held here at Connexion@Nexus, Bangsar South today.

With its green credentials, Rentwise is a Microsoft Registered Refurbisher and one of only a few home-grown IT vendors providing comprehensive solutions which include financing and consultancy together with maintenance, support and IT lifecycle management services.

“Your IT department can help you be more sustainable without asking you for more money,” said Ooi.

Having an e-waste policy means making IT lifecycles more sustainable, ensuring companies can meet strict environmental standards when retiring and disposing of equipment while maximising on the equipment recovery value and resolving data security concerns.

“This is a cost-effective and a sensible solution both technically and financially as it reduces unnecessary expenditure and lowers the carbon footprint of the organization,” said Ooi.

The Government has continued to strengthen and expand regulations on sustainability in order to meet its commitment to reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent by 2020 compared to 2005 levels.

It has also identified green IT as an emerging driver for sustainable economic growth, and under the National Green Technology Policy, is aiming to reduce the overall consumption of resources while sustaining national economic growth. In keeping with this, the stock exchange Bursa Malaysia was among the earliest in the world to require yearly reporting on sustainability measures for public listed companies.

Rentwise’s Green IT Saves Money seminar is its contribution to those efforts. “Our intention is to improve people’s IT literacy in general with a lens on sustainability,” said Ooi. Rentwise hopes to raise awareness on Malaysia’s current sustainability policies, programs and green incentives as well as highlights sustainable avenues for maximising company IT budgets.

“SMEs need to know how IT management makes a big difference towards reducing their carbon footprint and the types of sustainable options available for them to meet sustainability obligations,” she added.

“Companies working towards Green IT should make sustainability a daily practice which firstly begins by understanding your electricity consumption and measuring your carbon footprint based on your consumption,” said energy conservation specialist Ismail Abdullah.

A speaker at Rentwise’s seminar today, Ismail shared his long experience from national and state projects like The Malaysia Green Technology Road Map, National Energy Efficiency Master Plan and The Melaka Green City State 2020 Blueprint.

“By making conscious effort to conserve energy usage and reduce CO2 emissions through simple steps like choosing to use low emissions equipment and supporting green procurement, this will create sustainability in energy consumption for the future,” he added.

To find out more about how Green IT can help your business save money, contact us today.

Rentwise ended the first quarter of 2016 with a poignant message on the importance of preserving our environment with green IT implementation. This environmentally-conscious strategy is not only friendly to mother earth but it also helps contribute to greater savings too. Thus, Rentwise led the way in championing for this cause via its recently concluded seminar titled “Green IT Saves Money” held at Connexion@Nexus, Bangsar South on 23 March 2016.

Here’s an excerpt of the opening speech by Leanne Ooi, CEO of Rentwise Sdn. Bhd.:

Happy morning clients, guests and members of the media! Welcome to our inaugural “Green IT Saves Money” seminar!

Thank you for coming today. Watch out! You are going to learn a lot.

Firstly, thank you to En Ismail Abdullah, President and CEO of the International Green Training Centre who will later be sharing with you key developments of the Green Movement in our country.

Thank you also to Mr. WH Chan from Server-On, the principal distributor for Quanta QCT in Malaysia and Ms. Elaine Loo of HGST who are going to share with us their approach to Green IT. We greatly appreciate Elaine who flew in from China to address us today. Welcome to Kuala Lumpur, Elaine.

When we started putting the word out on this seminar, some of you asked us: “How can Green IT save money?” Or “This is Rentwise’s concern, not ours.”

We are here to say it is time to make it your concern.

Let’s cut to the chase. We live in an era where what happens globally will affect us in Malaysia. It is only a matter of time before the pressure to change is on. If your business is unprepared, there will be painful lessons ahead.

We at Rentwise lived through this story of change. It was hard for us. We were going about business-as-usual importing IT equipment from bigger economies for refurbishment and leasing; and then before we knew it, Malaysia had become part of the Basel Convention that turned those very IT equipment, the lifeblood of our business, into hazardous waste.

Business came to a stop. But, we dug in our heels and changed our business model. We worked endlessly with the Department of Environment, we talked to our clients, and we invested in improving our skills and services.

And it has paid off. Large corporates and local business began to show interest in our services. Today, we are ready for the future. The question is, are you?

What is the future we are talking about? Look no further than the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

Once it takes effect, international borders will go down. With it, so will competition heat up. On the other hand, the global environmental movement is also heating up. Al-Gore’s award winning documentary in 2006 called ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ sums it up clearly: we are heading for doom if we do not change our ways.

So just think about it. Our regulators have started to put more pressure on businesses to operate in more socially responsible ways. Businesses need to cut down carbon footprint. This means fine tuning operations. It means working with other businesses who are able to provide services that also contribute to the green factor.

By having Green IT as part of your business, you are in effect doing two crucial things: (1) sharpening your competitive edge and (2) help to save our planet.

Rentwise is already part of the future. We Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.

Did you know? It takes 1.8 tons for raw materials such as mineral ore and fossil fuel to make a 10kg desktop.

Mining mineral ore pollutes the environment. Fossil fuel when combusted releases CO2 that contributes to global warming.

Today, we all need a computer to work. You can save our world instead of inadvertently destroying simply by changing usage and disposal practices.

We can help you adopt Green IT practices now. Not later, not some time in the future, but now. Green IT also saves you money. How? We can chat further later today!

So we emphasize here again. Green IT concerns all of us.

I hope your takeaway for today will be that ‘Positive change leads to positive outcomes’.

I trust you will have a fruitful day after hearing what En Ismail Abdullah, Mr WH Chan and Ms Elaine has to share.

Thank you.

To find out more about how Green IT can help your business save money, contact us today.

In celebration of the Year of the Monkey, Rentwise ushered in 2016 with great hopes for growth, prosperity and happiness for both staff and customers. This Chinese New Year celebration is indeed momentous and iconic as Rentwise is also celebrating its 15th year Anniversary this August.

A troupe of lion dance and well-wishers dropped by the office to impart their blessings and simply just had fun with Rentwisers. All the noise, dance, fun and merry; 2016 will be a blast!

It’s that time of the year again when new resolutions are made as the festive mood sets in. The Myanmar refugee children from the Selayang Pasar Borong Community Centre (PBCC) got themselves a big treat to a fun-filled party in celebration of Christmas and New Year at Rentwise’s headquarters at Shah Alam.

More than 30 Myanmar refugee children attended this Christmas and New Year party with several PBCC staff and teachers. Upon arrival, the children were given a short brief on what a computer is and its accompanying components needed to make it work. This was followed shortly by a motivational talk and story-telling by Lai Kien Wah, General Manager of Rentwise.

The children were also showered with gifts and many more when they played the various games setup at booths manned by Rentwise staff. From “fish the ducks”, “bean bag toss” and “ring toss” to “can knock”, basketball, darts and even a tattoo station, there were no lack of activities to keep the children occupied.

Rentwise has always been committed to the special needs of the under privileged and has a dedicated mission to help through its strong CSR program. To find out more about how Rentwise can extend a helping hand, feel free to contact us.

Throughout the 3-4 hours event, each Myanmar refugee children was assigned to a Rentwise staff tasked with taking care of their every needs from entertainment to food in a close-knit bonding session of interaction.

It was truly an exciting, fun-filled and electrifying moment for Rentwisers when we had a Mines Dinner Cruise for our annual dinner with the “Masquerade” theme. The cruise boat took off from the Mines Wellness Hotel jetty at 7.30 pm amidst a heavy downpour.

The cruise boat was apparently quite small but surprisingly it managed to fit almost 60 people on board. The Mines Dinner Cruise features a buffet-style dinner. The program for the night swung into motion with the usual lucky draws and speeches, amongst a great atmosphere of merriment, laughter and joyous vibe with colleagues.

After dinner, everyone proceeded upstairs for a two-piece live band entertainment with some delicious desserts, fruits and more drinks to just chill out into the night with great songs and many dancing.

In conjunction with Hari Raya celebration, the Rentwise Sports Club Committee had organized an IFTAR dinner on 11 July 2014. The dinner held at the Flaming Steamboat restaurant at Sunway saw a turnout of almost 30 participants. It was just the perfect place to wind down with a sumptuous and slow simmering dinner after a hard day’s work in anticipation of the festive holidays ahead.

Rentwisers has more than just a great dinner to be excited for. Following the relaxing dinner, everyone proceeded for a game of bowling at the Sunway Mega Lanes at Sunway Pyramid. A total of about 20 participants divided into 7 groups played their hearts out.

Every group walked away with a hamper for their participation and teamwork, but a medal of recognition of the first to third place winners were given to the top 3 teams. Each team was comprised of 3 participants. In addition to this, a winning medal for both the best female and male bowler went to Mira and Xavier respectively. The best bowlers also each received a RM 30 Jusco Cash Voucher.

The bowling tournament results were as follows:

All Rentwisers truly had an enjoyable Friday night to usher in a great weekend ahead. Great moments of camaraderie, laughter and cheers were freely shared in an event designed to further bond both colleagues and friends alike.

It had never been the prizes and competitiveness but what matters most was the opportunity to get together after work to build strong friendship and mutual understanding upon which a healthy working relationship and culture can be grown.

The much-awaited Rentwise Warehouse Sale for refurbished IT equipment made a comeback, after the last event in December 2012. This year’s mega sale brought even better and irresistible offers ranging from branded desktops and notebooks to workstations and monitors that satisfied most if not all buyers’ diverse requirements from word processing to hardcore gaming.

The Sale kicked off on 30 May and ran for 3 days till 1 June 2014 at Rentwise’s  headquarters in Seksyen 7, Shah Alam from 10 am till 7 pm. As compared to the previous Warehouse Sale, double the amount of people looking for bargains were seen and upon arrival, visitors were asked to register themselves to enable future offers and events to be communicated easily to them.

As the Sale progressed, High-end graphic workstations topped the favourites list of fast moving items. Deals were made all the more sweeter where just an additional spending of RM 100, gave buyers an option to add on a year-long carry-in warranty for any refurbished IT equipment purchased.

Among the business range notebooks on sale were the Dell Latitude E6400 at RM 799, IBM Thinkpad T400 at RM 650 and IBM Thinkpad X61 at RM 599. 17” LCD Monitors were priced at RM 88 while the branded Dell 22” LCD Monitors were going for a mere RM 200. A branded Core 2 Duo Desktop was priced at RM 299 while a Dell Optiplex 380 was at RM 350. Offers were undeniably attractive. Value-seekers and bargain hunters were clearly impressed at the good balance between affordable refurbished branded IT equipment with that of high quality specifications and that resulted in Rentwise selling well over 300 desktops and notebooks during the Sale.

Customers who bought RM 200 and above worth of items in a single receipt were also rewarded with a lucky draw opportunity to win a brand new Lenovo 7” Tab.

As part of Rentwise’s Corporate Social Responsibility outreach programme, the Pusat Borong Community Learning Centre (PBCC) was invited to participate in a fund raising exercise through the sale of snacks, drinks and ice cream at a designated booth. All proceeds from this activity went to the centre’s Myanmar Children Refugees. A number of the children refugees from PBCC were also present to man the booth.

The availability of ice cream and cold drinks certainly did help lift the mood of customers and fellow Rentwisers who appreciated any means to escape from the heat. An interesting twist to this year’s Warehouse Sale was a simple exhibition of 31 portraits of the Myanmar Children Refugees photographed by Mudframes Pictures. The professionally shot photographs offered these children the experience of being photographed in a “studio-like” setup.

These A4-sized photographs were available for sale at RM 20 per copy. Customers who purchased the prints did so on behalf of the children so each child could have a picture of themselves. Every copy sold was indicated with a red sticker and soon enough, all 31 prints on the board spotted a neat looking red dot!

In addition to the sale of foodstuff and photography prints of the children, Rentwise donated RM 10 to the Myanmar Children’s Refugeee Camp for every PC or notebook sold.

Through the Warehouse Sale, Rentwise also launched ITwise, the Rentwise IT remarketing division. ITwise aims to make branded refurbished IT equipment affordable and accessible to the mass consumer market, which encompasses corporate users, students and home users amongst others.

We were truly happy with the excellent response we received during our 5^th Warehouse Sale and the support of loyal customers as well as new ones.  We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our loyal customers for their support and we hope that you continue to stay with us as we grow.

Lastly, we were very happy to be in a position to deliver quality for value. Refurbished as these IT equipment may be, more often than not, they outperform their apparent age. That means enabling our customers to enjoy branded and reliable refurbished IT equipment at a fraction of the cost. That’s what makes us proud!

2013 has been a great year for us at Rentwise. But if that’s anything to go by, we are certain 2014 would hold greater promises of success. We started the New Year with a memorable Annual Dinner at Vin’s Restaurant & Bar on 11 Jan 2014.

Attendance was almost full as Rentwisers came together during a pleasant Saturday evening to dine and be merry in a wonderful atmosphere reminiscent of an old English Tavern by the countryside. The warm incandescent lights set a calming and conducive mood for great conversations, good laughs and amazing networking with our colleagues.

Rentwisers were already trickling in as early as 5.30 pm. By 7.00 pm, the restaurant was almost filled to the brim, teeming with laughter and chatter of Rentwisers who were all geared up to have absolute fun!

Upon arrival, we were warmly greeted by the organizing committee who handed out special door gift sets from The Face Shop. The theme for this year’s Annual Dinner was all things “Bows & Ribbons” and the organizing committee took pains to ensure all Rentwisers’ dress code adhere to this during registration.

Joanna Lim, President of Rentwise Sports Club delivered her opening speech for the night. “I’m indeed glad to see a good turnout to this year’s Annual Dinner event. You have shown your appreciation to this important event by coming together as a team and for that, I on behalf of the Organizing Committee would like to express our heart felt thanks to your presence and support,” says Joanna.

Our CEO, Leanne Ooi and Executive Director, Colin Whitehead also said a few words. “Tonight, I hope you would have a great fellowship with one another amidst all the good food and drinks, and not forget that our strength as a team lies in being a family-like unit. So let down your hair, kick back and enjoy the rest of the evening!” says Leanne. “We have all come through a long way and your success is our success. You owe it to yourselves for being the driver and building blocks of our organization. Therefore, pamper yourselves tonight and have fun,” Colin concludes.

We had an amazing MC to usher us through the night’s many entertaining activities and prize-giving sessions. Lucky draw was very much an inclusive event where every Rentwiser won something. The grand prize of a mini Ipad went to Eric Lim, our Assistant Warehouse & Logistic Manager.

7 employees were awarded the 3 year service award and 5 employees were recognized for their 4 year service with Rentwise, while 7 employees walked away with an Ice Watch each for their more than 5 years of service at Rentwise. These 5 year service award recipients are Adeline Yau Min, Bernad Victor A/L Victor Roch, Lim Siew Sooi, Lai Kien Wah, Sam Sook May, Nurul Hidayah Binti Tasriffin and Raja Krishnan.

The delectable buffet menu consisted of New Zealand roast lamb, Portuguese Grilled Chicken, Spaghetti and a wide variety of healthy green fruits and vegetables served with free flow juices. A two-piece live band belting out oldies from the 60s and 70s right up to our current day hits accompanied our enjoyment of these mouth-watering dishes. The band played throughout the night and paused at intervals for lucky draws and games fueled by joyous cheers of excitement.

Time flew indeed. By 10.30 pm, the event drew to a close. Everyone was tired but not without leaving with beaming smiles of satisfaction and exhilaration. Due credits goes to Joanna Lim and the organizing committee who have put in their 200% into making this event a resounding success and night to remember.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Sponsors and Management for their efforts in putting together this lovely get-together for us. It was truly a blast!

Most of all, on behalf of all Rentwisers, I would like to cheer us on to an exciting 2014. We should give ourselves a pat on our back for making this Annual Dinner an eventful and memorable night.

Contributed by Loo Kia Shong, Rentwise’s Legal Manager