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When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in early 2020, people suddenly couldn’t report to work. While lockdowns and other quarantine measures helped limit the virus’s spread, the lack of employees onsite meant important work couldn’t be done. Thousands of businesses worldwide shut down temporarily, but many never reopened.
After learning hard lessons, businesses took steps to make themselves more resilient to the effects of future crises. One way involved investing in remote work solutions, namely laptops. Some companies, especially those that conduct extensive fieldwork, phased out their desktop PCs in favor of laptops, allowing work to continue.
That said, retrieving a company-issued laptop from a remote worker (for various reasons, including the worker leaving the company) is a major drawback. Fortunately, businesses can work around this by enlisting the aid of a laptop retrieval service. Here’s a look at what it does and, more importantly, how to choose the right one.
1. Laptop Return Kits
A laptop retrieval service helps businesses, whether large or small, retrieve their laptops from employees working from home or in the field. This way, they don’t have to spare key personnel for such a daunting task.
Because laptops are delicate devices, the retrieval process must ensure their protection during storage and shipping. To that end, the service provides secure shipping kits for the laptop user to pack the unit and its accessories into.
Laptop retrieval services like allwhere provide packing materials, shipping instructions, and even a prepaid shipping label that contains a unique tracking number. Not only does the kit help ensure the laptop’s safe return, but it also enables companies to track such assets. A good laptop retrieval service strives to make the return process easy and efficient.
2. Redeployment
You might wonder why such services exist when package delivery services like FedEx and UPS exist. First, while they can ship electronics, laptop retrieval isn’t their primary service. The various items they ship daily go beyond company-owned laptops.
Second, despite the term, laptop retrieval services also allow laptops to be redeployed to other remote employees. This is possible through a central hub that stores the units until they’re ready to be either returned to the office or issued to another worker.
However, redeployment doesn’t just involve the laptop changing hands. Businesses must also consider any leftover files on the device, especially if the new user isn’t authorized to access them. Provided the files have been backed up, the service can perform complete data wiping before the delivery process can begin.
3. Decommissioning
It’s not unusual for businesses to keep using outdated hardware. For example, according to one ATM technician, ATMs in the U.S. still operate programs based on older versions of Windows—namely XP (released in 2001) and NT (released in 1993). Despite support for these systems having long ended, keeping them running has only grown more costly.
A business leader with a mindset focused on cost-effectiveness knows better than to keep aging IT running. Laptops are no exception, as newer models are faster, more portable, and have a longer battery life. New device procurement may be expensive at first but makes up for it through long-term savings and increased efficiency.
With a reliable laptop retrieval service, decommissioned laptops don’t need to be returned to the office. Besides wiping the laptop clean, it can also help with post-retrieval operations such as dismantling, donating, or reselling the device. The last two options also help the environment as they minimize e-waste, a prevalent problem in this tech-heavy economy.
4. Asset Management
Everything explained so far makes laptop return services a necessary service. That said, in nearly every situation, businesses recover more than one or a couple of laptops. This is especially the case for those whose workforce consists of all remote employees. These devices will likely come and go by the dozens.
Knowing where each laptop is or where it’s going isn’t enough. Companies also need to be aware of each unit’s model, serial number, and current condition, among other pieces of information. The key to this is a powerful IT asset management system, which tracks the status of each device, whether in storage or in use.
IT asset management software should be a staple of laptop or IT asset retrieval services, but reliable ones enable clients to use it themselves. Doing so not only helps them monitor their laptops in real time but also lets them request their retrieval or redeployment.
Laptops Are Precious
Laptops are expensive pieces of hardware, and a company that does remote or field work would be remiss to misplace one or two. A proper laptop return process can be a big help in monitoring and managing its laptop inventory. Investing in a professional retrieval service ensures your assets are protected, your data is wiped, and your IT team is free to focus on growth. Choosing the right partner today can save thousands in lost hardware and security risks tomorrow.
Many of his resources are available on various design marketplaces and for free on Codepen.
Over the years, he's worked with a range of clients and contributed to design publications like Design Your Way, Designmodo, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, and Speckyboy, andSlider Revolution among others.
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