Every device within your organization passes through a natural lifecycle, from the day they are procured to the day they need replacing. To ensure your devices can operate effectively and securely across their lifespan, you need to implement a lifecycle management strategy that covers every stage of this journey.

For globally distributed organizations, there are many hidden costs associated with managing devices remotely, not to mention the time sink for your HR, IT, Procurement and Finance teams, who could otherwise be working on higher-impact tasks.

Luckily, Hofy offers a seamless way to save time and avoid hidden costs associated with every stage of the device lifecycle. To learn more about device lifecycle management and how Hofy enhances this process for your business, read on.

What is Device Lifecycle Management? 

Device lifecycle management (DLM) is the process of managing a device across its entire lifecycle, and typically involves 5 key stages: planning, procurement, deployment, maintenance and decommissioning.

DLM broadly covers every type of device used for work - from laptops and smartphones, to printers, speakers and smart devices. But for distributed organizations no longer running high-tech offices, a mobile device lifecycle management (MDLM) strategy - covering laptops, smartphones and tablets - is often enough.

The 5 Stages of Device Lifecycle Management 

Here’s an overview of the management requirements at every stage of your DLM or MDLM process, and how Hofy saves considerable time and cost at each juncture:

Stage 1: Device Planning

The planning stage involves assessing your organization’s device requirements - e.g. What devices should your team members use? Do different teams need different devices? - and deciding how you’ll procure and manage new devices. A good starting point is to audit your current inventory.

Depending on the size of your organization, this could be a many-day or many-hour process. But with Hofy, you can fully automate planning and inventory management in a few clicks.

How does the Hofy platform save time and money?

• Organization settings → Set default procurement rules for your entire organization, including contract terms for devices (rent or purchase) and rental terms per equipment category (e.g. IT peripherals - 36 month contract - billed monthly). 
• Team settings → Get granular: approve specific products for each team, set budgets for laptops, budgets for other equipment, decide whether to manually or automatically approve orders etc. 
• The Hofy Asset Tracker → Bulk upload all of your existing assets (e.g. those procured from other suppliers) to Hofy in 1 click, so you can easily manage your inventory in one place. Any time you repair, move, store or clear your devices, the Tracker updates automatically to spare you hours of manual work.

Stage 2: Device Procurement

The procurement phase involves acquiring devices, either by renting or purchasing them, and often involves vetting multiple vendors, negotiating contracts, setting payment terms etc.

For teams scaling internationally, the process needs to be repeated every time you hire in a new region, which creates additional complexity (such as navigating language barriers and insecure payment methods) and management burden.

How does Hofy save time and money? 

• Easy device reuse → Save $10,000s-100,000s on device procurement by reusing devices among team members. Transfer devices directly, or store for as long as you need and reuse across 50+ regions. Hofy handles all logistics.
• Flexible finance options → Set finance preferences (rent or purchase) by team, country, or on an individual basis, to suit your business needs.
• Single global supplier → No need to vet and manage multiple vendors. Procure devices and centralize billing across 124+ countries.
• High-spec laptops (32GB+ RAM) always in stock → Avoid long lead times for Engineering-level devices, and avoid depreciation and storage costs from holding devices in stock.

Stage 3: Device Deployment

The third phase involves deploying devices to users, configured with the right software, apps and security settings.

Setting up a device can take anywhere from an hour to a full day’s work, and may involve an IT technician manually unboxing, configuring and repackaging the device from a warehouse, or coordinating with a remote end-user once the device has arrived. The faster your company is growing, the more disruption for your IT team.

You then need to physically get the device to an end-user. If they’re an international hire, you may need to navigate customs admin, long lead times, vet local couriers and so on. 

So much can go wrong. According to the Global Parcel Theft Report, 2022 by Penn Elcom, 1 in 10 people had a parcel lost or stolen in the last year, amounting to 1.009 billion packages globally at a total loss of US$37.9bn. The financial repercussions go beyond just replacing the laptop: if your employee can’t start for a few days, you lose days of productivity, they suffer a bad onboarding experience and so on. 

How does Hofy save time and money?

• Custom pre-configuration service → We can configure devices with your organization’s chosen apps and settings, apply security policies, update operating systems, and enroll devices into your Mobile Device Management (MDM) system/Apple Business Manager before deploying.
• Automated/1-click deployment → Approve a device order in 1 click, or set up auto-approvals to save even more time. Hofy then handles all the logistics.
• Under-10 day delivery across 124+ countries → Deploy devices consistently with one supplier and avoid long lead times.
• In-transit loss and damage protection → Included with every delivery for peace of mind.

Stage 4: Device Maintenance

The maintenance phase involves updating, securing and servicing your devices on an ongoing basis to ensure they’re in good working order.

When the world was office-based, this process was far simpler. Devices could be repaired and managed on-site, and IT teams could impose security measures on their network to prevent external bodies from compromising them.

For distributed organizations, there are now a myriad of challenges, including:

• Time zones → Say your Engineer in Texas needs support, but your London-based support team has already clocked off for the day. An issue that could have been resolved in 20 minutes has now cost you a day’s productivity. 
• Repairs admin → A laptop in Egypt breaks. You’ve never organized repairs in Egypt and you don’t have an office there. You need to source a reliable local supplier, arrange couriers to and from repairs, and organize a temporary device to cover the repairs period. There’s the repairs cost, the downtime cost, and the time cost.
• Mitigating security risk → Remote working presents unique IT security challenges, including increased use of insecure networks, personal devices and unauthorized apps. With the average data breach costing US$4.45M, the cost risk is high.

How does Hofy save time and money?

• 24/7 IT support - So no matter what time zone your team members are in, they can access support during their working hours without having to go through your IT Team.
• Managed repairs - If an item needs repairing, we’ll manage the whole repairs service to save your IT Team time (coordinating logistics, organizing packaging, collections etc.).
• Loaner devices during repairs - So employees can keep working through repairs (which can take weeks), avoiding disruption to entire teams.

Stage 5: Device Decommissioning

Eventually, every device will reach the end of its usable life (EOL) and need to be replaced. The decommissioning phase involves securely wiping data from devices, and disposing of them in line with relevant compliance requirements.

Unless you're very proactively monitoring the condition of your devices, or have a set device refresh cycle, your teams could spend months working unproductively from slow laptops. This can impact morale and retention as well as productivity: 1 in 10 workers say outdated tech makes them want to quit their jobs.

Finding reliable clearance partners in different regions is time-consuming, and a low value-add activity for one of your full-time employees (FTE). 

How does Hofy save time and money?

• Automated device upgrades → Avoid downtime from team members using outdated devices by setting an automated refresh cycle (e.g. every 3 years). Hofy will handle all comms with team members and logistics to spare your IT team any admin.
• Remote device wiping → Remotely wipe data from any device enrolled in our Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution. Also applicable if devices are lost or stolen.
• Cash for clearance → Hofy manages the entire clearance process, from collection through to compliant disposal, across 124+ countries. In addition to the time savings, receive cash back on any residual value. 

Optimize Your Device Lifecycle Management Strategy with Hofy

To find out how much time and money you could save managing your devices with Hofy, book a demo today.