We're a 60-person company growing to around 100 employees, with a well-established hardware process for fully remote staff in the US. We generally provide a MacBook Air, 24-inch monitor, keyboard, and mouse, using zero-touch deployment where possible. When someone leaves, they return the laptop and accessories, while monitors are usually kept because international shipping costs more than they're worth. We're now hiring employees and contractors in other countries and want a practical way to provide secure, managed hardware. Should we purchase locally, ship equipment from the US despite customs and import issues, use a global IT or hardware provider, or take a virtual desktop approach? We'd also like to understand how others handle returns and asset recovery.
5 Answers
For full-time employees, I’d use locally purchased, centrally managed laptops. The device can still be fully enrolled and secured with Intune, Autopilot, Jamf, or Apple Business Manager, while a local supplier handles fulfillment. You can also set a hardware lifecycle, such as allowing employees to keep the device after several years or only requiring early returns.
Avoid shipping everything from the US. Customs, duties, export restrictions, battery rules, delivery delays, and international returns become painful very quickly. Ordering locally is generally better, especially in countries where you already have an office or a trusted reseller. For returns, arrange a local drop-off, courier pickup, or recovery through the provider.
For contractors, virtual desktops such as Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, or Citrix can be much easier. They can use a personal or locally sourced computer while company data stays in the managed cloud environment. The tradeoff is performance and latency, so it may not work well for every role or location.
A global VAR or hardware logistics provider is usually the cleanest option. They can source devices locally, handle delivery and returns, and often enroll hardware directly into Apple Business Manager, Jamf, Intune, or Autopilot. That avoids most customs problems while keeping deployment centralized.
The global VAR model makes sense, but evaluate vendors carefully. Some large providers have been difficult to work with, so service quality and local coverage matter as much as pricing.
The right answer depends heavily on the country. Nearby countries may be easy to serve from a central stock location, while places with complicated import rules are better handled by a local reseller. For a small number of contractors, VDI may be simplest; for permanent employees who need reliable performance, local physical hardware with centralized management is usually the better experience.
A defined lifecycle helps a lot. Requiring someone to ship a several-year-old laptop across borders can cost nearly as much as the remaining value of the device.