I'm dealing with a real hassle trying to get laptops returned from employees who are leaving the company remotely. Often, these devices are in hard-to-reach places like rural areas or stuck in co-working spaces, which complicates our IT asset audit. Currently, I'm stressing over tracking down managers for shipping addresses and coordinating courier pickups from a messy spreadsheet, hoping the laptops actually make it back to us. I'm not looking for an elaborate enterprise system, but there has to be a more efficient method out there. What strategies have you used for device reclamation, and do you have any preferred services?
1 Answer
Honestly, this isn't really an IT issue; it's more of a HR and legal problem. If a laptop doesn't come back, just mark it as lost or stolen according to your asset tracking policy and let HR handle the rest. It's really not our job to chase after devices or book couriers.
I wish it were that straightforward! A lot of companies still put this responsibility on IT, so I've had to set up a system where HR notifies us early. This way, we can automate the return process by sending out notifications with instructions and return options, and only follow up as needed.