The six stages a remote employee's work equipment goes through, from purchase to retirement, and the services with which First Plug supports each one across LATAM.
By Matías Lerner, CCO and Co-founder of First Plug
Recently, the founders and department leaders gathered in front of a whiteboard with a simple objective: write down everything we do today for our clients. Not what we plan to do, but what is already part of our day-to-day operations.
When we finished, the whiteboard was full. We had outlined six lines of work and more than twenty services: equipment sales and leasing, configuration, deliveries, technical support, warranties, retrieval, storage, data wiping, and buyback. Almost all of them were born the same way: a client told us about a problem no one was solving for them, and we started solving it ourselves.
For a while now, I have liked explaining what we do by saying that we are present throughout the entire remote hardware lifecycle, and that day we saw that phrase broken down into concrete services. This article is the map of that whiteboard. It is organized so that any company with a distributed team can see what we cover at each stage and where what they need fits in.
What is the remote hardware lifecycle?
The remote hardware lifecycle is the complete journey of work equipment (a laptop, a monitor, a mobile phone) from the moment the company decides to acquire it until it is decommissioned. In a distributed team, each stage can occur in a different country, each with its own logistics, taxes, and warranty conditions.
At First Plug, we organize it into six stages:
Acquisition: choosing the computer and the procurement model.
Configuration: getting it ready and secure before it ships.
Delivery and onboarding: ensuring it reaches the right person, on time.
Usage, support, and maintenance: keeping it running while in use.
Offboarding, retrieval, and storage: ensuring the computer is not lost when the employee leaves.
End-of-life and value recovery: ensuring it leaves the company wiped clean of data and with part of its value recovered.
There is also a layer that spans all six stages: management, which means knowing at all times what equipment exists, where it is, who has it, and what condition it is in. That layer lives within our platform.
Summary: all First Plug services by stage
This table summarizes First Plug's solutions organized by the stage of the lifecycle in which they operate.
Stage | What it solves | First Plug Services |
|---|---|---|
1. Acquisition | What equipment to procure, in which country, and under which model | Sale of laptops, monitors, mobile phones, and accessories; swag and welcome kits; rental and leasing |
2. Configuration | Ensuring the equipment arrives secure and ready to work | MDM enrollment (Apple Business Manager, Microsoft Intune); pre-configuration; RAM, SSD, and operating system upgrades |
3. Delivery and onboarding | Ensuring each employee has their equipment from day one | Equipment onboarding; delivery with tracking |
4. Usage, support, and maintenance | Keeping the equipment running smoothly | Technical diagnostics; technical service and repair; extended warranties; equipment replacement; ITaaS; infrastructure and cloud. |
5. Offboarding, retrieval, and storage | Ensuring the equipment returns and remains available | Offboarding; equipment retrieval; sanitization; relocation; storage |
6. End-of-life and value recovery | Ensuring the equipment is decommissioned without data and with recovered value | Secure data wiping; sanitization; certified ITAD; BuyBack |
Management (entire lifecycle) | Inventory visibility and control | IT management platform |
Stage 1: Acquisition
Acquisition is the stage where decisions are made that determine everything else. In a remote team, choosing a model is not enough: you also need to define which country is best to purchase it in, how long it will take to arrive, and whether the warranty can be used where the person lives. A laptop purchased in one country rarely has a valid warranty in another, and that is only discovered when it fails. At First Plug, we take care of all of this.
The other decision at this stage is the ownership model: purchasing equipment or renting it. Buying turns hardware into a company asset. Renting turns it into a predictable monthly expense and avoids tying up capital in equipment that will eventually be replaced. There is no single answer: it depends on the hiring pace, cash flow, and how long each device is planned to be used. We break this down in Rent or buy hardware for your remote team?
Services in this stage:
Equipment sales: laptops, monitors, and accessories to set up the complete workstation at the employee's home.
Mobile phones: corporate mobile devices.
Swag and welcome kits: branded products and kits to welcome new hires or celebrate special occasions. View kits
Equipment leasing or rental: recurring monthly payment for hardware usage.
Stage 2: Configuration
A remote employee cannot simply walk up to the IT desk to have missing items installed. That is why the equipment must be shipped pre-configured: associated with the company, with corporate tools installed, and with security policies active from the very first startup.
The core of this stage is MDM (Mobile Device Management), the tool that enables remote device management: applying settings, installing software, enforcing passwords, or wiping a lost device. For companies seeking ISO certifications, having devices enrolled in an MDM is also a way to demonstrate control over the devices accessing their information. We explain the step-by-step process in MDM and device enrollment.
This stage also includes upgrading existing hardware. A memory or storage upgrade can extend a device's lifespan and delay a new purchase.
Services in this stage:
MDM enrollment: registering each device in Apple Business Manager or Microsoft Intune, so it is linked to the company from the very first startup.
Pre-configuration: corporate tools and settings defined by each company's IT team, applied prior to shipping.
Hardware and operating system upgrades: RAM expansion, SSD replacement or upgrade, and operating system updates.
Stage 3: Delivery and onboarding
Delivery is the most visible stage for the employee: it is the first tangible experience they have with their new company. If the equipment does not arrive on time, the first day of work is lost, along with a significant portion of the effort People put into making the welcome seamless.
In LATAM, delivery involves coordinating local purchases or imports, customs, residential addresses, and delivery schedules. At First Plug, we handle this with our own regional operations, allowing us to take full responsibility for every step of the journey instead of relying on third parties. Additionally, we deliver to 170+ countries worldwide.
Services in this stage:
Equipment onboarding: selection of hardware, accessories, and destination for each new hire from a single workflow; preparation, shipping, and device enrollment in the platform.
Delivery: shipping to the employee's home address with real-time status tracking.
Stage 4: Usage, support, and maintenance
This is the longest stage of the cycle and, at the same time, the least visible. As long as the equipment is working, no one thinks about it. When it fails, the issue stops being just technical. You need to know who diagnoses it, where it gets repaired, whether the warranty applies in that country, and what the employee works with in the meantime.
For a company with employees across multiple countries, handling each failure in isolation means finding a different technical service in every location. In this stage, we centralize support: the request is made through the platform, tied to the device, and we coordinate the rest.
Services in this stage:
Technical diagnosis: device evaluation to identify the fault and determine whether it is better to repair or replace it.
Technical service and repair: device repair.
Extended warranties: extending the device coverage for 1 to 3 years, depending on the plan each company chooses. We offer two options: the manufacturer's extended warranty (for example, AppleCare) and First Plug's own warranty for countries where the manufacturer does not provide it. They are available in all countries and apply only to devices purchased through First Plug.
Device replacement: replacing a device by coordinating the delivery of the new one and the pickup of the previous one.
ITaaS: IT fleet support and management with a help desk, device management (MDM), patching, and security.
Infrastructure and cloud: servers, storage, and networking consumed on-demand (IaaS, PaaS).
Stage 5: Offboarding, recovery, and storage
When an employee leaves the company, their equipment remains at their home, often in another country. Every day that passes without recovering it is a risk: the device still has access to company information and its resale value drops. It is also the stage that is most often postponed, because the urgency of the departure is usually focused elsewhere. We expand on this in what to do with your former employees' computers.
Not all movements at this stage are departures. Sometimes an employee relocates, changes roles, or equipment needs to be transferred from one person to another in a different country. In those cases, the hardware needs to be shipped or held in a secure location until its next destination.
Services in this stage:
Equipment recovery: coordination of equipment pickup when an employee leaves the company. We coordinate pickups in over 170 countries.
Relocation: transfer of equipment between offices or countries.
Storage: safekeeping of laptops, monitors, accessories, and merchandising in access-controlled warehouses, ready to be reassigned.
Stage 6: End of lifecycle and value recovery
Equipment that will no longer be reassigned still holds two things: data and value. If it is kept in a drawer, the company loses value and retains risk. If it is sold or discarded without proper erasure, information can end up in third-party hands.
This stage solves both issues. First, data is erased following a verifiable process. Then, the equipment is evaluated and its destination is decided: refurbishing, resale, or recycling.
Services in this stage:
Factory Reset (secure data erasure): deletion of data from the device so it cannot be recovered.
Sanitization: physical cleaning of the equipment to leave it ready for reuse.
BuyBack: equipment buyback. We evaluate the fleet by batch, make an offer, and if the company accepts, they receive payment or credit toward the purchase of new devices. The hardware is refurbished, sold, or safely recycled.
IT Management: the platform that supports the entire lifecycle
The First Plug platform is where all previous stages are viewed and managed. It centralizes the company's equipment inventory in a single dashboard, regardless of which country it is in, and allows most services to be initiated from there. We explain why this visibility matters in The remote hardware lifecycle: asset management.
What is managed from the platform:
Real-time inventory, with serial number, location, and status for each piece of equipment.
Assignments: which hardware each collaborator has.
Shipments, returns, and relocations with full traceability.
Return requests for former collaborators and equipment reassignment.
Obsolete equipment alerts to anticipate renewals.
Requests for quotes and new equipment.
Stock organization by offices or warehouses.
Support requests associated with each device.
Why a single provider for the entire cycle is the best choice
Remote hardware problems rarely arise within a single stage. They appear between stages: when the person who bought it isn't the one who configures it, when the person who delivers it has no record of what was delivered, when picking up a device is nobody's responsibility. With every handover, information is lost, and with it, equipment is lost.
At First Plug, we purchase, configure, deliver, support, retrieve, store, and resell with our own operations in LATAM, without intermediaries in the region. That's why we can track each piece of equipment from the moment it is acquired until it leaves the company, and take responsibility for what happens at every step of the journey.
Frequently Asked Questions
What services does First Plug offer?
First Plug manages the complete hardware lifecycle for remote teams in LATAM: equipment sales and rental, MDM configuration, delivery and onboarding, technical support and warranties, offboarding and equipment retrieval, storage, secure data wiping, ITAD, and repurchase through BuyBack or trade-in. Everything is managed from a platform that displays inventory in real time.
What is the remote hardware lifecycle?
It is the journey of a work device from the moment it is acquired until it is decommissioned, when an employee works remotely. It includes six stages: acquisition, configuration, delivery, use and support, offboarding, and end-of-life. In distributed teams, each stage can take place in a different country.
What happens to the laptop of an employee who leaves the company?
First Plug coordinates the pickup at their home, and the device returns to operations. From there, it can be stored for reassignment, relocated to another country, or, if it will no longer be used, undergo secure data wiping and be sold via BuyBack.
How is data protected on decommissioned equipment?
Before reassigning, selling, or recycling a device, secure data wiping is performed so that the information cannot be recovered. The final disposition of the equipment is accompanied by a certificate.
Can services be hired separately?
Yes. We do not work with fixed packages; we speak with each client to understand what they need and prepare a customized proposal and quote, featuring the services your company needs today and the flexibility to add others down the line.
What the whiteboard left behind
That whiteboard was not a list of products. It was the record of every time a client told us about an unsolved problem, from the laptop that did not arrive on time to the one left forgotten at a former employee's house.
Being present throughout the entire remote hardware lifecycle is just that: ensuring no device falls into a blind spot between one stage and the next, so companies can grow and hire in new countries without hardware becoming an obstacle.
If you want to know what your team needs at each stage, you can contact us to learn more about the service you are looking for.
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