LATAM has ceased to be an alternative option and has become an active destination for global tech hiring. In recent years, the hiring of Latin American professionals has grown steadily, both by companies in the region and by companies in the United States and Europe looking for talent with time-zone compatibility and a competitive cost-quality ratio.
This growth has a side that few companies anticipate. From First Plug, I see it every day: remote work and distributed teams have turned hardware onboarding and offboarding into a frequent, not exceptional, process. And when this process is not resolved, it becomes a constant bottleneck that consumes IT and HR time, generates friction during the collaborator's first days, and scales with each new country where hiring takes place.
In this guide, I explain what this problem looks like in practice, which LATAM countries concentrate the most activity, and how we solve it at First Plug step by step.
The context: why LATAM complicates hardware management
Remote work allows hiring where the talent is, not where the office is. But each new employee's hardware must arrive exactly where he or she is. That means international deliveries, different customs regimes by country, variable delivery times, and multiple local suppliers that must be coordinated.
Based on real operations in the region, these are the five LATAM countries with the highest activity in hardware equipment for remote teams:
Colombia
Brazil
Argentina
Mexico
Peru
Each of these countries has its own rules: distinct customs, local suppliers, delivery times, and import costs. Managing that variety without a defined process is, in practice, impossible to scale.
The Four Most Common Problems in Remote Hardware Management
When I contact new companies, I come across scenarios that repeat themselves. These are the four most frequent ones:
1. Onboarding gone wrong
A startup hires talent in another country. HR notifies IT, or many times HR itself handles the matter. An attempt is made to quote a laptop locally, the supplier doesn't have stock of the right model, they get another one, and the equipment arrives unconfigured and a week late. The employee starts with their home laptop while they wait.
The cost is not just the lost week. It is the signal the company sends to the new employee: disorganization from day one. The first few weeks define the working relationship, and a chaotic experience creates doubts that are not always recovered.
2. Lack of visibility over assets
As companies grow and headcount fluctuates, hardware inventory loses traceability. No one knows for sure what equipment exists, where it is, and in what condition. That problem scales with the speed of hiring and becomes critical when someone leaves and the equipment does not return.
The consequences are concrete: duplicate purchases, ghost equipment, loss of assets during offboardings, and security risk due to uncontrolled devices with access to company information.
3. Variable headcount and operational burden on IT and HR
With high turnover and a market where hiring continues to grow, hardware onboarding and offboarding happen all the time. Without a defined process and a partner to execute it, that volume becomes a constant operational burden for IT and HR: people spending hours coordinating shipments and hardware purchases instead of tasks that contribute to the company's growth.
4. Unplanned geographic expansion
Startups hire where the talent is, not where they have operations. That means IT and HR have to solve hardware logistics in countries where no one has experience. Every new country is a new problem: customs, unknown local suppliers, unpredictable delivery times, and surprising import costs.
How First Plug Implements Hardware Management
The First Plug process follows seven steps that cover the full device lifecycle: from the first contact to the employee's offboarding.
01 - Initial Assessment: Understanding the Operation
Before quoting or managing anything, the First Plug team understands the current situation: how many employees there are, in which countries, what hardware they use, whether there is already a management process in place, and what specific pain points they want to solve. This step defines everything that follows.
02 - Quote in Less Than 24 Hours
With the assessment clear, First Plug delivers a detailed quote by employee profile and by country. There are no generic ranges: prices are real, with estimated delivery times per country and no surprise import costs.
03 - Hardware Pre-Configuration
Before the device reaches the employee, First Plug handles the configuration: MDM enrollment (Apple Business Manager for macOS, Intune for Windows), app installation, and security policy enforcement. The employee receives the device ready to work from the moment they turn it on.
04 - Coordinated Delivery with Real-Time Tracking
First Plug manages the delivery directly to the employee's home, in any covered country. The client has visibility of the shipment status in real time through the platform. If anything gets complicated in customs or local logistics, First Plug resolves it without escalating the problem to the client.
05 - Registration on the Platform: Centralized Inventory
Once the device is delivered, it is registered on the First Plug platform: under the employee's name, with serial number, warranty status, and country. The client has total visibility of their inventory without having to manage a spreadsheet.
06 - Support During Use
If there is a technical problem, a hardware failure, or a replacement need, First Plug manages the response. There are no lost tickets or suppliers to contact in each country: there is a single point of contact for the entire hardware operation.
07 - Coordinated Offboarding with Secure Wiping
When an employee leaves the company, First Plug manages the device retrieval in their country, certified secure wiping, and registration of the offboarding on the platform. The asset goes back into the company's inventory or is decommissioned in a traceable manner.
Before and After Implementing First Plug
Situation | Without First Plug | With First Plug |
|---|---|---|
Onboarding in a new country | Days or weeks of uncertainty. Each country is a new problem. | Quote in 24 hours. Delivery configured in a defined time by country. |
Inventory | Outdated spreadsheets. No one knows exactly what is where. | Real-time platform: every device, every employee, every warranty. |
Hardware offboarding | Postponed. Lost devices. Secure wiping does not happen. | Active process: coordinated retrieval, certified wiping, offboarding on the platform. |
Apple Warranty | Unofficial reseller. Limited or non-existent warranty. Hidden cost. | Official Apple Reseller in LATAM. Guaranteed stock. Official warranty. |
IT Support | Multiple vendors. No process. IT time consumed in management. | A single point of contact for the entire hardware operation. |
Geographical expansion | Each new country requires solving logistics from scratch. | +170 countries with own operations. Same process, regardless of the country. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: In how many LATAM countries does First Plug operate directly?
A: First Plug has its own operations throughout the entire region - Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru, and more - and full coverage in +170 countries. Unlike providers that rely on intermediaries to reach LATAM, First Plug directly manages the logistics in each country.
Q: What does it mean that First Plug is an official Apple Reseller in LATAM?
A: It implies access to guaranteed Apple stock, direct pricing without intermediaries, and an official warranty on all equipment. For companies you equip with MacBooks, this translates into better prices, better support, and no surprises regarding the warranty. In LATAM, where distribution channels can be opaque, this backing is especially relevant.
Q: How does MDM work in the pre-configuration?
A: First Plug enrolls the device in the client's MDM prior to delivery. For macOS, it uses Apple Business Manager. For Windows, it uses Intune or the tool the client already has in place. The employee receives the equipment ready to work: with apps installed, policies applied, and without the need for IT intervention during onboarding.
Q: What happens if there is a customs issue during delivery?
A: First Plug resolves it directly, without escalating the issue to the client. By having its own operations in each LATAM country, the team is familiar with local customs procedures and can manage unexpected situations without IT or HR having to intervene.
Q: How long does it take to implement First Plug in a company?
A: The initial assessment and the first quote happen in less than 24 hours. The complete implementation of the process - from onboarding the first devices to a centralized inventory on the platform - varies depending on the team size and the countries involved, but the process is designed to be agile from day one.
Q: How can First Plug help my company manage the hardware of its remote team in LATAM?
A: First Plug manages the entire hardware lifecycle: procurement with official Apple Reseller pricing, pre-configuration with MDM, delivery in +170 countries with real-time tracking, centralized inventory on the platform, and coordinated offboarding with secure wiping. All from a single point of contact, without IT or HR having to manage local vendors in each country.
The next step
If your company is growing in LATAM and hardware management is already starting to consume time or generate friction, the best time to sort it out is before it scales.
At First Plug, we see it every day: hardware onboarding is just as important as onboarding people. A collaborator who starts without equipment, with a poorly configured team, or with the wrong model receives a clear signal about how the company works. That signal, in the first few weeks, defines the working relationship.
If your company is growing in LATAM and hardware management is already starting to consume time or generate friction, the best time to sort it out is before it scales. We can make a personalized quote according to the profiles and countries of your team in less than 24 hours.
- Matías Lerner, First Plug
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