Why smart IT teams should solve device management before chasing AI
As AI dominates news headlines, smaller companies struggle with a less glamorous but equally critical issue: managing hundreds of devices across dozens of countries with limited in-house IT resources.
According to Salesforce, AI budgets have nearly doubled in the past few years, and CIOs are dedicating 30% of their budgets to Agentic AI. However, for companies with 500-1,000 employees, AI is not a primary day-to-day focus. Instead, they have a less sexy but more pressing concern: managing the issuing, usage, and return of work-issued devices like computers, smartphones, monitors and Yubikeys.
Things can get messy even in an office setting, where a skeleton crew of IT professionals must track hundreds of assets, oftentimes using cumbersome solutions like Excel spreadsheets. Another level of complexity is added for companies that have colleagues working from all over the world. They face a logistical nightmare, resolving custom duties, managing tens of different vendors, and tracking equipment shipments during onboarding.
The challenge of device management for remote employees in emerging markets
At Rayda, we conducted an analysis of 20,000 remote tech companies headquartered in the US or the EU. In total, almost 80% had remote employees in Asia, Latin America, and Africa – that equated to over 1.1 million people. For small and mid-sized companies, with a headcount of 100-500, we found 47% had at least 5 employees in emerging markets.
The issuing, managing and collecting of IT equipment for remote teams in markets other than your own is much more complex than it might first appear. Much of this process remains analogue, with procurement, logistics and payments all varying from country to country. Furthermore, IT teams in small and medium-sized companies are ill equipped to manage these logistical complexities. They are typically small, with IT being one of the last functions a company will hire for.
In startup environments, it is commonplace for CEOs or HR departments to handle employee device management until a company has over 100 employees. Once an IT department is created, it will usually be faced with a mountain of tasks as these teams face some of the worst staffing stats in business – one IT person supporting 108 employees is the average ratio.
The real damage done by shadow IT
The 2025 State of the CIO Survey speaks to two contrasting forces in information management. 38% of CIOs named monetizing company data as their top priority, a statement indicative of the current focus on Generative and Agentic AI. However, the second most cited priority was meeting compliance requirements, which was highlighted by 35% of CIOs. And there is a direct link between compliance and device management.
When a company fails to guarantee that all employees have work-issued devices, employees are more likely to just use their own personal devices and accounts for work. This can start with using a personal Google profile to sign up for a third-party app needed for work instead of using the credentials provided by the IT team.
Unmitigated, this can lead to data leaks, compromised accounts, and other undesirable outcomes. The situation is only going to get worse, as Gartner predicts that by 2027, 75% of employees will acquire, modify or create technology outside IT's visibility.
This phenomenon, commonly known as "shadow IT", compromises a company's ability to achieve SOC 2 or ISO 27001 compliance, which prove that customer data is safeguarded. The issue only gets exacerbated with the widespread use of LLMs, with a 2023 report by Cyberhaven showing that 11% of data that employees paste into ChatGPT was confidential.
Productivity losses and financial costs
Alongside compliance, device access also has a direct impact on productivity, especially during onboarding and offboarding, as these moments trigger critical workflows for IT teams. Company-issued equipment, typically laptops, must be sourced, delivered, and set up when a new hire begins. Likewise, during offboarding IT assets must be retrieved and wiped clean of any data.
Delays or mistakes in these processes can have multiple negative consequences. If IT assets arrive late or have the wrong specifications, new remote employees cannot get started effectively on day one. Delays or mistakes also make a poor first impression and reflect badly on the company, which can directly impact the motivation and retention of new hires. This is especially important in the labour market, where almost 38% of first-year hires leave their companies within less than a year, with two out three such employees leaving within the first six months.
In terms of offboarding, small IT teams reliant on spreadsheets may struggle to keep track of assets. Not only can this create delays during the onboarding of new employees, but it can also cost the company significantly when assets are lost. 71% of the HR professionals recently surveyed by Capterra reported that company-owned equipment had not been returned by departing employees at least once in the past year, with remote and hybrid employees 17% more likely to not return company equipment. And due to the hassle of shipping and logistics, many organisations will just let ex-employees keep their devices, as the cost of retrieval can actually exceed the value of the asset.
Given this close connection between key HR events and IT asset management, it is no surprise that payroll software company Deel has recently moved into the device lifecycle management space by acquiring Hofy, while competitor Rippling has added its own in-house device management service.
More than just a hygiene factor
The irony of the whole situation is hard to miss. While enterprises pour billions into AI adoption and transformation, smaller players are being held back by device management processes that are no longer fit for purpose. As remote work becomes permanent and compliance requirements tighten, the companies that solve this unglamorous challenge first will be the ones positioned to leverage AI once they have a secure and solid foundation.
