Hybrid working poses new questions for many companies: How can remote workplaces be equipped efficiently, securely and at a reasonable cost? Who is responsible? And how can an overview be maintained?
When IT equipment, desks and office chairs are no longer centralized in the office, but distributed throughout the country, new processes are needed.
In this article, you will get a clear overview of the typical challenges that arise and how modern rental solutions can help to solve them pragmatically.
TL;DR - What you should take with you
- Hybrid working has become the new normal, but many companies are struggling with operational challenges when it comes to equipping distributed teams.
- Delays in onboarding, security gaps, unclear responsibilities and a lack of transparency are the result.
- A rental model for workplace equipment - i.e. IT devices and furniture - can provide a remedy for flexibly equipping teams working from home or remotely.
What to do when the workplace is everywhere?
"Hybrid working is here to stay."
And indeed, employees in most companies today work partly in the office, partly from home or on the move. What means more flexibility from the employees' point of view is an additional organizational effort from the company's perspective.
The equipment and support of distributed workstations is a particular problem for the system. This is because the workplace consists not only of a work laptop, but also a screen, docking station, desk and ergonomic office chair. The question is: how can this infrastructure be organized efficiently and securely across multiple locations?
Distributed teams, scattered problems: Where things get stuck everywhere
The operational weaknesses in remote equipment can be traced back to one central cause: Distributed structures but centralized responsibility. In practice, this creates a multitude of problems:
- Onboarding is delayed: new employees often wait several days for a laptop, monitor or ergonomic chair. The result: no productive start and a poor employee experience.
- High logistical effort: instead of a central office address, dozens of home office addresses have to be supplied and managed.
- Security gaps arise: Without centralized IT management, it remains unclear whether devices are up-to-date, encrypted and operated in compliance with data protection regulations.
- No fast support: If an appliance breaks down or a chair is defective, there is no on-site replacement. And no defined process.
- Inventory becomes a blind flight: Who uses which screen? Where is the height-adjustable table? Who is responsible for returns and checks?
- Offboarding is prone to errors: devices or items of furniture that are not retrieved lead to losses. In the worst case scenario, sensitive data can be found on the device.
Not only are there many question marks and a lot of extra work for office and IT managers, but also uncertainty for employees and costs for the company.
Why purchase & self-administration reach their limits
Traditional models, in which IT and furniture are purchased and managed internally, quickly reach their limits with distributed workstations:
- High initial costs block budgets. The company can face major challenges, especially if there is a large increase in personnel.
- Due to the lack of standardized processes, each equipment delivery becomes an individual project.
- Logistics, support and collection must be organized separately. Delivery is often only made to the kerbside. Questions such as "Who assembles the furniture in the home office?", "What happens if something breaks?" or "Who is responsible in the event of injury?" are also unanswered.
- There is no overview of assets. This makes planning, compliance and control more difficult.
In short, what used to work in the past is now hampering scalability in the hybrid model.
Renting instead of owning: A model for the new reality
For these reasons, more and more companies are using rental models to equip the workstations - i.e. IT hardware and home office furniture - of their hybrid teams. The reason: they solve the central problems of hybrid organizations and create new operational freedom.
Scalable instead of rigid: equipment as required
Whether laptop, office chair or desk, new employees can be flexibly equipped and products can be added or removed.
👉 Advantage: Office managers no longer have to order in advance or coordinate everything manually. IT teams can cover requirements at short notice without planning stress or investment approvals.
Logistics included: delivery and collection already part of the solution
Whether in the home office or in the office, logistics are usually included in the scope of service as part of rental models. The equipment is delivered directly to the desired address and collected during offboarding.
This saves internal coordination effort, relieves logistics and ensures a professional user experience.
MDM & remote maintenance for central control
At Lendis, the technical integration of IT devices is also part of the scope of service. Devices are integrated directly into a central management environment. Alternatively, this can be set up. This allows updates, security guidelines, remote deletion and encryption to be controlled centrally on all registered devices.
IT managers retain full control at all times, regardless of the location of the devices. This ensures data protection and data security.
Remote support and replacement in the event of a defect
Support issues relating to the equipment can also be outsourced as part of a rental model. Whether problems with the work laptop or a defect at the office desk, support tickets are processed by the rental provider or its service partners.
This means that downtimes can be reduced to a minimum, no improvised solutions. Your remote team's workplace remains functional without internal office or IT managers having to deal with these issues.
Plannable monthly costs instead of high investments
In addition to the logistical advantages, rental solutions offer an additional benefit: attractive financing. Equipment and furniture are rented for a monthly installment instead of being purchased once.
This means that high acquisition costs can be avoided. This is an important aspect, especially for rapidly growing or regularly changing teams, in order to minimize the burden on cash flow. Your company does not block any capital and remains flexible. Budget releases for one-off purchases are also eliminated. The growth of hybrid teams becomes predictable and scalable.
Find out more about the advantages of OPEX over CAPEX here
Central overview & transparency for equipment and status
A particular advantage of the Lendis solution is the digital management of all IT and furniture equipment. LendisOS allows you to keep track of which person is using which device, where the equipment is located and what condition it is in at all times. New equipment can also be ordered via the platform. If desired, new employees can use the self-service and choose the equipment they need directly from a predefined product selection.
This speeds up the onboarding process many times over. Coordination between office management, IT and purchasing is significantly simplified.
Sustainability through reuse & refurbishment
The rental model is not only practical, but also sustainable: equipped appliances and furniture are checked, cleaned and reused after being returned. Defective appliances are repaired or professionally recycled.
In this way, your company makes a contribution to the circular economy without having to worry about disposal or storage yourself. At the same time, you show both internally and externally that we not only think digitally, but also sustainably.
Conclusion: Modern workplaces need modern processes - and a new look at equipment
The future belongs to those who think of infrastructure as a service - not as an individual project.
The operational challenge of hybrid work is not that teams work in a distributed manner, but that the processes behind it are often still geared towards a central presence. Those who continue to procure, manage and retrieve devices and furniture individually quickly reach organizational limits with high costs, low transparency and many frictional losses.
A rental model for workplace equipment is not a short-term trend here, but a logical step towards greater process clarity, scalability and user centricity.
You create binding standards without sacrificing flexibility. Your teams get exactly what they need, when they need it, where they need it. And as the person responsible for the office, IT or procurement, you maintain an overview of equipment, costs and returns.
If you feel that your current process is becoming more complex or that you are juggling more requests than structuring them, it is worth taking a closer look at alternative models. After all, modern working environments can no longer be equipped with analog processes.
Final tip: Start small. Test a rental model for individual locations or teams and compare the effort, feedback and performance with your previous approach. You will quickly realize how much easier equipment can be when it is thought of as a service.
Discover how modern rental solutions can help you to reliably equip home office and remote workstations - with less effort for IT and office management and more comfort for your employees.
