Workplace management: laptops that work without anyone keeping track
Workplace management is the management of the devices your people work on: the device, the image, the updates and the access. Outsourcing it means someone else is accountable for that, not that you lose control; this page says where that line runs.
What workplace management covers
Four parts. They belong together because a problem in one shows up as a fault in another.
- The deviceLaptops, desktops, phones and the peripherals around them: what is out there, who has it, how old it is and when it is due for replacement. Without that list every replacement round is a surprise and every fault is a search.
- The imageOne image per type of user, rolled out from management. Workplaces that differ from each other are the largest source of tickets that need not have existed, and the differences grow on their own as long as nobody puts them back.
- Updates and securityOperating system, software and firmware kept current, with encryption on and a check that says whether it really is. An update setting that looks enabled and is not gets noticed by nobody until the moment it matters.
- Access and accountsAccount and access support for your staff: rights that match the role, multi-factor authentication, and joiners and leavers actually completed. A departed employee with a working account is the most common gap we find.
How the handover runs
Three steps. The first takes longest and decides whether the rest is right.
Record what is there
A current list of devices, licences, accounts and end dates. In almost every handover this brings up things nobody remembered: devices belonging to people who left, a licence running twice, an administrator account without an owner.
Take it over without stopping the business
Management transfers in groups, not in one night. One department first, then the rest, with the old situation reachable while the new one still has to prove itself. A big bang on the workplace hits everyone at once, and that is exactly the day nobody can work.
Standardise what deviates
Only once management is running do the deviations go. The other way round does not work: standardising an environment you do not yet know is guessing which deviation had a reason.
What you keep
Outsourcing is not the same as handing over. Three things stay with you, and that is not a leftover but the reason it works.
- The decision on what gets boughtWe advise on model, quantity and lifespan and we do the purchasing; which brand and which budget it becomes is yours to decide. A manager who also makes the purchasing choice has an interest that need not be yours.
- Who gets which rightsWe carry it out and we watch that it matches the role. Who holds which role is a decision for the organisation, and that does not belong with a supplier.
- Which software may runWe keep the list, enforce it on the workplaces and report what falls outside it. What goes on that list is for the organisation; there are trade-offs in there that we cannot make.
What the price depends on
What workplace management costs depends on four things. We name no amounts here, because an amount without these four says nothing, and anyone who does name one is quietly adding an assumption.
We publish no rates: what it costs in your case follows from these four. Tell us what is out there and we will work it through.
Further reading
What this connects to.
Questions we get about this
The ones that come up most, answered briefly.
What exactly is workplace management?
The management of the devices your people work on: the device itself, the image on it, the updates and the access. So it is not about servers and network (that is the layer below) and it is not only about help with faults, because that is the service desk.
What is the difference between workplace management and a service desk?
Workplace management makes sure the workplace is right: one image, updates current, rights that match. The service desk helps the employee when something does not work. They belong together and it is sensible to place them with one party, because most tickets arise from workplaces that have drifted apart.
Can you take over management of devices we bought ourselves?
Yes. Where the device came from does not matter for management; what does matter is whether we can reach it and how old it is. At the first inventory we say which devices are within support and which are running towards their end.
What happens to our own administrator if we outsource this?
That is a decision for the organisation, not for us. What we see in practice is that the daily work (installing, updating, setting rights) transfers, and the in-house administrator keeps the direction: which software may run, who gets which rights and what gets purchased. Those three should explicitly stay with the client.
Can we take workplace management without the rest?
Yes. It can be placed separately from servers, network and cloud, provided it is recorded in advance where the boundary runs and who has which access. Otherwise most delay arises at that boundary, which is exactly what this is meant to prevent.
Workplace management you can account for
Tell us how many workplaces there are and where management sits now. We say what we take over, what you keep and what has to be put right first.
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