Is over-purchasing devices hurting your business? 

As technology evolves, the world’s largest organizations are investing more in their employee devices than ever before. Due to their reliance on these assets, IT departments often purchase large spare pools of devices to account for gradual damage and loss over time. On average, IT managers will purchase 20% more devices than necessary as backups. While overstocking employee devices may seem like a prudent strategy, the reality is far from beneficial, and can inadvertently lead to several detrimental effects on businesses.

Rewarding Carelessness:

Maintaining excessive spare pools of employee devices may inadvertently reward and encourage employee carelessness. When devices are readily available as replacements, employees may become lax in their handling and maintenance practices, leading to increased damage or loss. Employee carelessness is a serious problem as it often leads to more severe consequences such as data breaches. In fact, a 2023 survey found that 55% of all data breaches in 2023 resulted from employee negligence and carelessness. 

Exacerbating Device Shrink:

Purchasing surplus device inventory exacerbates device shrink for businesses. Our recent study found that organizations will lose an average of 29% of their devices annually. Idle overstocked devices are susceptible to theft, loss, or damage, further reducing organizational resources and increasing operational costs. Keeping a spare pool of devices creates a harmful cycle of overinvesting in devices to accommodate anticipated loss, theft, or breakage, which leaves unused devices more vulnerable to these same issues.

Tying Up Organizational Cash:

In addition to the operational risks, excessive spare pools tie up a significant portion of the organization’s cash due to the capital expenditures (CapEx) required to invest in surplus devices. On average, company-owned handheld devices cost about $1,200 each. Purchasing 20% more devices than necessary incurs significant costs, especially for larger corporations with thousands of devices. With the right solution to properly manage these devices, companies could reallocate tens of thousands of dollars toward strategic initiatives or investments in innovation. 

What Can Businesses Do Instead?:

The cost of keeping excess devices, compounded by shrink, encourages many organizations to look to intelligent locker systems to create efficiencies in their device management processes. ARC’s innovative device management locker system effectively reduces the need for device overstock by an impressive 75%, using a streamlined approach. By providing secure storage and real-time tracking capabilities, ARC® minimizes organizational device shrink by an average of 93%, and promotes responsible device handling among employees–eliminating the need for excessive spare device pools.

The harmful effects of maintaining an overstock of employee devices are undeniable. The organizational costs are monumental, ranging from encouraging poor employee accountability practices to draining capital funds that could be allocated elsewhere. Embracing device management locker solutions such as ARC mitigates these risks and drives efficiency and cost savings for your organization. To learn more about how ARC can assist your business’s device management strategy, visit experienceARC.co.