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Workstation management
An employee's computer stops being a technical matter the moment it stops working - then it's downtime. We maintain workstations so that hardware replacement is planned, not an emergency.
Why it pays to treat workstations like a fleet
A single computer is a minor thing. Thirty computers with no records are a cost you can’t plan for - because nobody knows how much of the hardware is five years old, how much has a system going out of support, and which employee is working on a machine about to fail.
The outcome is always the same: replacement happens in emergency mode, after a failure, at shelf price, with downtime on top. Records with purchase dates turn that into a budget line spread over quarters.
What we most often find
- a system past End of Life, no longer getting security patches
- antivirus with an expired license, formally still installed
- computers bought “because there was a deal”, mismatched to the work they’re used for
- no hardware-to-person assignment, so when an employee leaves nobody knows what should come back
What management covers
- system installation and reinstallation - Windows, macOS, Debian Linux
- system and application updates from a supported list
- workstation hardening, including antivirus software
- hardware selection matched to the specific task, with no hardware sales on our part
- computer inventory in the DFM system, assigned to a person
- application license inventory, where the vendor allows it
- diagnostics of hardware, system and application problems
The boundary of application support
We support applications on an agreed list, at administrative level: installation, updates, login and print setup. We don’t train people to use an industry-specific application and don’t stand in for its vendor on functional questions - that’s what the vendor’s support is for, and we help get it engaged and follow through - tickets go through the help desk.
That boundary is in the contract on purpose. A vague scope ends with one side assuming help filling out a form, and the other understanding it as installing the program.
Replacing hardware with zero downtime
We prepare a new workstation in advance: system, applications, access, data. The employee gets a ready computer and hands back the old one the same day, instead of waiting half a day at their desk for something to install.
Old hardware goes through data wiping before resale, parting out or disposal. That’s a separate step that’s easy to forget - a disk with company documentation in a computer sold on a listing site is a personal data leak with every consequence that implies.
Remote work changes the scope, not the need for it
A laptop taken out of the office falls outside the company network’s protection: it’s not behind the company firewall, it connects through a home router nobody updates, and it may be used by other household members. Maintaining that kind of workstation needs the same things as in the office, plus disk encryption and access via VPN instead of exposing services externally.
That’s the most commonly overlooked part of workstation management: the hardware is the same, the risk isn’t. That’s why we flag field workstations separately in our records and treat them as devices operating on a network we don’t control.
Who this works for
Companies with 5 to 100 workstations, where the computer is the primary work tool - offices, design firms, retail, manufacturing with an office component. The higher the staff turnover, the faster the inventory itself pays for itself: at ten changes a year, manually tracking who has what stops working.
Frequently asked questions about workstation management
Which systems do you support?
Windows in versions supported by Microsoft, macOS in versions supported by Apple, and Debian Linux on the stable release. A version outside vendor support doesn’t get security patches, so it can’t be secured regardless of any other measures.
Do you select hardware, or only maintain it?
We select it. The recommendation follows from what the workstation is actually used for - a computer for accounting looks different from one for a CAD designer. We don’t sell hardware, so the recommendation doesn’t depend on what we have in stock.
What happens to the equipment when an employee leaves?
It goes through a handover procedure: the device is assigned to a person in the inventory, so the handover is a formal step, not a request to hand back a laptop on the way out. Accounts and access from that workstation are disabled in parallel - one of the points of IT inventory.
How long does a company laptop last?
Usually four to five years, up to the point where the cost of upkeep and downtime exceeds the payment on a new one. More important than the number itself is the date on file: knowing the purchase year for every workstation lets you spread replacement across budgets instead of buying in emergency mode.
