As hybrid and remote work continue to reshape how companies operate, IT teams are juggling a challenge that didn’t exist at this scale a decade ago…getting laptops and devices back from employees who work remotely.

What used to mean walking down the hall to pick up a laptop has turned into a global coordination effort. Devices now travel across cities, countries, and sometimes continents. That shift has made laptop retrieval one of the most important, and often most overlooked, parts of modern IT asset management (ITAM). It’s also one of the easiest places for security gaps to slip through.

The Overlooked Risk of Unreturned Devices

Every laptop that leaves an organization’s building carries sensitive data like customer information, intellectual property, and login credentials. According to IBM’s 2024 Cost of a Data Breach Report, the average breach now costs companies about $4.9 million. Many of these incidents begin with unsecured or untracked endpoints.  That would be those laptops that never make it back after an employee leaves the company.

Remote and hybrid work have really increased that risk. Today, IT departments manage sometimes hundreds of devices spread across home offices, coworking spaces, and countries. When an employee leaves, retrieving that hardware and ensuring data is wiped correctly isn’t a simple task, it’s a race against time.

Closing the Laptop Retrieval Gap

Most organizations have polished their device deployment processes: provisioning, imaging, and shipping new laptops to employees. But retrieval? That’s where things often fall apart. Many IT teams still rely on spreadsheets, endless follow-up emails, and manual reminders.  A system that typically leads to delays and missed or lost devices.

This patchwork approach creates two problems: operational inefficiency and compliance risk, especially for companies subject to regulations like GDPR, HIPAA, and SOX or GLBA.

To close that gap, a new wave of logistics providers has stepped in. These companies handle end-to-end laptop returns.  Sending out padded return boxes with prepaid labels, managing the pickup and tracking, and verifying that data destruction is certified and documented.

How Secure Laptop Retrieval Platforms Are Reshaping IT Asset Management

At Friendly Computer Guru, we’ve managed hundreds of laptop returns for remote employees and anyone who’s done it knows it’s rarely simple. Once we started working with Retriever, that process became dramatically easier and more predictable.

Retriever handled everything: the shipping kits, the prepaid labels, the data wipes, and the redeployments. From our side, it meant no more scrambling to find boxes or track down tracking numbers. Every one of our devices was tracked in real time through Retriever’s dashboard, and as soon as data destruction was completed, we automatically received a Certificate of Data Destruction that met NIST 800-88 and U.S. Department of Defense 5220.22-M standards.

The peace of mind that came from that visibility can’t be overstated. We always knew where each laptop was — whether it was still in transit, received at the facility, or fully wiped and ready for redeployment. Retriever’s SOC 2 Type 2 certification gave us confidence that every step met strict data security and privacy standards. Their pay-per-use model also worked in our favor. We didn’t have to commit to long-term contracts or pay setup fees, we just used the service when we needed it. That flexibility was a big win for our business and for the IT teams we support.

For us, working with Retriever turned what used to be one of the most time-consuming, error-prone parts of offboarding into one of the most seamless. It streamlined our process, improved compliance, and saved our team hours of back-and-forth.

Why Secure Retrieval Matters More Than Ever

When devices go missing or aren’t properly tracked, the fallout can ripple across departments:

• Compliance headaches when audit trails aren’t complete.

• Financial loss from unrecovered hardware.

• Reputational damage when sensitive data leaks from un-wiped drives.

But retrieval isn’t just about risk, it’s also about efficiency. A structured, repeatable retrieval process reduces IT labor hours, improves asset visibility, and allows faster redeployment of laptops to new hires. In other words, it’s not just logistics, it’s data security in action.

The Future of IT Asset Retrieval

As IT operations become more automated, laptop retrieval is evolving too. In the coming years, expect to see:

• Integration with HR systems to trigger device returns automatically when employees offboard.

• Analytics dashboards that track every asset from deployment to destruction.

• Sustainability programs that turn retrieval into a path for refurbishment and eco-friendly disposal.

Retrieval is quickly becoming a cornerstone of both data governance and corporate sustainability efforts.

Retrieval Is Now a Core Function of IT Asset Management

Remote work has permanently changed how companies handle technology assets. Retrieval has become a mission-critical function.  Not just for logistics, but for security, compliance, and sustainability.

By adopting structured retrieval workflows or partnering with certified providers like Retriever, IT leaders can reduce risk, reclaim assets faster, and keep full visibility over their global inventory.