by: Sr. Service Delivery Manager Rich Godber and Sr. Product Manager Geegin Thavara
Managing IT assets can pose significant challenges for any organization, and VMware by Broadcom is no exception. With thousands of devices in circulation, ensuring their proper management throughout their lifecycle is crucial. Over three years, numerous devices are refreshed, but if a device isn’t returned, it becomes a potential security risk for our business and customers. Here are some scenarios that underscore the importance of device return:
- Misplacement: Devices could end up lost or misplaced, whether within the office, at home, or elsewhere.
- Unauthorized use: Equipment might be resold or repurposed by third parties without VMware consent, potentially exposing sensitive company data if not securely wiped.
- Outdated software: Devices with outdated operating systems or software patches can compromise organizational security and affect customer safety.
During the pandemic
The pandemic added another layer of complexity. With most offices closed, only select key workers could access our sites, hindering the repair or replacement of assets by onsite IT engineers. To adapt, VMware repurposed older laptops as loaner devices, providing necessary replacements for colleagues facing issues that couldn’t be resolved remotely. Faulty equipment was then repaired by Dell or Apple, and some colleagues had multiple devices in their possession.
Test devices
For a software company like VMware, testing across various hardware and operating systems is imperative. Additional devices are often used to troubleshoot customer issues or for demonstration purposes. However, these assets can get lost or unaccounted for when passed between business units for testing or demos.
Hardware asset management
To address these challenges, VMware developed a bespoke hardware asset management (HAM) system that integrates with a third-party procurement system. Every newly purchased equipment of a certain value is assigned an asset number, the sticker is attached to the equipment and linked to its purchase order, allowing us to track it using the unique serial numbers. Once logged into the hardware database, assets are provisioned and assigned to colleagues, triggering the necessary financial cross-charges.
Workspace ONE UEM (Unified Endpoint Management)
VMware Workspace ONE® UEM plays a pivotal role. All devices are enrolled and managed through this system, with the VMware Workspace ONE® Intelligent hub agent continuously monitoring compliance and tracking. This synchronization with the hardware asset management system ensures comprehensive device tracking.
Workspace ONE Intelligence
VMware Workspace ONE® Intelligence provides reports and dashboards that allow us to monitor device usage, updates, and ownership. This information enables proactive outreach to colleagues to confirm asset ownership and facilitates necessary updates or device returns to IT.
In cases of unaccounted-for devices, Workspace ONE UEM allows for disenrollment and wiping of the device. Incidents involving lost or stolen devices are reported to the InfoSec team for appropriate action.
Automation workflows/audits
We created automated workflows that cross-check the HAM and Workspace ONE UEM for multiple assigned devices. Colleagues with multiple devices receive automated emails to confirm possession and arrange returns if necessary.
The audit module is also used to check with colleagues about their assets that have not been connected with Workspace ONE UEM or unenrolled for some reason. The colleague’s responses to the audit emails are captured back in the system for additional actions.
Consolidated reports from the audit module are used as the source for the mandatory internal and external audits and compliance checks. See Figure 1.
Figure 1: The Workspace ONE audit module automates asset management check-ins.
Automated notifications
The asset management system’s notifications are used to inform colleagues about their asset’s warranty expiry and eligibility to refresh their existing assets.
Packaging
When returning items to the office, proper packaging is crucial to prevent damage during transit. Adequate bubble wrap and correctly sized boxes for laptops and power cables ensure safe shipping. See Figure 2.
Figure 2: Proper packaging is crucial for preventing damage to assets during transit.
Disk sanitization
Before repurposing devices for resale or charitable donations, secure wiping is essential. VMware IT uses various tools to zero out traditional hard drives and employs a secure wipe procedure within Apple and Dell BIOS for solid-state drives (SSDs), complemented by third-party data cleansing software, ensuring thorough data sanitization.
Conclusion:
VMware IT has learned to adapt its strategy and uses several approaches to managing the lifecycle of IT assets.
Repurposing older devices to become loaner laptops, showcases VMware agility in overcoming hurdles during a pandemic, but also added to the issues later when devices weren’t being returned.
The integration of HAM with Workspace ONE UEM ensures tracking and compliance monitoring. This, coupled with Workspace ONE Intelligence provides insightful reports, and enables proactive measures for asset accountability and streamlined operations.
By emphasizing proper packaging for safe returns and stringent protocols for secure data wiping, VMware IT ensures data security and integrity at every stage of the asset lifecycle.
In essence, the VMware holistic approach stands as a testament to the commitment to efficient asset management, safeguarding data, and ensuring operational resilience in an ever-evolving landscape.
There’s a lot more to this topic than is presented here, so check out our other workspace blogs. We also encourage you to contact your account team to schedule a briefing with us. No sales pitch, no marketing. Just straightforward peer conversations revolving around your company’s unique requirements.
VMware on VMware blogs are written by IT subject matter experts sharing stories about our digital transformation using VMware products and services in a global production environment. To learn more about how VMware IT uses VMware products and technology to solve critical challenges, visit our microsite, read our blogs and IT Performance Annual Report , and follow us on SoundCloud, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter). All VMware trademarks and registered marks (including logos and icons) referenced in the document remain the property of VMware.
