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We're buzzing! See you all tomorrow at Okta's Oktane event to talk all about how Okta Firstbase can streamline your IT operations! Visit the booth on the expo floor and chat with a member of our team!

See you at Oktane 2025! Stop by the Firstbase booth and talk shop about device management!

Equipping and managing IT assets has never been harder. Distributed work, global expansion, and rising security risks have turned what used to be “the IT closet” into a global logistics challenge. That’s why we built Firstbase: > An integrated platform to track, ship, secure, and refresh every IT asset lifecycle globally. > Automation to replace manual overhead with predictable, data-backed control. > End-to-end coverage, from procurement through retirement, with ROI built in. The impact? >IT saves thousands of hours annually otherwise lost to manual logistics. >Finance gains predictability by reducing ghost assets and wasted spend. >HR delivers consistent, positive employee experiences from day one. >Security benefits from stronger retrieval and chain-of-custody processes. We’re proud to support some of the fastest-growing companies scale globally—without their IT teams turning into shipping clerks. The lifecycle is where risk hides and efficiency lives. When it’s automated, it becomes a competitive advantage. bit.ly/47Gr54P

We’re heading to Oktane! Why? Because the conversations happening there, about identity, access, and automation, are the same ones IT leaders are having about the entire employee experience. Here’s what we keep hearing in the field: >Provisioning and deprovisioning isn’t just about logins—it’s about equipment too >Offboarding isn’t secure until both credentials and devices are accounted for >IT teams don’t want another tool, they want connected workflows That’s where integrations matter. Okta has been critical for giving IT leaders visibility and control across systems. Pair that with automated IT logistics, and suddenly onboarding and offboarding look a whole lot different. If you’re at Oktane and want to talk about how IT can scale securely without adding headcount, come find us.

“Consistency in the employee experience—that’s the number one concern.” That’s how Steven Juanes, Sr. IT Manager at Pantheon, summed up his team’s approach to IT. Before, Pantheon’s IT staff was: >Buying laptops from Apple, CDW, even brick-and-mortar stores >Spending 30 minutes per machine just to prep and ship >Losing time they should have spent supporting employees As Pantheon expanded into the US, Canada, India, the Philippines, the UK, and the EU, the pain multiplied: procurement headaches, shipping delays, and inconsistent onboarding. With Firstbase, Steven’s team turned that chaos into a repeatable, efficient global playbook. The result? >Hours saved per onboarding class >IT freed from packing boxes and chasing FedEx >Employees everywhere getting the same consistent Day 1 experience Steven’s one-word summary of Firstbase: “Home run.” bit.ly/4n4tVVy

2 weeks ago in San Francisco, we sat with IT leaders from companies like Cresta, JumpCloud, and Pantheon, all managing distributed teams across countries and time zones. Here’s another thing that came up—loud and clear: “Every time we expand into a new country, it’s like rebuilding our operations from scratch.” – Jared Allenbrand, Director of IT at Cresta Whether it was Argentina, the UK, or India, the theme was the same: Inconsistent vendors Unpredictable delivery timelines Zero visibility into local inventory or tracking What we all agreed on was this: “remote-friendly” tools aren’t enough anymore. IT needs processes built for distributed ops—ones that scale with hiring, handle procurement complexity, and don’t rely on a hero in a closet taping boxes. The best part? Most leaders left with a framework they could start applying Monday—vendor or no vendor.

Last week, we brought together two dozen IT leaders in San Francisco to talk about the reality of running IT in a distributed world. Topics ranged from: - What actually breaks when you expand globally (hint: it’s not just HR) - Why integrations are still a pain, even with great tools in place - How IT earns a seat at the table by connecting outcomes to strategy A few takeaways stuck with everyone: - Every new country adds more operational drag than expected - Most IT teams are still babysitting workflows instead of automating them - Visibility isn’t a luxury—it’s table stakes One of our favorite quotes of the night: “IT gets asked to do more with less, then blamed when things break. We need to redesign how work flows, not just add more people to it.” Huge thanks to everyone who came and contributed. It’s clear: the future of IT isn’t reactive. It’s design-first, ops-enabled, and global by default. Where should we do the next one?

The new hire starts Monday. It’s Thursday. The laptop’s… somewhere. Cue the Slack messages. You’re pinging the warehouse. The warehouse is pinging FedEx. Meanwhile, your new hire’s wondering if this company even knows they exist. First impressions aren’t just culture. They’re operational. The fix? Build a system that automatically kicks off equipment orders the moment HR adds a new employee—no ticket, no triage, no tracking spreadsheet. Great onboarding starts with logistics that don’t break.

Your CFO just asked: ‘How many laptops do we actually own?’” You pause. You check your asset management spreadsheet. You check the one Finance made. They don’t match. You call IT Ops. They think some are in closets. One’s probably still in that intern’s apartment in Denver. Sound familiar? Without real-time visibility into your entire asset inventory—including what's active, stored, or MIA—you’re running blind. The moment Finance starts asking hard questions, visibility isn’t optional. It’s urgent.

You're an IT leader and just got word: “We’re hiring five engineers in Buenos Aires. Can you get them set up by next week?” You haven’t shipped anything to South America before. You don’t know the customs process. You don’t have a warehouse partner. You definitely don’t have spare MacBooks with Spanish keyboards. So what do you do? If you have a global logistics partner who already navigates LATAM sourcing, taxes, and delivery—you click a few buttons. If not? You're on WhatsApp with DHL at 3AM. How to solve it: 1) Validate local compliance needs – Check import taxes, certification requirements, and whether buy-local laws apply. 2) Source in-region if possible – Avoid customs altogether by finding pre-vetted regional vendors or using local inventory pools. 3) Align with HR hiring timelines – Integrate provisioning workflows with onboarding plans so gear lands before Day 1. 4) Standardize device configs remotely – Use MDM to pre-enroll and configure devices before they’re delivered. 5) Implement centralized tracking – Ensure every device has a single chain of custody across locations. This is a moment where processes > people. Without a system, you're building ops on hope. IT onward.

Are you secure? Find out tomorrow if you pass the test! Save your spot! bit.ly/3IhN8UY

If your IT setup hasn’t evolved since 2022, you’re already behind. Gone are the days of huddling behind a firewall and securing the network with MAC addresses, ACLs, and NACs. Digital Transformation moved businesses to the cloud, and network security must adapt to this new cloud era. Zero Trust 2.0—it’s the blueprint for IT leaders who want to scale without compromising on security or performance. We’re hosting a webinar that breaks it all down: 👉 How to future-proof your infrastructure 👉 Why endpoint security is your new front line 👉 What scalable IT really looks like in a distributed world If you’re responsible for IT operations, compliance, or endpoint management—you can’t afford to miss this. Save your spot - bit.ly/3TjxSZE

Zero Trust 2.0 is here from Cloudflare and Ben Ferguson and the Defensive Team know exactly how to leverage it. Join us as we talk about Zero Trust 2.0 end point security so you can be secure no matter where in the world your employees are working from.

Want a practical playbook for IT and security leaders building a future-ready hybrid infrastructure? From provisioning to protection, learn exactly how to create a scalable and secure hybrid model—one that supports rapid growth without exposing your business to risk. Attendees will learn: ✔️Zero Trust 2.0 - identity security profile in office, WFH, or at a coffee shop. ✔️How to ensure compliance and catch threats—without employee friction. ✔️Provisioning at scale for cross regional and cross boarder logistics. ✔️Tools and best practices for managing global fleets. Click here to save your spot - bit.ly/43uUAnH

Prompting ChatGPT? Try this prompt and let us know your results in the comments. 😏

IT logistics is no longer just an ops problem. It’s a business conversation. Every time a new hire waits a week for their laptop - time wasted. Every time an executive travels with broken gear and no way to replace it quickly - time wasted. Every time a device goes unreturned, unmanaged, or unaccounted for - money wasted. 👎 Productivity drops. 💸 Costs creep up. ⚠️ Risk multiplies. For enterprise buying committees—IT, HR, Finance, Ops, even Legal—IT logistics is a shared responsibility. Because what used to be an afterthought now impacts: ✅ The employee experience ✅ Operational efficiency ✅ Security posture ✅ Global growth and compliance ✅ Financial planning and accountability Getting devices into the right hands, in the right places, at the right time isn’t just an IT checkbox anymore. It’s the connective tissue between your strategic goals and the people who make them happen. So if your team is investing in better onboarding, offboarding, or global expansion—don’t forget the “last mile” of IT. That’s where friction becomes real.

Want to be the leader of AI in IT ops? Checkout our practical framework for AI adoption in IT. We cover: >The impact of AI on IT roles and governance. >Why IT leaders will become central to businesses. > A crawl, walk, run approach to adopting and leveraging AI. Check it out - hubs.la/Q03nXx4d0

Escalating tariffs are reshaping IT procurement. They are driving up costs for everything from laptops to peripherals while straining supply chains (silently right now). Is your strategy agile enough to balance pricing pressures with strong remote management? Now’s the time to reassess and plan for increased costs and supply chain challenges. Stay ahead of the curve! Check out this weeks Tariff Tuesday update!The 2025 May 20th IT Hardware Tariff Landscape Strategic Update bit.ly/3SIokan

"We have eliminated all service desk hardware requests with Firstbase Self-Service. Their APIs also have allowed us to automate complex onboarding, retrievals and keep our inventory up to date. Minimum inventory levels also removed the worry of constantly having to monitor and buy inventory." Says our friends over at Life360! Checkout all of reviews on G2. bit.ly/4kvoa2e

IT asset tracking gets complicated as you scale globally. Separate vendors, clunky workflows, Excel sheets, tickets, etc. Why not see if Firstbase platform global services is a viable solution? With established service level offerings and an onshore support team, Firstbase ensures you get devices in the right hands at the right time.