Technology Lifecycle Management: What is Configuration and Fulfillment?

Are you confused by the terms ‘configuration’ and ‘fulfillment’? Want to know more about these to understand better if the solutions would benefit your business?

Ingram Micro Lifecycle provides technology configuration and fulfillment services for lifecycle management and depot services packages. We provide global support to businesses and consumer-facing brands to prolong the useful life of their IT assets, enabling a circular economy.

Below, we explain what configuration and fulfillment mean for technology products and the key benefits.

What is lifecycle management

Lifecycle management for technology products involves services and solutions that extend the useful life of an asset. This supports the move from a linear economy to a circular one, as products have a longer life and the refresh cycle is prolonged, keeping them from waste for longer.

There is a crossover of services provided here with depot services, where some of the same services are specifically for enterprises or associated with leasing/DaaS business models.

Configuration services

Configuration services enable the owner of a fleet of assets, typically smartphones, laptops, and tablets, to guide their look and use through specific customizations.

These can include preloading software and applications, displaying a company-branded wallpaper, blocking the modification of background display, and preventing access to certain websites. For example, if your company policy dictates that the use of Facebook isn’t permitted on a company laptop then configuration services can prevent access.

Configuration services not only apply to the internal application of the device, but external too. Device requirements can include protective cases, earphones, charging cables, adapters, and even logos or text being etched into the outer casing. Gold build devices are created using a set list of criteria for internal and external modifications or accessories that these should be supplied with.

Lifecycle management of these devices ensures that once a previous owner is finished with the product, it’s restored to the original set of requirements. For example, once retrieved, its data is wiped and functionality reset to the owner’s requirements, ready to be used by the next person. Laptop keyboards may be reprinted if the print has worn away from use. Phone charging cables will be cleaned and checked for damage.

This process ensures the product is ready for use straight out of the box, exactly how your company requires it.

Fulfillment services

Fulfillment of product goes back a step and looks to source the assets you need. These can be brand-new or pre-loved. You specify the grade/condition required and these are sourced for you. They can be either from your owned stock if using an inventory management partner, or from recommerce channels if sourcing new-to-you used products.

Data is always wiped from used stock to ensure complete compliance with data security regulations.

As part of the fulfillment service, these devices are sent to either single users (great for hybrid or remote workers) or to central addresses, like offices. These products could’ve gone through configuration before being dispatched.

This also includes the management of swap stock for exchanges in the event of device damage or issues around performance and functionality. For example, an insurance company may provide a like-for-like exchange of a device instead of retrieving a product for repairs and making the user wait.

Reporting, tracking, and inventory management are included so you have full visibility of the assets you own, where they are, and what condition they’re in.

Who are these services for

Some examples of businesses that would benefit from configuration and fulfillment solutions are:

B2C - such as technology leasing companies, DaaS solution providers, and insurers. Providers of configuration and fulfillment services can manage the device directly with the end user, or via the customer.
B2B - under asset management solutions, businesses can benefit from configuration and fulfillment to supply devices to their employees. For example, an airline may supply their pilots and cabin crew with company devices so they can work in whichever country they’re in.
Educational facilities - Certain high schools may provide their students with tablets to do their work on, whilst locking specific features down, such as the ability to download social media applications.
Medical institutions - On-call doctors and other relevant staff may have hospital-issued devices that will be preloaded with proprietary applications or software to enable them to better carry out duties.

Benefits of these two services

With these services working in tandem, the supply and set-up of products for your users is seamless and requires minimal effort on their part. They receive the product ready to go and needs little interaction from them to start using it. This is ideal for both the user and the owner as it entails little stress on both parts and saves time.

Your assets are protected with preventative safety and security measures, like physical protection of cases or security software. The touchpoints of going through configuration before deployment ensure data is wiped and lifecycles are extended to prolong the refresh point. Repair and refurbishment tactics keep the device out of waste and in useful life for longer.

These solutions are more cost-effective for your business as you’re reducing the volume and frequency of brand-new technology acquisitions by reusing products as long as it’s economically and physically viable. This supports the move away from a linear economy towards a circular economy, which boosts your sustainability.

Minimizing your e-waste contributions and reducing the purchase of new technology lowers the carbon footprint associated with your IT footprint.

The transparency of inventory management and tracking of assets at any time boosts your efforts toward security and compliance, reducing the risk of data breaches, theft, or loss. Your users are also less likely to be able to use their technology for personal use or activities that may harm your business.

Why outsource configuration and fulfillment

Outsourcing these solutions to a third party like Ingram Micro Lifecycle, the partner may have the financial support to enable them to purchase stock on your behalf. This relieves you of the financial pressure to purchase the inventory you require. It helps your balance sheet too as the partner can quickly source product as and when needed, rather than stock depreciating when it’s not needed.

Switching from internal support to external support also frees up company resources. Your IT teams can focus on core business strategies and developments rather than managing inventory and assessing assets for repairs, as the partner will lead this.

Choosing the right partner will enable the full end-to-end lifecycle of the product managed by them. It protects the full life and use of the asset, rather than diverting these to different parties for different solutions. The partner should use innovative technologies that reduce costs, boosts sustainability, and streamlines logistics to ensure assets are safe to use for as long as possible, with a short turnaround time that doesn’t compromise quality. Then, when you no longer have a use for your assets, they can uplift the grade to recover the maximum value on the secondary market.

You also won’t need to fund or source storage space for your assets. The partner will store these in a secure facility while still enabling your complete visibility and tracking. This is ideal if your volume of assets ebbs and flows as you may not need to pay for storage you’re not using at full capacity, or search for temporary storage when you’ve got an influx of assets. The partner will have industry-recognized certifications and will have been audited to demonstrate their commitment to the highest security standards in keeping your assets safe.

Streamline your technology use

Both solutions support a circular economy by providing sustainable uses of technology without compromising quality or data security. The handling of assets is more efficient, providing a more seamless user experience if managed by an end-to-end partner.

Ingram Micro Lifecycle offers configuration and fulfillment packages to a range of customers. We are market leaders in recovery tactics for technology, committed to enabling a circular economy for the businesses we work with. Our capabilities support the end-to-end management of the lifecycle of a product. This includes logistics management, fulfillment, parts distribution, repair, returns management, call center, and recommerce services for a broad range of consumer technology products.

Contact our team today to find out more about how your business can take advantage of our configuration and fulfillment offering.