The Future of Device Lifecycle Management in the Enterprise

Enterprise IT teams already own a serious stack: MDM/UEM, ITSM, identity, endpoint security, asset systems. But when a laptop dies before a board presentation or a handheld scanner fails on the warehouse floor, the response is still weirdly old-school: hunt for a spare, walk it across the building, fix the records later.

That disconnect between sophisticated tools and manual, physical handoffs is where device lifecycle management is evolving fastest. The next wave isn’t just more dashboards — it’s device lifecycle automation that connects your systems to the actual cabinets, lockers, and rooms where devices live.

This article shows why smart automation is key to IT workflow optimization, device accountability, and digital transformation.

What Enterprise Device Lifecycle Management Looks Like Now

In a modern enterprise, device lifecycle management covers every touchpoint between employees and hardware — not just who gets a laptop on day one.

Most organizations follow some version of these stages:

1. Plan & procure – Decide which endpoints to buy, when to refresh, and how to budget.
2. Provision & device deployment – Image, configure, and assign devices to employees or roles.
3. Everyday access & swaps – Loaners, shared pools, shift handoffs, short-term check-outs.
4. Support & repair – Break/fix intake, vendor RMA, temporary replacements.
5. Refresh & replacement – Permanent swaps when devices are obsolete or beyond repair.
6. Retirement & redeployment – Secure wipe, reclaim, reassignment, or disposal.

Your UEM/MDM platform largely defines the digital lifecycle — enrollment, policy, updates, compliance. But the physical lifecycle is still full of friction:

• Hybrid knowledge workers who can’t wait days for a replacement laptop.
• Shift-based workforces sharing tablets, scanners, or thin clients.
• Regional hubs and satellite offices with inconsistent device processes.
• New-hire and leaver workflows that depend on someone being in the right place at the right time.

The Automation Gap in Enterprise Device Deployment and Support

Device fleets keep growing, and the market data backs that up:

• The unified endpoint management (UEM) market was about $5.5B in 2023 and is expected to grow at >18.6% CAGR through 2032 as organizations manage more laptops, mobiles, and IoT endpoints across hybrid workplaces.
• The endpoint security market is projected to nearly double from $14.86B in 2024 to over $30B by 2032, reflecting how central endpoints have become to enterprise security posture.

In other words: more devices, more risk, same (or smaller) IT teams.

At the same time, infrastructure and operations leaders are being pushed hard toward automation. Gartner predicts that by 2026, 30% of enterprises will automate more than half of their network activities, up from under 10% in mid-2023.

Service desks are already feeling the strain:

• A 2025 market data report finds 79% of companies have seen an increase in ticket volume, and 82% of agents say automation has improved their efficiency.
• The same report suggests up to 80% of ticket resolution time can be reduced with automation tools, and 88% of employees prefer self-service portals for routine requests.

Yet when it comes to hardware, many enterprises still rely on:

• Walk-up counters and ad hoc “do you have a spare?” messages.
• Shared inboxes for device requests and loaners.
• Spreadsheets or one-off forms to track who has what.
• Manual audits to reconcile reality with the CMDB.

That’s the automation gap: highly instrumented digital systems on one side, and the messy physical world of devices on the other.

How an Automated Smart Locker System Closes the Loop

Digital tools handle the policy; physical automation handles the handoff.

An automated smart locker system sits between your existing stack and your employees as a secure, self-service access point. Users authenticate (badge, SSO, PIN), and the system dispenses or accepts devices based on your rules — while updating MDM, ITSM, and asset tools in the background.

Recent workplace-focused guides to smart locker systems highlight three consistent benefits: tighter asset control, traceable access, and substantial time savings for facilities and IT teams.

Here’s what that looks like across the lifecycle.

1. Device deployment and onboarding

Instead of handing out kits in conference rooms:

• IT images and configures devices via UEM/MDM.
• New-hire kits (laptop, peripherals, badges, tokens) are staged in specific locker bays.
• On day one, employees authenticate at the locker and collect their kit in minutes.
• The locker records who picked up what, and when, feeding your asset and ITSM systems.

Result: deployment days become predictable, self-service workflows instead of everyone dropping what they’re doing.

2. Everyday access, loaners, and shift handoffs

For hybrid and frontline workers:

• A user submits a “Need a temporary laptop” request via the portal.
• Once approved, the entitlement syncs to the lockers.
• The user authenticates at the nearest unit, and a bay with a pre-imaged device pops open.
• When they’re done, they return it to any locker — check-in is logged automatically.

For shared shift devices (tablets, laptops, etc), lockers enforce device accountability at every handoff, without tying up supervisors or IT staff.

3. Break/fix and repair

Break/fix workflows become fully trackable:

• A user drops a failing device into a “Repair” bay.
• That event opens or updates an ITSM ticket with the device ID, user, and timestamp.
• Policy determines whether a loaner should be dispensed automatically.
• IT picks up a consolidated queue of known-bad devices for triage.

Now, break/fix support feels like a structured process, not a constant stream of fire drills.

4. Replacement, refresh, and retirement

For refresh or permanent replacements:

• IT stages the new device in a locker bay and associates it with a ticket or workflow.
• The user gets a notification, authenticates, and picks up the replacement.
• The old device is quarantined for wipe and disposal.
• All of this is logged across the locker system, ITSM, and asset tools.

At that point, the smart lockers aren’t just convenient cabinets — they’re the physical engine of device lifecycle automation, keeping the real world in sync with your digital systems.

Why Device Lifecycle Automation Matters for IT Workflow Optimization

Device lifecycle automation is ultimately about changing the shape of IT work, not just speeding up a few tasks.

Gartner’s latest CIO survey suggests that by 2030, 0% of IT work will be done without AI, with 25% of tasks handled by AI alone and 75% by humans augmented with AI. That’s a strong signal that manual, repeatable tasks — like basic device logistics — are on borrowed time.

Smart lockers plug directly into that broader automation story:

• Fewer low-value tickets. When a user can self-serve a loaner in three minutes, they don’t open a ticket or stand in a line. Given that ticket resolution time can be significantly reduced through automation, smart lockers become a very tangible lever.
• Cleaner data for better decisions. Every handoff is logged — who, what, when, where. That makes asset inventories, CMDBs, and endpoint reports more reliable and useful.
• Better alignment with digital transformation. As more processes digitize, the “physical last mile” of device management can’t remain analog. Automating hardware handoffs is a straightforward, high-visibility win on the digital transformation roadmap.

Put simply: automated device management that includes smart lockers is IT workflow optimization you can see — fewer interruptions, less walking around, more time on high-value work.

Smart Automation Tools for Device Management

To get end-to-end control of devices, you need a stack of smart automation tools that work together, not a single product. Here are the core components to consider:

1. ForwardPass – Automated smart locker system (physical handoff engine)
   ForwardPass provides an automated smart locker system that integrates with your identity provider for secure, self-service access to devices, and is designed to work alongside your ITSM and device management tools to automate physical handoffs. Employees can pick up, swap, and return laptops and shared devices 24/7, while IT gets accurate event logs, stronger device accountability, and measurable reductions in hands-on device time.
2. Microsoft Intune – Cloud-based unified endpoint management
   Microsoft Intune is a cloud-based unified endpoint management (UEM) solution that lets IT teams manage, configure, and protect endpoints across Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and more from a single admin center. Integrated with services like Endpoint Analytics and Windows Autopilot, it underpins zero-touch device deployment and ongoing compliance — and pairs naturally with lockers that handle the physical side of those deployments.
3. Omnissa Workspace ONE UEM – Cross-platform device management
   Omnissa (formerly VMware) Workspace ONE UEM delivers comprehensive endpoint management for multiple OS platforms, with flexible modes for corporate-owned and BYOD devices. It gives enterprises a single pane of glass for configuration, apps, and security policies, while smart lockers ensure the right physical device actually reaches the right user at the right time.
4. ServiceNow IT Service Management – Workflow and approvals hub
   ServiceNow’s IT Service Management platform automates workflows across incidents, requests, changes, and more, and increasingly acts as a digital backbone for enterprise operations. When integrated with smart lockers, ServiceNow can not only approve device swaps and break/fix requests but also trigger and record the physical handoff automatically, closing the loop between ticket and hardware.
5. Jira Service Management – High-velocity ITSM for IT and operations teams
   Jira Service Management from Atlassian is a high-velocity ITSM tool designed to help IT, ops, and business teams deliver fast service on a shared platform. It supports service requests, incidents, changes, and asset/configuration management — and, when connected to a locker platform, can route and track device requests end-to-end without requiring analysts to manually manage every pickup and return.

Together, these tools create a cohesive device lifecycle automation stack: UEM platforms like Intune and Workspace ONE enforce policy on the devices, ITSM tools like ServiceNow and Jira Service Management orchestrate the workflows, and ForwardPass provides the physical automation layer that makes hardware handoffs as self-service and auditable as your software changes.