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The logistics model you had in the office-era IT doesn’t work today. Because teams work across five time zones.
Simple internal tickets, say, “Ship a new laptop to Berlin,” now mean you’ll have to navigate customs codes, freight handoffs, and border taxes that can delay your new hire’s onboarding for weeks.
IT, HR, and Finance teams spend hours fixing issues that their vendors should’ve solved. Yet even platforms like Allwhere, which market “global coverage,” often can’t deliver that in practice. One customer even notes that Allwhere accepted their contract, then later admitted certain countries weren’t supported.
In this blog, we’ll look at why these failures keep happening, what IT, HR, and Finance teams actually need, and which Allwhere alternatives can back their claims with real performance data.
Who this comparison is for (and who it isn’t)
It’s best suited for:
• IT, HR, and Finance leaders supporting mid- to large-scale distributed teams, typically 50 to 5,000 employees across 30+ countries.
• Companies that need hardware delivery, retrieval, and compliance reporting handled through one global system with verified SLAs.
Not the right fit for:
• Small, single-office setups managing only a few dozen devices a year.
• Teams focused solely on software license tracking or SaaS optimization. Those use cases align better with ServiceNow or SHI.
We shortlisted each vendor’s performance across three proven metrics (delivery SLAs, retrieval success rates, and cost consistency) using customer-reported data and verified documentation from the past 12 months. Only after confirming operational reliability did we compare pricing, integrations, and usability.
Firstbase reduces IT equipment stock levels by 30%, cutting storage waste and keeping devices moving instead of sitting on shelves.
“Firstbase helps us expand into new regions and manage existing ones, making our operations across eighteen time zones seamless.”
Take the self-guided tour and see how that workflow operates for your team.
Let’s get specific about how those promises break down in real, measurable ways that cost IT, HR, and Finance time, money, and credibility.
Remote-era shipping compounds. Organizations commonly spend about $100 per remote worker per year on shipping alone; scaled to 1,000 people, that’s $100,000 annually just for freight.
Those headline numbers hide smaller (but frequent) upsells for finance teams. That includes rush surcharges, re-routings, brokerage fees, and local duties that vendors don’t always surface up front.
Over time, these add up to unpredictable per-seat spend that can fluctuate each quarter. It erases the budget consistency that global teams depend on.
When a warehouse or carrier needs extra paperwork, delivery times explode. Best practice for well-run warehousing is 24-48 hours dock-to-stock, but many routes routinely miss that window because of local paperwork, carrier cutoff times, or re-routing.
The downstream effect you’ll find is that your new hires wait days (sometimes weeks) to be fully productive, and IT teams spend hours chasing status updates.
Asset recovery is a chronic leak. Enterprises recoup only 30-50% of laptops from remote workers; even generous recovery assumptions still leave dozens of missing devices each year.
Using commonly accepted averages (15% churn on 1,000 employees; $1,500 per laptop), that shortfall translates into tens of thousands of dollars lost annually. It’s a recurring, avoidable line on the balance sheet.
Legacy partners and fragmented vendor stacks force IT to spend time on logistics instead of strategy. In the field, teams report five hours of logistics work per remote worker (address checks, packing, follow-ups).
At scale, that becomes hundreds to thousands of wasted hours — work that adds cost and delays strategic projects.
Run the math and you’ll understand why it’s important to find platforms that handle your asset lifecycle end-to-end.
Here are the top Allwhere alternatives you must look into if you’re planning to upgrade your asset management.
Firstbase combines a cloud asset-management portal with a global physical operations engine to remove routine IT friction for distributed teams. Customers report major, measurable wins: automated lifecycle workflows cut manual equipment work by roughly 75%, and consolidation into a single platform yields time-and cost savings.
Operational outcomes are specific. Firstbase’s retrieval workflows and return kits lift device recovery well above industry averages. The platform also offers chain-of-custody logs, certified wipes, and resale credits that create traceable value and reduce both compliance and e-waste risk.
Allwhere’s common, customer-reported problems include hidden or changing prices, a clunky ordering flow, gaps in certain regions after contracts are signed, and limited integrations. These are operational failures that create predictable work for IT, HR, and Finance.
Firstbase addresses each point with concrete controls you can verify:
If budget predictability, fewer manual handoffs, and auditable returns matter to you, these are the operational checks you’ll need.
Firstbase customers cut IT support tickets by 50% in just three months by using automated swaps and self-service ordering. Use the ROI Calculator to find out what that would mean for your own team’s workload and spend.
Deel IT is the device-management layer added to Deel’s global payroll and HR suite after its acquisition of Hofy. The platform combines equipment delivery, lifecycle tracking, and security management for distributed teams. Its integrated repair routing and loaner workflows keep employees productive: repairs, temporary replacements, and return logistics run from one ticket.
Teams can buy or lease hardware, ship from regional suppliers, and manage existing fleets through a single console. Deel IT also includes mobile-device-management integration, pre-configuration options, and certified data erasure when hardware is returned.
GroWrk gives you one platform to manage company devices across 150+ countries without needing local entities or regional vendors. It covers the entire operational cycle and standardizes delivery times globally. The platform’s main draw is speed and predictability: hardware reaches employees in under seven business days.
It does all that with consistent customs handling and transparent pricing across all regions. Companies can run their global inventory from one dashboard while staying compliant through SOC 2 Type II–certified security practices and automated reporting that keeps audit preparation fast and verifiable.
Retriever is a laptop returns and data-destruction service built for companies that need to recover hardware securely at scale. You can eliminate the manual effort of coordinating return shipments, follow-ups, and compliance tracking.
Devices are collected directly from employees through prepaid, eco-friendly boxes that arrive within one business day, with automated reminders to ensure timely pickup. Once received, hardware is processed in a controlled facility under SOC 2 Type 2 standards. Retriever aligns with GDPR, SOX, GLBA, and HIPAA requirements with downloadable certificates for every completed data wipe.
ServiceNow IT Asset Management (ITAM) consolidates hardware, software, and cloud assets into a single control platform built on its unified data model. It automates each stage of the asset lifecycle while also tracking usage, spend, and risk across departments. The platform controls costs and governance by optimizing license consumption and preventing technology waste.
The platform integrates asset tracking with ServiceNow’s IT service, operations, and security modules. Companies use it to identify shadow IT, control unused subscriptions, and maintain unified audit records across departments.
SHI’s IT Asset Management (ITAM) services focus on cost optimization, compliance, and sustainability for large enterprises managing complex software portfolios. Its Software Asset Management (SAM) practice oversees more than 1,000 software titles and helps organizations track deployment, entitlements, and usage to identify compliance risks and overspend.
The platform also provides SaaS cost optimization and audit management to align licensing with real-world utilization. Its consultants identify unused or over-licensed software, enforce de-provisioning policies, and reduce penalties tied to audit exposure. Combined with eco-friendly asset programs, SHI helps enterprises lower software costs and meet both financial and ESG goals.
Now, to make your decision-making process easier, we’ve compiled a checklist. It’s exactly what you need before locking in your Allwhere alternative.
If the checklist raised concerns or doubts about your current provider’s reliability, look at what proven operations actually deliver. Firstbase maintains 99.98% uptime, runs on SOC 2 Type II–audited infrastructure, and applies verified ITIL workflows across every region.
The infrastructure supports global hardware deployment, with built-in compliance into each handoff and zero reported data breaches across its managed fleet.
In large-scale transitions, clients have saved $125 per departing employee, reclaimed 700+ IT hours, and recouped $175,000 in asset value through secure redeployment. That’s what operational maturity looks like (at scale). See the operational impact yourself; book a demo with Firstbase and benchmark these results against your own workflows.
