A device refresh is the largest IT capital event most operators face in any given year. Five hundred laptops at $1,500 each is $750,000 of hardware. Add the labor cost of imaging, deployment, end-user coordination, asset retrieval, and disposal, and the true cost of a poorly-run refresh easily exceeds the hardware itself.
Most refresh projects go over schedule. Users lose files in the migration. Old equipment sits in closets for months because nobody managed the retrieval. The IT team is exhausted by month two. The CFO discovers in month four that the warranty premiums and rush-shipping charges were never in the budget.
A refresh, done well, isn't a hardware-shipping project. It's a structured operating program with seven phases, and the work in each phase determines whether the refresh costs what it should or costs twice as much.
This is how Surya runs a refresh.
/ The Program
We start with what you have. If you run a modern MDM or IT asset management platform, we work inside it — pulling fleet inventory, age, health, warranty status, and current configurations directly from your existing systems. If your inventory data is incomplete or non-existent (which is more common than most CIOs admit), we build it. The deliverable is a fleet picture with refresh priorities sorted by age, condition, and business criticality.
Not everyone needs a laptop. A clinical workstation user might be better served by a small form factor desktop. A call-center agent might be a thin client. A remote knowledge worker probably needs the laptop they already have — just a newer version. We model the fleet by persona, match each persona to the right device class, and produce a replacement strategy that reflects actual usage rather than defaulting to 'everyone gets a laptop.' The savings on this step alone can be significant for fleets that have been ordering laptops for everyone by habit.
This is where most refresh projects leak money. We bring purchasing expertise to your direct purchase — pulling competitive quotes from Dell, HP, and Lenovo direct, cross-shopping SHI and Insight, and modeling total cost of ownership across configurations. The customer buys direct from the vendor; we bring the procurement discipline. We have no markup on hardware and no incentive to upsell. Warranty strategy is part of this phase: vendor-extended onsite warranty programs add 5–15% to per-device cost. For Surya logistics customers much of that premium is unnecessary — we maintain onsite spares and ready-to-ship spare pools, so customers can run standard mail-in depot warranty and capture the savings.
Equipment arrives at our facility. We apply the customer's custom image, lock firmware and drivers to stable enterprise baselines (not whatever the OEM happened to ship), apply asset tags to customer standards, and stage devices for the deployment window. The result: every device the customer receives is configured identically, runs predictable firmware, and is tagged in the customer's inventory system before it leaves our dock.
This is the phase where most refresh projects fail in real life, and the failure looks the same every time: users lose files. The migration isn't really a hardware swap; it's a data continuity event. We monitor OneDrive sync status before any swap is scheduled. We confirm Known Folder Move is functioning. We verify the data the user thinks is 'on their laptop' is actually in OneDrive and accessible from the new device. Only then do we swap. For customers in restricted-rights environments we provide post-migration hypercare — home printer setup, VPN reconnection, the Outlook signature that didn't survive the move. If the customer wants device selection as an employee benefit, we build the ordering pages.
Old devices come back. We do a 30-day secure hold post-migration before wipe, which accounts for the inevitable 'I forgot to copy that file' requests that arrive in week two. After the hold, devices are securely wiped to NIST 800-88 standards and either prepared for the customer's continued use elsewhere or handed off to recycling partners.
The refresh leaves behind an operating manual: which devices went where, which personas got what configuration, what the rollback path is, what the warranty status is per device. The customer's IT team inherits a documented fleet, not just newer hardware.
Most refresh projects end abruptly — Surya doesn't. We maintain elevated support coverage for the first 30 days post-deployment, then transition to whatever ongoing support model the customer has in place. The transition is documented and predictable.
/ How Customers Engage
We see three patterns most often. These aren't fixed packages — they're the engagement shapes that emerge from real customer situations. The capabilities described above are productized. The engagement scope is what the customer needs it to be.
Card / 01
The customer has done the planning, has their own image, and has their own deployment strategy. They need a partner to receive the new equipment, image it, ship to the right person at the right site, and retrieve the old equipment. Light-touch on our side; high-volume operational work. Most common entry point for customers who have run refreshes before and just want the operational execution off their plate.
Card / 02
The customer has nothing — no image, no deployment automation, no inventory, manual processes everywhere. We design the imaging strategy, build the deployment automation, model the fleet, and run the operational work. Heavier engagement; significantly more program-design value from Surya. Most common for first-time refresh customers and for organizations where the IT team is small relative to the device count.
Card / 03
The customer has the technical work in hand — imaging, migration automation, supply chain — but doesn't have the people-side capability for a refresh at scale. We coordinate with end users, run hypercare, manage retrieval, and handle the human-facing operational work. This is the engagement most refresh vendors handle worst, because it requires actual people doing actual work, not just shipping boxes.
/ The Math
1.
Reduces per-user hardware spend by 20–40% for organizations that have been defaulting laptops to every employee. A clinical workstation doesn't need a $2,200 laptop; a small form factor desktop at $700 does the same job better.
2.
Eliminates reseller margins on hardware. Savings vary by deal size and vendor relationship, but they are real and they accrue to the customer, not to us.
3.
Saves the premium on extended onsite coverage that Surya's spare-pool logistics make unnecessary. Typically 5–15% of per-device cost depending on vendor and coverage tier.
4.
Reduces the long-tail cost of a refresh: the help-desk tickets in month three, the lost files in month four, the unaccounted-for retired devices in month six. Every refresh has these. A well-run one has fewer.
The full economic picture varies by customer, fleet size, and existing operating model. The assessment phase produces a written cost model the customer can act on.
/ Start Here
The first engagement is a fixed-scope refresh assessment. The deliverable is a written fleet picture: device inventory by age and persona, recommended replacement strategy, procurement and warranty model, and a scoped refresh plan with timing and cost.
Assessments are scoped to fleet size and complexity. We provide a fixed-price quote within two business days of an initial conversation.
If the customer engages Surya for the refresh execution within 60 days, the assessment fee is credited against the project cost.
A refresh is often the front door to an ongoing relationship. Customers who run a refresh with Surya frequently engage on continuous device lifecycle management — the same operating model, applied to every device, every day.
See how device lifecycle management works →/ Contact
Tell us about your fleet — number of devices, vertical, and HRIS — and our RTP team will be in touch within one business day.
Facility
Surya IT Logistics
Research Triangle Park, NC 27703
Verticals
Healthcare · Manufacturing