Laptop Issue Policy

1. Amount of work related travel time can result in the long term assignment of a laptop, or a short term assignment for specific trips - we had some for that, if they don't travel much.

2. The amount of time out of the office on work issues that don't exactly relate to travel.

NB: To the company travel related to hopping in a plane or being overnight somewhere. But we had people with laptops as they worked most of the day at client sites around the city.

3. The need for access out of hours. Our senior IT admins had laptops they rarely used that were set up for VPN access from home should they need to check on something or fix an issue at night or on the weekend.

4. The cost of laptops as against laptop / desktop mixes when quantity discounts hit. One place I was at we had a need for fifteen laptops and twenty-seven desktops, but the quantity discounts that kicked in at fifty or more meant it was a cheaper total price to buy fifty-two laptops. The desktops were cheaper at the base per unit price, but not when compared with the discount rate. Buying all the same model laptop also made it easier to create a set image and maintain them.

5. The company views on telecommuting should also be taken into account. If they're looking at this seriously, having the person have a work laptop for working from home will make things a bit easier.

Hope this all gives you food for thought.