Hybrid work moved company hardware out of offices and into homes, co-working spaces, and city apartments. Laptops, phones, and monitors now travel further and change hands more often than IT teams can easily track. More than 70% of companies today operate under hybrid work schemes, and the physical extension of enterprise technology has expanded far beyond what traditional inventory systems were built to handle.
The market research for IT asset management will see the global market grow from roughly $2.09 billion in 2025 to $3.01 billion by 2031, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 6%, as enterprises buy infrastructure to track distributed hardware rather than centralized systems. Capability has struggled to keep up with this increase, as recently published industry surveys estimate that only 20% of companies achieve the level of asset management needed to deeply integrate tracking with IT service management, leaving device history, ownership records, and license data scattered across disconnected systems.
This disconnect carries consequences beyond inconvenience. Unreturned devices raise compliance exposure, unaccounted hardware inflates costs, and security teams increasingly require documented proof of where every asset sits and who controls it, rather than assumptions carried over from office-based routines.
Companies that consider asset visibility as infrastructure rather than an enhancement to the IT lifecycle will find themselves ahead of the curve, better equipped for the next wave of distributed work and enabling rapid onboarding and offboarding of devices while maintaining the necessary paperwork for auditors. The enterprises best positioned for the future of work will measure success by how confidently they can report on every device in circulation, rather than the number of devices purchased.
