How Vividly Runs IT Across Six Countries With a Team of One

 The challenge

As Vividly expanded its remote workforce across six countries, the burden of managing hardware logistics fell entirely on one person. Keeping pace with the growth was difficult. They only had a third-party vendor handling operations in the Philippines and no scalable solution in place for other regions. We spoke with Joey Marquez, who oversees all IT operations and compliance at Vividly, about the roadblocks he encountered while supporting a distributed global team on his own.

• Hardware frequently arrived a week or more after a new hire's start date, sometimes with the wrong equipment entirely
• Asset recovery during offboarding was inconsistent, with some devices lost
• Long-term lease contracts continued billing even after employees had left the company
• Sourcing hardware across multiple regions required hours of manual research across independent vendors
• No centralized visibility into inventory made it difficult to track devices, plan refreshes, or anticipate upcoming needs

These challenges created real friction at every stage of the hardware lifecycle, from the moment a new hire was brought on to the moment a device needed to be recovered. Without a reliable, centralized solution, the process was reactive, time-consuming, and impossible to scale alongside the business.

 The solution

Joey evaluated vendors from across North America, Asia, and Europe before selecting GroWrk. The decision came down to four key factors:

• Global presence across all the countries where Vividly operates, including the Philippines, Colombia, Mexico, India, the United States, and France
• Competitive pricing that matched or improved upon their prior vendor costs
• The ability to handle the volume and speed of orders required by a fast-moving startup
• A consultative, no-pressure sales process focused on fit rather than a fast close

GroWrk's onboarding team provided extensive platform training upfront, walking Joey through the portal, order submission, and inventory tools so he could hit the ground running. For a one-person IT operation, that kind of hands-on support from day one made all the difference.

Critically, transitioning from leasing to asset ownership through GroWrk gave Vividly full control over its hardware. Devices could now be retrieved, refurbished, and reissued to the next hire, eliminating the costly lease commitments that would last long after an employee moved on.

 The results

GroWrk allowed Vividly to take full control of its global hardware operations, reduce onboarding delays, and replace a patchwork of regional vendors with a single, reliable platform, all without adding a single person to the IT team.

Since implementing GroWrk, Joey and his team have:

• Reduced time spent on IT operations by an estimated 35–45%
• Cut break-fix resolution times from up to one week down to one to two days, thanks to GroWrk's proximity to local warehouses
• Eliminated procurement delays by pre-ordering inventory, ensuring new hires are equipped on day one
• Transitioned from leasing to full asset ownership, ending costly billing cycles for hardware tied to employees who have moved on
• Gained real-time visibility into device location, value, and refresh timelines through the GroWrk dashboard
• Achieved consistent sub-one-hour response times from GroWrk support, compared to two to three days with previous vendors

The improved speed and reliability have allowed Joey to redirect his attention toward higher-value work, including SOC compliance and team enablement, without expanding the IT headcount or adding vendor complexity.

Looking ahead, Vividly plans to continue leveraging GroWrk as it expands into new regions, using the platform's inventory management and retrieval capabilities to support a growing global workforce, all from a team of one.