{"id":9836,"date":"2023-03-08T08:16:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T16:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/?p=9836"},"modified":"2026-03-24T13:24:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T20:24:39","slug":"boosting-employee-device-procurement-at-microsoft-with-better-forecasting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/insidetrack\/blog\/boosting-employee-device-procurement-at-microsoft-with-better-forecasting\/","title":{"rendered":"Boosting employee device procurement at Microsoft with better forecasting"},"content":{"rendered":"

We periodically update our stories, but we can’t verify that they represent the full picture of our current situation at Microsoft. We leave them on the site so you can see what our thinking and experience was at the time.<\/em><\/p>\n

Device forecasting at Microsoft has allowed the company to plan for new hires, replace out-of-warranty devices for existing employees, and respond to major events, like the release of Windows 11. As a result, we\u2019ve been able to strategically acquire equipment in a more efficient way.
\n\"Microsoft
\nIt all started with a shift to remote work.<\/p>\n

\u201cNew employees will always need a device on day one,\u201d says Pandurang Kamath Savagur, a senior program manager with Microsoft Digital, the company’s IT organization. \u201cBut for the first time ever, we were also in an experience where people had to stay productive from home with only a single device. They couldn\u2019t easily get into the offices for a secondary or loaner device.\u201d<\/p>\n

To anticipate demand and offset delays, Microsoft Digital built a platform where administrators across the company could project the number of devices they\u2019d need. Simultaneously, the group took a deep dive look at the current device population to forecast the number of employees who would need a device refresh\u2014all in time for the deployment of Windows 11.<\/p>\n

Getting better at predicting the future<\/h2>\n

Historically, Microsoft didn\u2019t need to build up a large inventory of devices for employees; everything was made to order.<\/p>\n

Business groups own the budget, so they know what the next six months will look like for their team. Microsoft onboards approximately 3,000 employees each month, and every employee needs to select and set up a device. We can\u2019t just buy 3,000 devices a month\u2014we need to know specifications about how it will be used.<\/p>\n

\u2014Pandurang Kamath Savagur, senior program manager, Microsoft Digital<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It worked a little bit like this:<\/p>\n

Procurement, having already certified devices and negotiated pricing and SLAs suitable for employees, enables administrators or direct employees to obtain a new employee device through our internal ProcureWeb tool. The tool places a purchase order directly to the OEM\u2014the third-party manufacturer of the device\u2014or a reseller who would then manufacture and ship the equipment out to the user.<\/p>\n

But the shift in how people worked meant we\u2019d need to be more proactive in procuring devices for employees. And to get there, we\u2019d need a better picture of fluctuating demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cBusiness groups own the budget, so they know what the next six months will look like for their team,\u201d Savagur says. \u201cMicrosoft onboards approximately 3,000 employees each month, and every employee needs to select and set up a device. We can\u2019t just buy 3,000 devices a month\u2014we need to know specifications about how it will be used.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everything from storage space, computing power, memory, and keyboard language to the number of units would need to be collected from business groups. Once that information came in, Procurement could work with OEMs to have machines ready and available to be delivered to administrators well in advance.<\/p>\n

This new approach to device forecasting has streamlined the way Microsoft acquires devices, giving us adequate stock to ensure a good experience. We can now anticipate device purchases for new hires while also accounting for break fixes.<\/p>\n

And the timing of this effort couldn\u2019t have been better\u2014Windows 11 was on the way, and we would need this new approach along with additional analysis to get the new operating system into the hands of employees.<\/p>\n

Empowering Microsoft with Windows 11<\/h2>\n

Released in late 2021, Windows 11 gives us the enterprise-grade security that Microsoft requires. To achieve this secure-by-default state, we needed to replace older devices with equipment that met the Windows 11 hardware requirements.<\/p>\n

But instead of issuing new devices to everyone at launch\u2014something that would be both costly and logistically impossible\u2014we took a strategic approach, using a combination of telemetry and machine learning to identify and prioritize devices for replacement.<\/p>\n

\"Cheng
Anqi Cheng and Neeti Sawant teamed up to transform the way the company handles its internal device forecasting. Cheng is a data scientist with the W+D Data team, and Sawant is a data engineer with Microsoft Digital.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe have telemetry data, application usage, and warranty information, and that gives us a base to forecast from in Power BI,\u201d says Neeti Sawant, a data engineer with Microsoft Digital who helped create a device forecasting dashboard as part of this effort. \u201cIt told us what we needed to monitor and forecast, which devices are aging out, and when they would be eligible for a refresh.\u201d<\/p>\n

But we weren\u2019t just relying on warranty data alone.<\/p>\n

Using Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB and Microsoft Azure DataBricks for machine learning, we are able to leverage the historical data for device population and apply survival modeling techniques, predicting how many ineligible primary devices would be active over the next few years towards the Windows 10 end of support.<\/p>\n

Device forecasting has allowed us to work closely with OEMs so that devices are available on time and so that we\u2019re not selecting on availability, but rather meeting all the performance, compliance, and security needs of our users. Satisfaction scores from employees have increased by 20 points since we started doing this.<\/p>\n

\u2014Pandurang Kamath Savagur, senior program manager, Microsoft Digital<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cNot all users will replace their device at the end of warranty,\u201d says Anqi Cheng, a data scientist with the W+D Data team at Microsoft. \u201cAlthough many devices will naturally age out over time, many users hang on to their devices for an extended time. When combined with other device forecasting data, we had a holistic view of the landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

This level of analysis ensured Microsoft would be able to quickly develop a roadmap for getting employees on Windows 11.<\/p>\n

A bright forecast for Microsoft<\/h2>\n

Employees at Microsoft can\u2014and should\u2014expect to have a device that engages, protects, and empowers them. Device forecasting makes this possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cDevice forecasting has allowed us to work closely with OEMs so that devices are not selected on availability, but rather meeting all the performance, compliance, and security needs of our users,\u201d Savagur says. This effort has resulted in a better experience for employees. \u201cSatisfaction scores from employees have increased by 20 points since we started doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Access to device forecasting information has also been helpful to admins and Finance, who now have a better idea as to which devices will need to be refreshed for Windows 11. Moving into the future, these same projections will make it easier for Procurement to put the right device into an employee\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the analysis provided to us by Microsoft Digital, we can now understand how many primary devices are in our environment and when we expect them to refresh,\u201d says Colby McNorton, a senior program manager on the Microsoft Procurement team. \u201cAs we look forward, instead of the purchasing journey being reactive, we can proactively reach out to users and tell them that their device is at the end of its life and even recommend a device based on what we know about usage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to Windows Autopilot, new devices are automatically pre-configured with Windows 11. Windows Autopilot deploys an OEM-optimized version of the Windows client, so you don\u2019t have to maintain custom images and drivers for every device model. This makes new devices business-ready faster, empowering employees to stay engaged and protected. Users can just switch on, sign in, and all policies and apps will be in place within a day.<\/p>\n

\"Key<\/figure>\n