Your office is wherever you are.
The idea of work being tied to a specific location is long gone. Today, a kitchen table, a café, a train seat, or even a park bench can double as someone’s office. According to a 2025 Gallup study, nearly half of U.S. employees now work in hybrid arrangements, while about 1 in 5 are fully remote. This mobility has many benefits, but it also means devices are scattered across countless networks, beyond traditional IT perimeters.
And that raises the question: once laptops and smartphones walk out the office door, how do you keep tabs on them? When endpoints are always on the move and rarely on-site, organizations lose visibility, and with it, control. Tracking who’s using which device, where it's located, and whether it’s still secure becomes a real challenge.
The farther these endpoints go, the more important it becomes to have a strategy that keeps your assets, and the data inside them, accounted for.
Why tracking devices matter more than ever for companies
When your team’s working from different cities, or even different time zones, it’s important to know where their devices are. Tracking devices give you that ongoing visibility: which laptops and phones are out there, who’s using them, and whether they’re secure and up to date.
Those same laptops and phones often hold way more than just work files, they’ve got credentials, customer info, internal docs, and more. If one goes missing, especially in regulated industries, the fallout can go far beyond hardware loss. Frameworks like GDPR or HIPAA expect you to keep that data protected, no matter where it travels.
Losing track of a device can lead to:
- The direct cost of replacing the device
- Exposure of sensitive data or credentials
- Fines or legal action under compliance laws
- Reputational damage or lost customer trust
- Costly breach response and investigation time
Tracking beyond the office: From prevention to response
Device tracking tools play a key role in rounding out your remote security strategy. While firewalls, VPNs, and antivirus handle threats at the network and software level, tracking brings physical accountability into the mix, helping IT teams move from reacting to preventing. Here’s how tracking technology strengthens security beyond the office:
- GPS + network location monitoring: Get real-time updates on where devices are, even if they’re not connected to your network.
- **Geofencing to restrict device use to approved areas**: Set virtual boundaries and get alerts and deploy security response actions when an endpoint leaves a trusted location.
- **Remote lock/wipe and inventory status checks**: Act quickly if a device is lost or stolen—lock it down, wipe sensitive data, or confirm it's still safe.
- Audit trails for forensic and compliance use: Maintain logs of device activity to support internal investigations or compliance reviews.
- Device ownership tracking: Always know who’s using which phone or laptop, which team it belongs to, and whether it’s properly configured.
Integrating tracking into your security stack
A strong remote security setup isn’t about choosing one tool over another—it’s about making them work together. MDM, EDR, and tracking tools each play a different role, and when integrated into a centralized dashboard, they give IT teams the full picture: policy enforcement, threat detection, and physical oversight. It’s this combination that keeps assets secure, visible, and recoverable.
MDM
Mobile Device Management (MDM) handles the rules of engagement. It enforces security settings like encryption, password strength, and app restrictions, making sure that every device, whether it’s company-owned or BYOD, follows your baseline policies. It’s also how you push updates, control what users can install, and remotely configure systems without needing hands-on access. Some of them offer location tracking capabilities.
EDR
EDR focuses on detecting and responding to threats. It keeps an eye on device behavior, flagging suspicious activity, isolating compromised endpoints, and analyzing patterns to stop malware and lateral movement before they spread. It’s your early-warning system when something looks off under the hood.
Tracking
Device tracking brings location awareness and physical recovery into the mix. It tells you where devices are, who’s using them, and whether they’ve left approved zones. If something goes missing, tracking gives you the tools to investigate, lock, or wipe the device, and ideally, get it back. It closes the loop between digital security and physical asset protection.
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How Prey Supports Remote Workforce Security
Prey gives IT and security teams the tools to monitor, respond, and recover, no matter where devices are. It’s built for mobility, but designed to support control, accountability, and compliance from a distance.
Real-time tracking: Prey keeps you updated with live location data using GPS and nearby Wi-Fi networks. Whether a laptop’s on the move or sitting idle, you’ll always know where it is, and whether it’s somewhere it shouldn’t be.
Multi-OS tracking (Windows, macOS, iOS, Android): Your device fleet likely isn’t one-size-fits-all. Prey supports all major operating systems so you can manage laptops, phones, and tablets across teams without juggling different tools or dashboards.
Geofencing alerts and movement history: Set approved zones or geofences for your devices and get alerts when they leave or enter specific areas. Combined with movement history logs, this helps you identify suspicious patterns and catch issues before they turn into full-blown incidents.
Remote lock, wipe, and file retrieval: Lost a device? Lock it down instantly or wipe sensitive data remotely to protect company information. Need one last file before pulling the plug? You can retrieve it safely without physical access.
Role-based access for IT/security teams: Give the right people the right level of control. Prey lets you assign access based on roles, keeping sensitive actions like wiping or locking devices restricted to those who are authorized.
Reports for compliance and insurance claims: Prey logs all activity, location history, actions taken, and device status, so you have a full audit trail. That helps with internal reviews, insurance claims, and proving compliance with frameworks like ISO 27001 or HIPAA.
Conclusion — you can’t protect what you can’t see
Remote work has changed how we think about visibility. Devices are constantly in motion, outside the office and beyond traditional safeguards. But the need for control hasn’t gone away, it’s grown. Tracking gives you that ongoing visibility, extending your perimeter wherever your people work. It turns uncertainty into oversight and helps teams stay secure no matter how far they travel.
That visibility also pays off. When a device goes missing, quick action can prevent a breach. When audits come up, detailed logs show you’ve kept things in check. And when your team works from anywhere, tracking makes sure nothing slips through the cracks.
Prey helps you make that visibility actionable, so you can recover faster, reduce risk, and stay in control. Get in touch to see how.
