Borrow it. Use it. Return it. Without a desk-side handoff.
Smart Collect® turns temporary equipment lending into a closed-loop ServiceNow workflow. Configurable loan periods. Automated reminder emails. Returns drop into the same locker that issued the equipment. Audit chain intact from check-out to check-in.
The borrow is easy. The return is where it all falls apart.
Most enterprise IT teams have a workable lending process. Few have a workable return process. The cost shows up in three places — and grows quietly every quarter.
Borrows a travel laptop. Three weeks later, can't remember who to give it back to. Tries once, gets no answer, keeps it in a drawer "until somebody asks." Nobody asks.
Loses track of who has what. Spreadsheet drift sets in. Manual chase emails fail. Some loaned devices are never seen again. The asset register and reality stop matching.
Writes off "missing" loan devices every quarter. Buys replacement inventory for kit that's actually sitting in someone's drawer. Closes the books knowing the numbers aren't quite right.
Closed-loop lending, end to end inside ServiceNow.
Smart Collect® treats the loan as a single ticket that tracks the equipment from check-out to check-in. The reminder cadence and return mechanics run automatically.
Standard ServiceNow request with configurable loan period — one day, one week, one month, project duration. The loan policy lives in your existing approval rules; Smart Collect® inherits them.
Loan code sent to the employee's ServiceNow-registered email. Loan period clock starts on collection. Asset record updated to "on loan" against the employee's identity.
Configurable reminder cadence — seven days before, two days before, day of return. Optional extension-request flow that re-runs through the same approval rules. No manual chase emails from IT.
Employee scans return code, drops device, locker confirms, asset state updates to "available". The ticket auto-closes. Stock returns to the active pool. Audit chain intact from check-out to check-in.
Lockers do the full loop. Vending for short-stay accessories. Kiosks for extensions.
Loan and returns is a Smart Locker–led workflow. The single locker that issued the device is also the one that takes it back.
One locker, full lend-and-return loop.
The same physical locker compartment can lend and receive the same device — Smart Collect® tracks the state in ServiceNow, so the locker just does what it's told. Audit chain stays intact.
- Travel laptops & field-engineer kit
- Demo devices & trial hardware
- Project laptops for short-term programmes
- Visitor / contractor equipment
For the borrow-for-a-meeting accessory.
Visitor headsets, USB hubs for a single conference room booking, a presenter clicker for an off-site session. Vending machines handle short-stay lends where the asset register doesn't need to flag a multi-day check-out.
- Visitor headsets & presenter tools
- Conference-room hubs & cables
- Single-meeting accessories
- Same-day borrow-and-return items
For the "can I keep it another week?"
When an employee needs to extend a loan, change devices mid-loan, or escalate a return issue, the Smart Kiosk connects them to remote IT — who can adjust the loan record in ServiceNow on the spot.
- Loan extension requests
- Mid-loan device changes
- Return-issue escalation
- Damaged-device handover assistance
Less chasing. Less shrinkage. Less write-off.
Where Velocity customers measured before-and-after on loan-and-returns, the pattern looks like this.
Loan-and-returns at the largest transaction scale we measure.
The US university case study is the strongest loan-and-returns evidence in our bank — tens of thousands of borrow/return transactions, with the highest NPS of any service the institution runs.
90% IT staff time recovered specifically on equipment returns. 70,000+ borrow/return transactions logged.
A US university automated loaned-equipment handover at scale — tens of thousands of borrow/return transactions through Smart Collect® lockers, with the highest NPS of any IT service the institution runs.
How many loaned devices do you currently lose every quarter?
A 60-minute discovery workshop with a Velocity ServiceNow architect maps your current loan-and-returns process, sizes the locker footprint for your borrow volume, and identifies the operational baseline you'll measure improvement against.