How Cresta.ai saved 250+ IT hours
and doubled headcount in one year
With 100 laptops stacked in a closet and no IT presence in key global markets, Cresta needed a managed partner to scale device logistics without growing the team.
270+
IT hours saved in year one
2x
Headcount growth in under 12 months
3
IT team members supporting 300 employees
5+
New geographies supported globally
The challenge
As Cresta's first IT hire, Jared Allenbrand built the company's technology foundation from scratch. But during a period of hypergrowth — hiring up to 20 employees per week — his team of three was spending hours each day on device shipping, wiping, and redeployment. With no IT presence in Canada, Germany, or India, every laptop had to be shipped out of the US, adding cost and delay to every new hire.
Now that we've expanded into India, Romania, and Germany, we need to easily get inventory there for new hires, and vice versa for offboarding."
Jared Allenbrand — Head of IT, Cresta.ai
The solution: full-service onboarding and offboarding
Global hardware sourcing
Firstbase was added to Cresta's Apple Business Manager account, allowing them to purchase and deploy devices on Cresta's behalf across all active geographies — no US shipping required.
Role-based device menus
New hires receive an automated email to select from a pre-approved device catalog tailored to their role. Inventory auto-replenishes when stock runs low, ensuring day-one readiness every time.
HRIS & MDM automation
Firstbase connected with Cresta's HRIS to trigger automated provisioning workflows, and integrated with Jamf to provide real-time security posture checks on every managed device.
Streamlined device recovery
Device retrieval, wiping, and redeployment are fully managed by Firstbase. HR gained read-only visibility into device status, reducing IT tickets and giving employees self-service tracking.
The biggest benefit of Firstbase is the time it saves us. Tasks like recovering a machine, shipping it, receiving it, testing it, and performing QA used to add up significantly. Firstbase streamlines all of this, which has been invaluable for our team."
Jared Allenbrand — Head of IT, Cresta.ai
Key outcomes
Grew from 160 to 300 employees in under one year with the same 3-person IT team
Saved 270+ IT hours, freeing bandwidth for strategic projects like Kolide security implementation
Eliminated FedEx and DHL runs entirely — logistics fully offloaded to Firstbase
HR team gained real-time device visibility without needing to contact IT
Tech stack
Firstbase
Jamf
Okta
Intune
Kolide
Apple Business Manager
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