Walk into most corporate offices on a Wednesday morning and you’ll find the same friction: an employee waiting on IT to hand off a shared laptop, a device sitting uncharged in the wrong building, a coordinator fielding three device requests over email while trying to locate a tablet that was returned last Thursday. None of it is dramatic. It’s just waste — absorbed quietly by IT teams in every hybrid office running a shared device program on manual processes.
The shift to hybrid work didn’t just change where employees sit. It changed what IT teams are responsible for managing. Shared device pools, rotating workstations, and activity-based office layouts have made the old model — assigned devices, fixed desks, paper sign-out sheets — unworkable for a growing share of organizations. That’s why hybrid office smart lockers have moved from a facilities afterthought to a core part of the workplace IT stack.
Why Modern Workplaces Are Deploying Smart Locker Systems in 2026
Offices have changed structurally in ways that most IT infrastructure hasn’t caught up with yet. Hybrid work is now the dominant model: CBRE’s 2024–2025 Global Workplace & Occupancy research found that 92% of organizations surveyed have established formal workplace policies, most of which include expected in-office days, rather than blanket presence requirements. And CBRE’s 2026 Global Workplace & Occupancy Insights reports that office utilization has climbed to 53% — up from 35% in 2023 — as organizations redesign spaces around collaboration, flexibility, and shared resource access.
The practical consequence of this is straightforward: more employees sharing fewer assigned workstations and fewer assigned devices. Activity-based working environments, hot-desking configurations, and shared device pools are increasingly common. The share of companies with a 1:1 desk ratio is expected to drop to 32% by 2026 — down from 56% in 2023. Desk sharing is rising; so is the pressure on IT to support an employee base that no longer has fixed assets.
The knock-on effect lands squarely on IT teams and facilities managers. Shared device pools require active management. Devices need to be charged, tracked, returned, and available at the right time and place. Without the right infrastructure, these programs generate a steady stream of manual handoffs, help desk tickets, and accountability gaps.
This is where smart locker systems have become part of the answer. They allow IT departments to automate device distribution and return, secure equipment storage, and give employees a self-serve way to access shared technology — without requiring a staff member to be present for every transaction.
The problem with legacy approaches is that they weren’t built for this model. Manual sign-out sheets don’t scale. Shared drives and email chains for device coordination create gaps in the chain of custody. Devices get left uncharged. Equipment ends up at the wrong location. IT teams spend time on routine logistics that smart infrastructure could handle automatically.
For this reason, self-service and automation have become central priorities for end-user services leaders seeking to optimize costs and maintain operational resilience. Smart locker systems are one of the physical infrastructure layers through which those priorities are put into practice.
5 Smart Locker Systems Used in Modern Workplaces in 2026
Organizations are deploying smart lockers, self-service device stations, and automated equipment storage systems across hybrid offices, corporate campuses, and multi-site environments. The vendors below represent a range of approaches — from device-specific platforms to broader workplace storage infrastructure — each with a distinct role in how organizations support shared equipment access and employee self-service.
1. ForwardPass — Smart Locker Platform for Workplace Device Management
Smart lockers allow workplace IT departments to manage shared device pools accessible to all employees on-demand, without manual handoffs. ForwardPass is built specifically around this use case: automating the full device lifecycle rather than treating the locker as just a storage cabinet.
Organizations implementing shared device programs in modern hybrid offices can use the ForwardPass platform to automate device distribution, secure equipment storage, and improve visibility into IT asset usage across the workplace.
The system offers five convenient workflows for the most common device operations:
- Loaners handles self-serve temporary device checkout and return, with automated overdue alerts and a Who/What/When audit log for every transaction.
- Deployments lets IT pre-stage lockers with pre-enrolled devices so employees can collect assigned equipment without waiting for a coordinator.
- Repairs allows users to check in a broken device and receive a spare if policy allows, while the repair ticket is created automatically.
- Replacements manages permanent device swaps with a clear record of who received what, helping IT keep serial-number changes and chain of custody accurate.
- Charging keeps devices powered inside locker bays so equipment is ready when employees arrive.
Each transaction is completed in roughly two minutes, compared with the 20 to 30 minutes manual handoffs typically take.
For multi-site organizations, ForwardPass provides centralized locker management across locations — one centralized dashboard for every locker, regardless of where it is located. IT visibility into device status, availability, and usage patterns is available in real time, with exportable logs that support compliance and auditing. The platform integrates with identity and IT systems IT teams already use — including Google Admin, Okta, and Microsoft environments — so it fits into existing processes instead of forcing a parallel workflow.
Employee access uses badge or PIN authentication, removing the need for key management or manual assignment.
2. Vecos — Dynamic Locker Management for Flexible Offices
Vecos provides SaaS-based locker management software designed for activity-based working environments. Its core product, Releezme, manages locker allocation dynamically — lockers are assigned on demand rather than permanently, which means the same bank of lockers can serve a rotating employee population without administrative overhead.
In practice, this addresses one of the more common inefficiencies in corporate locker programs: Vecos reports that up to 40% of office lockers typically go unused in organizations without dynamic allocation software. Their system automates assignment, syncs with employee directories, and gives facilities teams real-time visibility into occupancy across buildings or campuses.
Employees access lockers through employee access cards, smartphones, or fingerprint readers. The management portal allows facilities teams to reconfigure locker types — personal, day-use, team, or parcel — remotely, without physical intervention. Organizations including EY, Deloitte, and Microsoft have deployed Vecos systems at scale.
The platform is particularly well-suited to organizations running hot-desking or neighborhood-based seating models, where locker demand follows unpredictable daily patterns rather than fixed schedules.
4. Gantner — RFID-Enabled Smart Lockers for Corporate Facilities
Gantner has over 40 years of experience in electronic locking systems and access control, with corporate smart office deployments as one of its primary markets. Its locker solutions are built around RFID and NFC-based authentication, allowing employees to access lockers using the same credentials they use for building entry.
The eLoxx Suite — Gantner’s locker management software — provides centralized administration across locker banks, with real-time occupancy views, configurable access rules, and event logging. The system is available in on-premise, cloud-based (SaaS), and IT-independent configurations, which gives it flexibility for organizations with strict data residency requirements.
A key differentiator for Gantner in enterprise environments is building management system integration. Locker access, access control, and HR authorization can share the same credential infrastructure, which simplifies administration for large corporate campuses where physical security and IT provisioning already intersect.
The eLoxx Suite supports multiple locker modes: personal allocation, shared day-use, and group configurations — along with parcel stations for internal mail and package distribution. This makes Gantner a common choice for large-footprint facilities with heterogeneous storage needs across floors, buildings, or sites.
4. Vlocker — Self-Service Device Lockers for Corporate IT
Vlocker provides electronic locker systems with a focus on keyless, self-service access across corporate and public-facing environments. Its systems support RFID, PIN, barcode, and contactless payment-based access, giving organizations flexibility in how employees authenticate.
Vlocker terminals are cloud-managed and accessible remotely, which means facilities teams can monitor locker status, generate usage reports, and configure access rules from a web interface without requiring on-site visits. The system supports multi-bank configurations where a single terminal manages multiple locker arrays — a practical architecture for open-plan offices or technology campuses where storage is distributed across a floor rather than concentrated in one location.
5. Quadient — Smart Locker Infrastructure for Enterprise Environments
Quadient operates one of the largest smart locker networks globally, with over 25,700 systems deployed across North America, Europe, and Asia as of 2025. In corporate environments, Quadient’s locker infrastructure — marketed under the Parcel Pending by Quadient brand — is used for secure package delivery, equipment distribution, and asset handoffs.
Quadient’s enterprise workplace offering addresses a problem that IT and facilities managers increasingly face: employees ordering equipment and supplies directly to the office, with no reliable chain of custody from delivery to recipient. Parcel Pending lockers automate this process — carriers deposit packages directly, employees receive real-time notifications, and retrieval is contact-free using a one-time access code.
For IT-adjacent use cases, this infrastructure supports controlled distribution of hardware accessories, replacement parts, and shared peripherals, removing the need for facilities staff to manage package queues manually. Integration with corporate logistics and communications systems is available through Quadient’s management platform.
Future-Proofing Workplace Technology Infrastructure
The organizations that manage shared device programs most effectively in 2026 aren’t necessarily those with the largest budgets. They’re the ones that have treated device distribution as an infrastructure problem rather than a staffing problem. Automating shared device distribution reduces IT overhead without reducing service quality. Employees get access to the equipment they need, when they need it, without waiting for a coordinator. IT teams get visibility into usage patterns, device availability, and asset status without spending time on manual tracking. And the audit trail that good locker infrastructure generates (Who/What/When, for every transaction) becomes a resource for IT governance, not just operations.
The vendors in this space occupy different parts of the stack. Vecos and Gantner focus primarily on the locker infrastructure layer, with deep facility management integration. Quadient addresses the logistics and parcel workflow. IntelliKey brings access control and audit capability. ForwardPass sits at the device lifecycle layer — automating handoffs, repairs, deployments, and returns through a single platform built specifically for workplace IT.
As office utilization continues to stabilize around hybrid models and shared resource pools grow more common, organizations will need physical and software infrastructure that can handle device distribution without manual intervention at scale. That’s the direction the market is heading, and smart locker systems — in several different forms — are becoming a standard part of how workplace IT gets built.
