From Device Shortage to Turnkey Deployment: A Home Healthcare Connectivity Case Study

When a home healthcare provider set out to equip its field team with mobile devices, the challenge wasn’t finding a device — it was finding hundreds of them, fast, without locking into a standard carrier hardware contract. That kind of sourcing problem requires a partner with vendor relationships already in place.

That was the starting point for a home healthcare provider that came to INS through our partnership with AT&T’s mobility program. What began as a hardware sourcing request turned into a full-scope partnership covering device procurement, configuration, carrier validation, and ongoing support.

The Challenge: Sourcing at Scale, Without a Contract

Home healthcare providers are under real pressure to differentiate through technology — not by digitizing a paper logbook, but by getting the information that matters most back to a hospital immediately. A field clinician who documents high blood pressure, a fall, or a fever spike needs a way to share those observations promptly with the appropriate care team.

This client provides nursing, physical therapy, speech therapy, and occupational therapy directly in patients’ homes. They needed field clinicians equipped with devices without being locked into a standard carrier hardware contract — an arrangement that gave them more control over their own hardware, on their own terms. That required sourcing certified pre-owned devices in large quantities, hundreds of units at a time.

Anyone who’s worked in this corner of the industry understands the problem: supply chains for certified pre-owned hardware outside a standard carrier contract are difficult to find, especially at volume. That’s where 20 years of vendor partnerships for INS paid off. We were able to move quickly, delivering hundreds of compatible units on a defined timeline, because we already had the right points of contact.

The Solution: Hardware and Ongoing Support

Sourcing the devices was only half the job. This client also needed a partner who could configure those devices before they ever reached a nurse’s hands.

We built out the full technical layer alongside procurement:

• Mobile Device Management support through Apple Business Manager, so every device shipped pre-configured and enrolled
• Bulk provisioning at scale, matched to the client’s timeline and rollout structure
• Carrier signal assessment, working closely with our carrier partners to evaluate expected coverage in the specific areas where devices would actually be used
• Ongoing post-sale support through INS’s Total Premier Care program

The result was a turnkey solution: hardware that arrived ready to use, matched to real-world coverage conditions, and backed by support after go-live.

From Introduction to Full Engagement: The AT&T Relationship

This opportunity came to us through AT&T’s mobility program, and it’s a good example of what that kind of partnership is really for. Carriers bring us in front of clients who are often looking for a single point solution — but once we’re at the table, we can go deeper. INS brings engineering experts into the conversation to ask the right questions, which routinely surfaces needs that hadn’t yet come up.

For AT&T, working with INS meant they could trust that a solution wouldn’t just get sourced — it would get supported after the sale, through services like INS CARE Managed Services. That combination of sourcing, configuration, and standing support gives carrier partners a broader solution to offer customers when they bring INS into the conversation.

If you’re facing a similar challenge and deploying devices at scale, talk to an INS expert about designing a device procurement, configuration, and support solution built around your team’s real-world needs.

About the Author John Schissel, Vice President of Carrier Engagement and Business Development, INS John Schissel is Vice President of Carrier Engagement and Business Development at INS, where he leads partnerships with major carriers to source, configure, and support large-scale device deployments for enterprise customers. He joined INS through its 2025 acquisition of Source Inc., where he spent roughly two decades as President before the companies came together. Earlier in his career, he spent six years in sales roles at Sprint. He attended Westminster College in Missouri.