Rippling

Overview

Rippling offers a unified platform that integrates Mobile Device Management (MDM) and global payroll capabilities, specifically designed to support the operational needs of global and remote teams. This consolidation allows businesses to manage HR, IT, and finance functions from a single system, leveraging a shared data structure to automate workflows that span these traditionally separate domains. The platform's architecture is built around a central employee record, which Rippling refers to as the 'Employee Graph.' This acts as the single source of truth, linking an employee's payroll information, such as their geographic location and role, directly to their assigned IT assets and device security policies.

Key Features

The integration between MDM and payroll facilitates automated, cross-domain workflows throughout the entire employee lifecycle. During onboarding, adding a new hire to the HR/payroll system can automatically trigger a complete device provisioning sequence. This includes ordering a new laptop, pre-installing all necessary applications based on the employee's role (e.g., Google Workspace, Slack, Salesforce), applying security policies, and arranging for the device to be shipped directly to the employee's home address. This 'zero-touch deployment' ensures that new hires have the tools they need from day one without manual IT intervention.

Technical Specifications

Rippling's platform is well-equipped for international operations, supporting payroll and contractor payments in over 185 countries and more than 50 currencies, often through integrated Employer of Record (EOR) services. The MDM functionality supports a wide range of operating systems, including macOS, Windows, iOS, and iPadOS. It accommodates both company-owned devices, for which it can manage the full lifecycle from procurement to retrieval, and Bring-Your-Own-Device (BYOD) scenarios, where it enforces essential security policies like disk encryption and strong passwords while using role-based controls to protect employee privacy.

How It Works

When an employee's status changes, the system adjusts accordingly. For instance, if an employee relocates from the United States to a country in the European Union, Rippling can automatically update their tax jurisdiction for payroll purposes while simultaneously modifying their device's compliance settings to adhere to local data privacy regulations like GDPR. The offboarding process is similarly unified. Terminating an employee in the system can initiate a workflow that calculates their final pay, revokes application access via SSO, remotely locks and wipes the company-issued device, and automates the hardware retrieval process.

Use Cases

Limitations and Requirements

There are, however, some logistical limitations to consider. While device management and retrieval services are global, physical device warehousing is currently available in the US, Canada, and the UK. Furthermore, the ability to order new hardware directly from the 'Rippling Store' is limited to the US and Canada. For employees in other regions, companies may need to purchase devices locally and then enroll them into Rippling's MDM system for management. The platform's pricing is modular and based on a per-user, per-month model, with the total cost depending on the specific bundle of HR, IT, and finance modules selected.

Comparison to Alternatives

Summary

In conclusion, Rippling provides a deeply integrated platform that successfully unifies Mobile Device Management and global payroll for distributed workforces. By leveraging a shared 'Employee Graph,' it automates complex cross-functional processes like onboarding, role changes, and offboarding. This consolidation reduces administrative overhead, enhances security, and eliminates the data reconciliation issues common when using separate vendors for payroll and MDM. Organizations considering the platform should evaluate its geographic limitations for hardware logistics and determine if its automation-centric approach aligns with their operational requirements.