Cross-border IT procurement
Hardware bought where it lands
Your new hire in Toronto needs a laptop. Your team in Dallas orders one and ships it north. Eight months later it fails — and the warranty doesn't work in Canada. Solved IT buys in the country the device will live in. Canadian offices supplied from Canada. US offices supplied from the US. One partner, one standard, one point of contact.
This is the record most cross-border companies don't look at until a machine fails. By then the fix is a return shipment, a customs entry, and a week of downtime.
The comparison that matters
The same laptop, two purchase paths
Identical model. Identical spec. Identical employee in Toronto. The only difference is which side of the border the purchase order was raised on.
Path A — the usual way
Ordered by head office in the US
Phoenix, AZ → customs → Toronto, ON
- ✗Warranty registered in the US. No next-business-day onsite service in Canada.
- ✗Customs brokerage fees and GST/HST charged on import.
- ✗US keyboard layout — wrong for bilingual or Quebec-based staff.
- ✗Failed unit ships back across the border for service.
- ✗Asset lives on a US purchase order, in a US ledger, in the wrong currency.
Typical downtime on a year-two failure5–10 business days
Path B — the Solved IT way
Ordered by Solved IT Canada
Canadian distribution → Toronto, ON
- ✓Warranty registered in Canada. Onsite service is valid where the device sits.
- ✓No customs entry, no brokerage, no border delay.
- ✓Bilingual or Canadian French keyboard specified at order.
- ✓Failures serviced in-country, under an active local warranty.
- ✓Invoiced in CAD to your Canadian entity, on the same asset register as everything else.
Typical downtime on a year-two failureNext business day
Why this happens
Shipping hardware across the border costs more than it looks
The one nobody plans for
The warranty stops at the border
Dell, HP and Lenovo register coverage to the country of purchase. A US-bought laptop deployed in Canada generally will not receive Canadian onsite service, and a repair means shipping the unit back south. International warranty upgrades exist, but they have to be bought at time of order — and they rarely match the onsite response you thought you had. Most companies find this out in year two, on the day it matters.
Cost
Fees you didn't budget for
Cross-border shipments attract carrier brokerage charges and import tax handling. On one laptop it's an irritation. On a forty-device refresh it's thousands of dollars and weeks of slippage.
Fit
The wrong hardware arrives
Canadian deployments often need bilingual or Canadian French keyboards and CSA-marked accessories. US-sourced machines show up with US layouts, and you re-order.
Control
Two records, no single view
Two countries, two buying processes, two spreadsheets. Nobody can answer what you own, where it is, or when it falls out of warranty without a week of digging.
Support
Two providers who don't talk
Different tools, different standards, different SLAs, and no single escalation path. Every cross-border issue becomes your problem to coordinate.
How it works
One partner, two countries, local sourcing on both sides
Solved IT operates as a licensed entity in each country, with its own distribution relationships. That lets us do something a single-country provider can't: buy where the device will live.
| Your Canadian offices | Your US offices | |
|---|---|---|
| Purchased in | Canada | United States |
| Shipped from | Canadian distribution | US distribution |
| Warranty registered in | Canada | United States |
| Onsite service | Valid, in-country | Valid, in-country |
| Duty & brokerage | None | None |
| Invoiced by | Solved IT Canada — CAD | Solved IT LLC — USD |
| Build standard | Identical | Identical |
| Managed by | The same team | The same team |
What you get
Procurement that behaves like one department
One build standard, both countries
We define a single hardware specification for your organization and apply it everywhere. A machine deployed in Ontario and one deployed in Arizona are configured identically — same image, same security baseline, same software set.
One catalog, one quote
You don't manage two vendors or reconcile two quote formats. You approve one specification. We handle sourcing on both sides.
Currency handled properly
Canadian entities are invoiced in CAD. US entities are invoiced in USD. No conversion math, no hidden spread, no month-end surprises.
A single asset register
Every device across both countries in one view — serial, location, user, purchase date, warranty expiry. Refresh planning and audit responses take minutes, not weeks.
Warranty and RMA handled locally
When something fails, it's serviced in the country it lives in, under a warranty that's actually valid there. We manage the claim.
Onsite coverage where you operate
Remote support and managed services across both countries, with onsite attendance arranged for any location you run — not just the two cities we're headquartered in.
Who this is for
Companies operating on both sides of the border
Typically 25 to 500 employees, split across Canada and the United States, with no dedicated internal IT director in one or both countries.
US companies opening a Canadian office. You need equipment, licensing and support in a country where you have no vendor relationships yet, and a head start on doing it correctly.
Canadian companies expanding south. Same problem, opposite direction — plus US state sales tax and multi-state logistics you haven't had to think about before.
Established cross-border businesses. You already run both. You're just tired of two providers, two stacks, two invoices and no single owner.
Cross-border acquisitions. You inherited an office in another country, and nobody has owned its IT since the deal closed.
Questions we get
Cross-border procurement, answered
Does a US laptop warranty work in Canada?
Generally not in the way you need it to. Manufacturer warranties from Dell, HP and Lenovo are registered to the country of purchase. A US-purchased laptop deployed in Canada typically won't receive Canadian onsite service, and repairs may require shipping the unit back to the US. Some manufacturers sell international warranty coverage, but it has to be purchased at time of order and doesn't always include onsite response. Buying in-country avoids the problem entirely.
Can I just ship a laptop from the US to Canada for an employee?
You can, but it becomes a commercial import. Expect carrier brokerage fees, GST/HST on the declared value, and shipping delays — and you'll still be holding a US-registered warranty on a device sitting in Canada.
Do I pay duty on computers shipped into Canada?
Most computers and laptops enter Canada duty-free under existing trade agreements, but GST/HST still applies on import, along with brokerage fees from the carrier — which are often the larger cost of the two. The bigger issue is usually the warranty registration, not the duty.
Do we need separate IT providers in each country?
No. That's the problem this solves. One provider, one agreement, one help desk — with legal entities and distribution accounts in each country so purchasing happens locally.
What about Canadian French keyboards?
If you have staff in Quebec or bilingual requirements, Canadian French or bilingual keyboard layouts need to be specified at order time. We handle this as part of defining your standard build, so it's decided once rather than caught after delivery.
Can you support offices outside Ontario and Arizona?
Yes. We deliver remote support and managed services across both countries, and arrange onsite attendance for any location where you operate.
How is billing handled across two currencies?
Your Canadian entity is invoiced by Solved IT Canada in CAD. Your US entity is invoiced by Solved IT LLC in USD. Each set of books stays clean, and you deal with one relationship.
Next step
Find out what your cross-border setup is costing you
Most companies running IT in both countries are paying for duplication they can't see — overlapping tools, mismatched hardware, warranty gaps, and two providers who don't talk to each other. We'll map it in twenty minutes and tell you what we'd change.
Book a cross-border IT review