As others have pointed out, keyboard / mouse emulation is pretty useful, but it's also quite quirky.
We use MDM to automate configuration delivery as much as possible, I think it's been mentioned as well (although we're not zero touch yet).
You might want to look at Asahi Linux's Central Scrutinizer for some insights on the fancier stuff that can be done over the USB-C port.
Agree, removing the case is a lot of effort. Github does a lot of fancy things but you might want to consider how much they're charging by the minute as well
Our way is quite efficient & we're able to quickly adapt to new HW gens
You might want to look at Asahi Linux's Central Scrutinizer for some insights on the fancier stuff that can be done over the USB-C port.