Tracking Assets, Either On The Road Or In The Stockroom

Physical ICT fixed asset tracking is an important part of most company's asset management system. Any business needs to know how much of what it owns, where its assets are located, how much they are worth and who is responsible for them. That's the ideal anyway; some experts feel that as much as thirty percent of a company's property is unaccounted for.

Not having an accurate breakdown of what is owned, its location and who is responsible for it can have a major influence on valuation, tax and insurance liability as well as security and purchasing implications. Corporations with widely distributed computer hardware, medical concerns with patient records, dangerous or listed drugs are among many industries which, it seems, could all use better asset management and tracking strategies.

Some companies have such inaccurate auditing and asset tracking strategies that as much as 30% of their property is unrecorded as well as ghost goods, property which has been disposed of yet still appears on the balance ledger. These inaccuracies lead to greater tax and insurance liabilities as well as failing compliance.

Could your business cope with a major loss? If it's true that 30% of your company's property is unrecorded that means that almost a third of your computers could go missing overnight and you'd have no record of having purchased them, no record of their value or what was held on them. You wouldn't even know who to ask because the hardware hadn't been assigned to a specific person's purview.

The simplest solution to this is to start implementing barcode tracking software. The process is simplicity itself, simply attach a barcode to each item, scan it and enter the details you need to record. You can assign everything to its specific location, room, corridor, floor etc, the person who's responsible for it, when routine maintenance should be carried out and when licenses will expire. The data appears on a cross referenced spreadsheet and is 100% accurate at the point of completion, you only barcode what you have and you code everything you own. Once the process is completed the spreadsheet is cross referenceable so that you can search it via any criteria, ie, find all items with licenses that will expire that month, find the locations and those responsible for all the printers on the fourth floor, without it that sort of information is hard to find without going there, finding them all and asking every-one who's responsibility it is to maintain each one.

Companies that use asset management software linked to their auditing solutions such as Sage report that while it's necessary anyway, the solution generally pays for itself in a relatively short period as knowing the resale value of their hardware and property means that they can audit for tax purposes more accurately, this information is also important when negotiating insurance cover for the business, you company's computers might be covered at retail valuations whereas, in reality they might only be worth a fraction of that due to their age and wear. Meeting governance and compliance requirements means that you also avoid penalties as well as providing core asset control facilities.

Having a scanner at reception means that assets can also be checked in and out, when laptops are taken home for the weekend they just need to be scanned and logged out, to whom and when they are expected back. Tracking like this can save a fortune in lost and stolen hardware.

The solution is easily adaptable and can be used to cover everything from haulage, cars and plant to racks and cabs in your data centre and everything in between.

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