Managing your company’s assets can be overwhelming and tedious, especially if you’re still using Excel spreadsheets or pen and paper to keep track of everything. There are so many details and moving parts to manage assets that manually tracking them yourself not only opens your records up to human error but is incredibly time-consuming and inefficient.
This is where good asset management software, like Reftab, can come in handy.
In this post, we’re sharing what asset management software is, what this software can do, how it can help you keep track of business assets, and who should use it.
What is asset management software?
Who should use asset management software?
What are the top benefits for using asset management software?
What is asset management software?
Asset management software, also known as IT asset management software, is a tool designed to streamline tracking your company’s assets in real-time throughout its lifecycle. This type of software automatically tracks, records, and categorizes company-owned assets like products, trucks, and equipment. It helps businesses see important details about each asset, such as where it’s located and how it’s being used.
This type of software can be a game-changer for certain companies, but not everyone needs it. The next section will help you determine if asset management software is a good fit for your company.
Who should use asset management software?
Are you currently using spreadsheets or analog systems to check-in and out various equipment and keep track of hundreds (or more!) of inventory and assets each month?
Then you’re probably a good candidate for asset management software.
Both tangible and intangible assets can be tracked through the software in a wide swath of industries, from education and nonprofits to healthcare, technology, and construction companies. That being said, any company that wants to track its assets’ lifecycles can benefit from utilizing asset management software.
What are the top benefits for using asset management software?
There are many advantages to using an asset management software tool. The biggest reason is that it ensures all of your assets are in one central hub. However, here are a few more benefits you can expect from utilizing this software.
Reduce errors
One of the primary reasons to utilize an asset management tool is to lower the risk of human error. Tracking inventory and asset details by hand is tedious and time-consuming, and the more items and changes that you make, the more opportunities to make a mistake with record-keeping, which can be particularly problematic for insurance and tax purposes.
Say that a few laptops are no longer in service, but the person entering the data forgot to mark it that way or remove it from the spreadsheet. Your company would go on paying insurance on the equipment under the assumption that it’s still operational. Software would help mitigate this risk.
Improve efficiency
Entering and tracking asset details manually wastes the precious time of you and your staff. Asset management software can automatically do something in seconds that could potentially take your IT team hours to do by hand.
For example, let’s say you have multiple locations and need to track down where all of your company vehicles are. Without asset management software, you would need to check your personal records and communicate with the different locations to have someone on the floor physically look for the company vehicle and confirm the asset is there. This is something the software would be able to automatically and efficiently do for you, saving you the time of manually tracking it down yourself.
Ensure compliance
There are many laws and regulations to abide by, especially in manufacturing, healthcare, or enterprise tech. Having an asset management system in place can help you stay compliant.
For instance, let’s say you work in the IT department for a large hospital, and one of your doctors left a computer unattended with sensitive patient data potentially accessible. Due to a potentially serious HIPAA violation, you receive an alert and then can log into one central hub – your asset management software – and quickly identify any additional computers and devices that might be compromised.
Create and view reports
Asset management software allows you to view dashboards as well as advanced reports on everything from:
- Asset type
- Asset records
- Location of assets
- Ownership of assets
- Asset condition monitoring
- Preventive maintenance alerts
- Full maintenance history logs
- Audit trail
- Service requests
- Number of available software licenses
This allows you to make more informed decisions on everything from your approach to asset management to managing asset costs, hiring and operational decisions, and assessing financial risks. All in far greater detail and in less time than if you were using spreadsheets.
Simplify audits
Not only will your asset management solution give you a complete overview of your assets and the ability to run the specific reports mentioned above, but it can also help with audit management. Both internal and external audits are easier when you already have your ducks in a row.
Regular audits help ensure that your accounting is compliant and that everything is in line with your operational goals and objectives.
Prevent maintenance problems
Monitoring the life cycle of your assets means you can put preventative maintenance plans in place. This helps keep your assets in working order. Maintenance reports can include maintenance schedules, the asset’s stage in its life cycle, and inspection dates.
Using these details, you can plan and budget for the maintenance of your assets. Maintenance is almost always more cost-effective than fixing something that’s already broken.
Set up a booking portal
A great asset management software, like Reftab, is designed to be easy to use. So easy, in fact, that you can set up workflows to allow employees to check-in/out equipment as they need it. This can eliminate repetitive, time-consuming tasks, which frees your IT team to focus on strategic, higher-value initiatives.
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If you’re still on the fence about utilizing an asset management software solution for your business, then we encourage you to try one out. As mentioned above, most software options will offer a free trial or a demo to give you a sense of whether the solution is right for you before you buy.
Ready to get started? Try Reftab for free.
