By Ram Shamanna
From the myriad of responsibilities that fall to facility managers, asset tracking and management are among the most crucial.
Around 20% of an asset’s value is wasted due to improper asset registration, management, and disposal, according to research conducted by Asset Panda. For facility managers, this means the potential loss of anywhere from thousands to millions of dollars, depending on the size of a facility.
With many essential data points to track across an entire facility as companies simultaneously aim to scale growth, managers require the most cutting-edge IT tools. That’s where the proper asset lifecycle and management software comes in: To quickly register, track, and manage assets during their entire lifecycle to maximize the use of inventory and assets in service.
Asset Management In The Digital Age
The modern-day is ushering in a new era of highly flexible and versatile asset tracking and lifecycle management software for facility managers that can be customized to track any asset and represent any workflow. This is where asset lifecycle management software can make a difference.
Asset lifecycle platforms provide an easy way for facility managers in any industry to track the entire lifecycle of their assets. These technologies help the world work smarter by enabling users to configure asset-tracking technology to work the way the user does. Using technologies that allow auto-discovery of IT assets and barcodes with the correct technology in place helps ensure easy and quick data capture. It removes potential friction/manual work, which improves speed and accuracy.
Here are three significant benefits facility managers can expect from integrating the most updated asset management software.
1) Real-Time Insights
By integrating innovative asset tracking and management technology into everyday systems and processes, facility managers can gain real-time and deep insight into the complete picture of their business operations. This includes where each asset is, how it’s used, when it needs preventative maintenance, and how each asset can be managed to maximize its return.
For example, if a research facility is pulling samples from underground to provide data back to a central analysis point, integrating lifecycle and asset management technologies can tag and identify essential information such as location, time, depth of the sample, etc. Due to cloud-based software, facility managers on-site or at the central analysis points can access all information and share it instantly, regardless of where the data is being looked for.
The ability to tag, track, and manage every asset gives managers a robust tool to feel confident in the data shown, thanks to real-time updates directly from teams in the field. This helps to ensure accountability with what a company has, where it’s supposed to be, how it’s being used, and whether it made it back.
Regardless of the technology used, asset management should be able to be viewed from a simple application on any iOS or Android device in real-time with actionable insights.
2) Increasing Productivity Across the Board
The ability to tag, track, and manage assets using cloud-based software in a flexible manner allows for increased productivity in many functions of a business or facility.
If a facility manager is working with IT assets, the manager should be able to expect auto-discovery for those assets in remote locations. Asset management can also increase workflow productivity and complete several tasks simultaneously.
Consider this from the perspective of an IT manager. If an individual checks out a laptop, these tracking tools can identify exactly when the equipment was checked out. The tracking ability will ask you to sign a waiver or provide critical information about that equipment. It can give an in-depth analysis of use before it is checked back in, and it can be easily removed from circulation if needed or given maintenance to enhance the tool’s lifecycle.
Managers who have digitized their asset management are reporting:
- Faster moving jobs – helping schedule equipment maintenance and accelerate replacement and repair workflows.
- Supported workflows – enhancing workflows with custom actions for faster and easier asset updates and management.
- Consolidated asset history – which shows full audit trails- enhances accountability and forecasting for every asset throughout its lifecycle.
- Custom reports – providing detailed asset history and job costing reports to stay on top of reorders and avoid duplicate purchases.
3) Meeting Industry Standards
Then comes the essential need for a facility manager to be fully prepared for a Facilities Condition Assessment (FCA). To develop a comprehensive look at the conditions and performance of an infrastructure, understanding asset status will help FMs mitigate potential issues, such missing inventory. It paints a better picture of when preventative maintenance should occur, how sustainability measures can be increased, and may even provide accurate estimates for costs and timeframes to complete or correct any problems a manager might face.
With safety being a top concern for all facility managers, keeping assets maintained and disposed of in a proper time frame increases the health and safety of facility employees. It sets the standard of appropriate management to ultimately result in facility profitability.
The Triple Bottom Line
With these benefits to look forward to, enhancing an organization’s asset management capabilities becomes a no-brainer. The impact of the systems will not only be noticeable from an operational perspective, but the data they provide are accessible so that executives can easily view reports, facility managers can see asset history, and front-line workers can manage assets on the move, keeping everyone across all levels of the company aligned. As a result, asset management helps to work for your triple bottom line—social, environmental, and economic impacts.
How are you managing your assets? Leap into the new world of asset management.
Shamanna is the Vice President of Product Management and Design at Asset Panda, a leading IT asset lifecycle management software. Over his 25-plus year career, Shamanna has been a critical piece in the digital transformation and product management from commercial WiFi to cellular voice call services, commercialization of machine-to-machine application delivery platforms, and the growth, engagement, and monetization of asset lifecycle tracking and management.
