Is There a ‘Right Time’ to Track Assets?

When is the right time to track assets? Is there a critical mass of fixed assets a company or organization should have before they institute a formal tracking process? The short answer is no. No matter if you’re a small company, a nonprofit organization, global brand or something else, your assets – regardless of quantity – represent a significant investment and must be tracked for several reasons, including accounting and compliance, proper maintenance, employee safety, reduced risk of loss and theft and, efficiency, morale, and, can just, your bottom line.

When you track assets, it should be about much more than just cataloging an asset’s name, date of acquisition and whereabouts. Ideally, you should record as many details as possible about each of your fixed assets (think IT equipment, machines and tools, office furniture, real estate, company vehicles and the like – in other words, items that help you conduct business, but which aren’t sold for profit). A good rule of thumb is to include photos, supporting documents like product guides, warranty information, lease or purchase information, location and condition, complete maintenance histories, maintenance schedules, depreciation, and more.

Taking this thorough approach will reduce your costs in the long term. How? Your employees won’t have to spin their wheels trying to track down lost assets, so your productivity will no longer be compromised. You won’t have to pay your limited resources to replace assets that have fallen through the cracks due to poor management and/or tracking. And your employees will be held to higher accountability standards. Additionally, you’ll be able to rest easy knowing that your data is accurate and that you can track assets on a moment’s notice. Your customers also benefit from better service, vendors are more likely to want to do business with you, and your employees are able to work for a company that maintains safe equipment. Sounds like a win all around, right?

When you decide it’s time to track assets, don’t just choose the first product you find online. The devil’s in the details. You have specific needs as an organization, and those needs will change with time. Therefore, you’ll want to seek out a product that’s flexible, adaptable, scalable and intuitive. Mobility is crucial, as well; work is rarely limited to the office anymore, so mobile access to your asset data is essential. If you can eliminate the need for additional hardware and software, too, that’s a significant plus. It’s not only cumbersome but expensive to have to carry around such items as handheld barcode scanners these days. Your goal should be to locate a way to track assets that facilitate maximum participation among all stakeholders involved in the lifecycle of your assets. When you close the communication loop among all parties, assets don’t go missing or otherwise fall through the cracks. To gain that buy-in from your stakeholders, you must determine a means to track assets that is both streamlined and simple to use. After all, levels of technological proficiency will vary among your stakeholders, and the more participation you can get in your asset tracking efforts, the more successful those efforts will be.

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