What is an Asset Reservation System?

Whether you’re a small business or a large organization, how do you ensure that your assets are available for those who need them when they need them? The best way is through a robust asset reservation system, which allows employees to reserve assets for set times, check those assets out, and check them back in again when finished.

But how do asset reservation systems work, and what’s the best way to integrate one into your business? At Asset Panda, we’re the leading asset management system that’s easy, powerful, and designed to integrate seamlessly with the individual needs of unique businesses. Here’s our guide to asset reservations systems and what they mean to your business.

What Does an Asset Reservation System Do?

An asset reservation system manages the use of your company or organization’s assets by your employees. By requiring reservations to use assets and carefully tracking when those reservations occur, you can ensure that assets are appropriately allocated where, when, and with whom they’re most needed.

Having an asset reservation system also helps track the use of important assets in your business. Information such as when an asset was checked in or checked out can be necessary for a range of reasons, not least of which is that assets occasionally go missing or experience damage. With a detailed reservation and check-in/check-out system, you’ll be able to track an asset to its last known location or user.

Here are some of the primary roles of an effective asset reservation system.

Generate & Track Reservations

First and foremost, an asset reservation system should allow you to manage asset reservations.

When you’re an organization with limited assets available, managing their use and distribution is vital. When you have an upcoming event for which you must have the necessary assets, you don’t want the big day to arrive only to find that those vital assets aren’t available.

An asset reservation system allows you to quickly see which assets have been reserved and when and make your own reservations— giving other employees in your organization the same privilege.

Control User Activity

Speaking of privileges, a great asset reservation system or asset management platform should allow you to set permissions for who is and is not permitted to reserve or check-out specific assets. For example, there may be certain high-value assets that you want only managers to be authorized to reserve. A robust asset management platform, such as our solution at Asset Panda, will allow you to do exactly that.

Manage Check-In and Check-Out

Modern asset reservation systems allow for fast and easy check-out that’s also highly secure. Employees should be able to check-out assets and check them back in according to your specific instructions, whether a signature is required or some other form of authorization.

You can even manage a process for checking out assets without a reservation, ensuring that enough assets remain for future reservations before allowing a specific asset to be checked out without being reserved first. Not enough available assets? The platform won’t permit check-out.

When it comes to check-in, your asset reservation system or asset management platform can request photos and notes on the asset’s condition. If it incurred any damage during use or the user noticed problems with the asset, this should be noted when the item is checked back in. This is a great way to passively monitor the condition and maintenance of assets as your organization uses them.

Generate Reports

Reporting is one of the most important aspects of asset management. When you can automatically generate reports in the cloud, you can oversee the availability, maintenance schedules, and current location or status of all of your assets quickly and easily.

Your asset management platform should allow you to quickly see upcoming reservations at a glance, determine when assets are available, and identify overdue assets based on their reservations— while giving you to send reminders to users to return those assets. You can track everything from check-out history, check-in history, late returns, damage, repairs, maintenance, and more via advanced reporting on a powerful asset management platform.

Benefits of an Asset Reservation System

We’ve talked about what an asset reservation system can do in basic terms, but what does it mean for your business? Here are the three primary reasons why an excellent system for asset reservations and asset management can transform your organization for the better.

No Double-Booking

Trying to use an asset only to find that it’s already in use isn’t just frustrating— it can lead to real costs for your business. Double-booked assets can devastate the efficiency of your operations, leading to wasted time, work hours, and delays that add up to additional costs and frustrated clients or customers.

The purpose of a robust asset reservation and asset management platform with reservation capabilities is to prevent double-booking and ensure assets are available when and where you expect them to be, guarantees that no asset double-booking, and that assets are always available when you expect them to be. An effective asset booking system saves time and avoids project delays to keep your clients and employees frustration-free.

Enhanced Asset Visibility

They’re called ‘assets’ for a reason. Your assets have real value for your company, and innovative businesses keep track of the location, usage rates, and maintenance needs of their most important assets at all times.

Track your assets at any time and never lose track of the devices, machines, and tools that help your business go. That’s exactly what an effective asset management platform allows you to do. And with a cloud-based asset management platform (we’ll explore this in more detail later), you can do it from anywhere.

Improved Accountability

No one wants to be the ‘big brother’ of your organization. Still, accountability is essential to ensure that your assets are treated with respect and care to continue serving your needs for as long as possible.

When an asset is damaged, mistreated, or lost, having an asset reservation system can help you avoid the guesswork of figuring out what happened and who’s responsible. You can simply check the records to see who had the asset checked out when the damage or other incident occurred, then go from there.

Choosing an Asset Reservation System

So, how do you choose the right platform for managing your most important assets? Here are the three key traits of the perfect asset management platform for your needs.

Easy to Use

The best asset management platform is the one you can set up and start using as quickly as possible. Asset management is all about reducing wasted hours, so what would be the point if you had to spend hours learning how to use a complicated platform and training employees on how to do the same?

That’s why we made Asset Panda the easiest platform to learn and use on the market, so you can focus on running your business.

Powerful and Configurable

Asset management is about more than just managing reservations. The right asset management platform adapts to your workflow, tracks the full range of asset types, and provides a clear and seamless reporting system that goes beyond spreadsheets and cluttered records that no one knows how to read or use.

In short, the right asset management platform does so much that you find yourself with more hours to grow your business and make it more profitable.

Cloud-Based

In the modern business world, accessing your asset management system from anywhere is essential. A cloud-based platform means that you can track reservations, identify the location of critical assets, and generate reports from anywhere and from any device. That added flexibility can help streamline the entirety of your business operations.

The Asset Management System that Adapts to Your Needs

No two businesses are alike, meaning their asset management needs are completely unique. At Asset Panda, we’re industry leaders in providing an asset management solution that’s incredibly easy to use and fully configurable to your most advanced needs. We built this flexibility right into our platform, with the ability to reshape, adjust, and streamline our platform based on your existing workflow.

The result is that the average business that uses Asset Panda gets as much as 800% in ROI just through the time saved by integrating our platform into their operations.*

Ready to find out how much you could save? Calculate your company’s potential ROI here.

Learn why Asset Panda is one of the highest-rated asset management software today by getting your free demo (no credit card required)!

*Based on customer feedback of hours saved multiplied by an average hourly wage of employees responsible for asset tracking. Actual results may vary.