There are tons of reasons why businesses across just about every industry track assets. That’s because the benefits of asset tracking almost always outweigh the costs of getting organized and consistently practicing asset management.
An asset is anything your business owns that it consistently uses and re-uses—it is considered an “asset” because it is something a business owns that provides value. Assets could be everything from a vehicle, a piece of machinery, a laptop, a medical device, a camera, and so on. Whatever types of assets your business owns, these nine benefits of asset tracking will show you exactly why maintaining a modern asset tracking system is so essential.
1. Reduce maintenance costs
Maintenance for assets such as equipment, machinery, and vehicles is essential to extending the useful life of your company’s most valuable assets. By properly managing maintenance, your business can both reduce emergency, maintenance-related expenses and help you save money by extending the life of your assets.
Whether you’re tracking a fleet of vehicles, ultrasound machines, or car lifts, properly managing maintenance is also essential to preventing costly work stoppages or delays, too. That’s why better-running, more reliable, and longer-living machinery, equipment, and technology is one of the key benefits of asset management.
Asset tracking software systems such as Sortly can help you keep track of key maintenance dates. You can easily set alerts to remind you (and your team) of upcoming service appointments, warranty ends, and more. It also allows you to document key item details such as past maintenance, asset condition, and expiration dates.
Related: Types of Equipment Maintenance and Why They Matter
2. Extend the life of your assets
We’ve already touched on one how paying close attention to maintenance can keep your assets running for longer. But there are actually many aspects of asset tracking that contribute to this benefit. You can also extend the life of your assets by knowing where they are, what condition they’re in, and—if they’ve been broken or mishandled—who had them last.
A good asset tracking solution helps create visibility and accountability within your organization when it comes to handling assets with care. Start by creating clear-cut standard operating procedures for your assets that outlines exactly how employees should be caring for assets day in and day out. Then document your assets by creating an asset list—and a schedule for conducting comprehensive asset audits.
Helping your assets run for longer saves your business time, money, and stress. What’s more, helping your equipment, machinery, and technology operate for as many years as possible also reduces waste, helping create a more sustainable, environmentally-conscious business.
3. Speed up inventory counts, audits
Most businesses conduct inventory counts and audits, and they can often be tedious. Fortunately, more efficient inventory auditing is one of the main benefits of an asset tracking system.
Perpetual asset tracking helps your team prepare these counts because they’ll already have all the data they need to get started. For example, if you’re using an asset tracking app, you can simply generate reports that reveal what assets you’ve got, where they are, how many are on hand, and so much more. Then, compare what you physically count against what your asset tracking software indicates is on hand, and you’re nearly done.
The faster you complete your asset audit, the sooner you can start addressing the discrepancies you’ve uncovered. And by practicing perpetual asset tracking every day of the year, you’ll find that there aren’t too many problems at all. That’s just one of the benefits of an asset tracking system.
Related: Inventory Audit Best Practices
4. Keep track of key documentation
When you purchase a new piece of machinery, equipment, or technology, it usually comes with a fair amount of documentation. Manuals, safety guidelines, maintenance guides—it’s easy for this paperwork to get lost, damaged, or just set aside somewhere random. Fortunately, you can upload this information directly to an asset’s profile using asset tracking software. Or, you can even add links to the documentation to an item’s profile. Either way, the documentation won’t take up physical space—and will be easy for your team to access anytime, anywhere.
Even if you don’t use software or an app to track assets, you’ll want to keep documentation in an accessible, secure, and organized place. While a file is fine, this can quickly grow unmanageable as your business scales. An asset tracking spreadsheet or shared folder may be easier.
5. Maintain perfect records
Your assets are valuable—and the documentation that comes with these investments isn’t the only thing you’ll need to hang onto. One of the benefits of an asset tracking system is that you’ll always have access to the records you may need to sell off assets, claim depreciation on them, or understand how to use them better. Some of the information you may want to keep in each asset’s profile include:
- Key documentation from the manufacturer
- Key documentation from within your organization on how to handle, operate, or care for an asset
- Maintenance-related reports
- Appraisals
- Reports about damage to an item
- History of where the item has been, when
- History of who has used the item, and when
If you are using asset management software to track your inventory, some of this documentation—including user and item history—can be generated automatically.
Related: What is Asset Tagging?
6. Expedite accounting processes
Chances are, your business uses information on its assets to complete vital financial responsibilities, including generating balance sheets, calculating asset depreciation, filing business taxes, or even just tabulating, in a general way, how much a few assets might be worth. An optimized asset tracking system can really streamline these accounting processes.
That’s because, by keeping accurate track of your assets, your company will always know what you’ve got, where it is, how much it’s worth, and what condition it’s in. That way, when it comes time to prepare taxes or even take a meeting with a potential investor, your business can quickly and confidently put together numbers it can stand behind.
7. Improve visibility
Whether your business employs ten people or a thousand, a solid asset tracking system makes it that much easier for all stakeholders to understand your company’s assets. This is especially true if your team and your assets aren’t in the same location, or your team is so large it’d be virtually impossible for them to survey those assets with their eyes.
The right asset tracking software can improve visibility even more by offering a comprehensive, visual view of your company’s inventory without requiring employees to so much as leave their desks. Sortly allows you to upload high-resolution images of your assets and organize them by location—so you know what items are where, when, and in what condition.
8. Boost productivity
One of the main benefits to practicing asset tracking? Getting things done faster. Once your company’s asset tracking system is in place and all team members are trained on the standard operating procedure, you’ll notice just how much time getting organized truly saves your team. That’s especially true if you’ve opted to track assets using software with automation features.
Features like barcode and QR code scanning, customized alerts, and data-rich reports can speed up tons of everyday, tedious tasks, all while helping keep your most valuable assets accounted for.
9. Better asset management
When you track your assets, you set the stage for better asset management across every touchpoint in your organization. That’s because asset tracking and asset management go hand-in-hand. By prioritizing and protecting your company’s investments, you’ll find that you’re creating a scalable, manageable system that keeps your team accountable, your accountants aware, and your assets in mint condition.
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About Sortly
Sortly is a top-rated asset tracking system that helps all kinds of businesses track their equipment, technology, machinery, and other investments. No matter what assets you use, where they are, and how much they’re worth, Sortly allows you to create a scalable, flexible inventory management system that helps you track your most critical assets.
With Sortly, you can track inventory, supplies, parts, tools, assets like equipment and machinery, and anything else that matters to your business. It comes equipped with smart features like barcoding & QR coding, low stock alerts, customizable folders, data-rich reporting, and much more. Best of all, you can update inventory right from your smartphone, whether you’re on the job, in the warehouse, or on the go.
Whether you’re just getting started with inventory management or you’re an expert looking for a more efficient solution, we can transform how your company manages inventory—so you can focus on building your business. That’s why over 15,000 businesses globally trust us as their inventory management solution.
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