There is no denying of the fact that your IT infrastructure will grow. Every day there will be new users added along with new computer assets whether hardware or software. All the responsibility of managing and tracking these assets rest on the shoulder of a system admin who needs to quickly resolve any potential computer issue. These issues can be efficiently resolved only if there is visibility into all your computer assets present in your business. The fast pace at which enterprise networks are growing and computer systems are getting updated, an automated asset management method is a necessity to keep abreast of asset changes and updates.
What is computer asset tracking?
Computer asset tracking is a set of business practices that consist of assets, contractual and financial functions which help to support informed decision-making and lifecycle management for the computer asset landscape. Effective management of computer assets let you make optimal use of assets, optimize asset purchase decisions and extract maximum value from right the quantity of computer asset.
Computer asset management gives you a magnified picture of a host of your IT assets letting you have a complete understanding of:
- Where the components are
- What is their cost
- What equipment and systems exist in your company
- How they are used
- What impact they have on your business
No matter what type of industry a company belongs to, it is bound to practice IT asset tracking in one way or the other. Implementing computer asset tracking software allows industries to attain financial accountability for asset purchase, computer operation efficiency, long-term asset maintenance and simplified compliance and auditing. Such an in-depth version of asset details let companies increase performance and efficiency along with minimizing related overhead expenses.
Did you know? In October 2016, 64.4 percent of SME owners in the United States used software to aid them in their accounting.
Read more: IT Asset Management Best Practices – It is all about Process
How does computer asset tracking software work?
The major objective of computer asset tracking software is to create a central asset repository that involves purchase and presence of all the software and hardware assets. Computer asset tracking solution follows the following steps to achieve its goal:
- Asset discovery, data storage, and capture: Discovers all the software and hardware components present in your IT assets and captures all their details like specification, type of asset and others.
- Asset tracking: Highlighting and tracking changes in the number of assets, the location of all assets, asset assignments and more.
- Asset lifecycle management: Tracking the asset lifecycle data from acquisition to retirement.
- Asset reporting: Generating reports on computer assets and getting alerts regarding lease expiration and asset warranty.
Read more: 4 Common Misconceptions about IT Asset Tracking Software
Benefits of computer asset tracking software
1. Avoid unnecessary hardware and software purchases
Your accounts department has hired a new part-timer who requires a laptop and subscription to QuickBooks. However, you are running low on company budget right now and it is really difficult to buy a new machine with software subscription. The IT asset tracking system, however, shows that when Joe in HR department retired two months back, he left a laptop that has not been re-assigned yet. What’s even better is the fact that it has QuickBooks installed in it with a license that still has some time to expire. Now all you need to do is assign that laptop to the newly hired person instead of purchasing a new one.
Having complete knowledge about the details of your company’s software and hardware assets is actually the key to managing computer assets effectively. Using IT asset tracking solution, you can periodically scan every computer in your network having details on the software, configuration, and physical location. This puts a stop to unnecessary purchases and maximizes existing asset utilization along with putting a lid on illegal software installations and configuration changes. Having a collective view of asset data also helps you to analyze storage utilization and make efficient budget plans.
2. Minimize compliance and security risks
You never know when your users take it upon themselves to modify company computers. They might want to add an external hard drive or add more capacity to RAM. You can easily find it out really fast using computer asset tracking software. This is a perfect way to make sure that the end-users in your company comply with basic computer-usage policies avoiding costly non-compliance fines. It can even prevent you from any contamination of network and malware brought from outside.
Using computer asset tracking solution, ward off security risks before they even try to make a huge mess for you.
Furthermore, illegal downloading can land your organization in hot water. The end-user can easily propagate a virus throughout the system. What’s more is that your standing is compromised in case a software audit takes place. It’s true that using a pirated copy of a software seems more convenient rather than moving through the right channel. However, you put your company at serious risk and such practices should come to a halt. Computer asset tracking system keeps track of what software is installed and whether it is done so legally or illegally. This means major issues and vulnerabilities can be quickly settled before they even show up at the wrong time.
Did you know? In 2015, an estimated 9 billion U.S. dollars worth of personal computer software was being used in the United States without a legitimate license.
3. Continuous real-time information on your computer assets
Knowing a list of all your computer assets is one thing but having up-to-the-minute data is something completely different. Hardware upgrades, updates, and patches can be difficult to keep track of. Luckily, computer asset tracking system automatically updates the database as soon as the monitored computer devices come online. Such up-to-date and detailed information is necessary to keep the overall health of computer assets in check and running with minimal complications. Computer asset tracking solution even connects to all mobile and desktop computers which means you have access to real-time information even when you are traveling.
Have access to real-time information about your computer assets while you are on the move.
An accurate asset data is also vital for organizations to better allocate existing hardware and software resources. For instance, there is a summer intern who wants a laptop, IT asset tracking software will instantly let you know if there happens to be a laptop that is going unused in some other department. You can easily reassign it to the intern. Is there someone is the examination department desperately in need of a laser printer to print out exam papers? The second laser printer has not been put to use since the accounts department was renovated which means it can be reallocated.
Read more: 5 Ways to Increase Asset Visibility using IT Asset Tracking Software
What makes EZOfficeInventory the best computer asset tracking software?
EZOfficeInventory is an all-in-one solution when it comes to computer asset tracking. Computer-related assets sure are expensive and time-consuming because assets keep moving around every single day. Due to this constant movement, the data collected becomes outdated right before the finished reports even get published. With EZOfficeInventory, when you include processes that integrate RFID or barcode scanning to update your asset database during activities that involve information updates, the database remains current at all times.
With a robust computer asset tracking process, you will always remain confident that your asset inventory is accurate, real-time and complete at all times. You have all your monitored computers on your network visible in a single central console providing you with the information you need with just a few clicks and not few weeks of intensive work.
Computer asset tracking software takes care of everything from asset discovery, asset lifecycle management, asset tracking to asset reporting. It manages all the physical components (hardware) as well as the software arena. Improve the overall health and expand the life of your computer assets with EZOfficeInventory!
Want to learn more about on computer asset tracking software?
EZOfficeInventory is the leading computer asset tracking system used by all types of industries around the world. Exercise even more control over your computer assets and optimize their usage!
For more assistance, drop us an email at support@ezo.io.
