The Need for Small Business Asset Tracking Software
The adoption of cloud-based technology has taken over the business world. Companies of all sizes have derived considerable benefits from this change, with more than 78% of America’s small and medium businesses projected to use cloud computing by 2020. This is more than double the current number! For small businesses, cloud computing is the perfect package as it’s scalable, cost-effective, and extremely reactive to their needs.
With this in mind, it comes as no surprise that there has been a rapid increase in the use of small business asset tracking software lately. It can offer supercharged features catered specifically to small business needs. Here are a few reasons why there is such a huge need for this kind of solution.
1) Take control of your business, wherever you are
An equipment management software comes with a variety of features for your small business. A great one is that it doesn’t restrict you to working from a specific location. This means you can carry out your work as you travel. This is important when it comes to dealing with clients across different sites, or engaging in a business spread across different locations. Say you want to transfer an item from one place to another. An easy way to do this would be to perform a barcode scan right from your smartphone to update its current location! This way you can stay up-to-date all the time without missing out on recording valuable information!
Having access to a mobile app also increases worker productivity. If your employees have to go work on the field, they can take their smartphones with them. This increases operational efficiency as the asset information gets updated instantly. In addition, replacements can be sent in case of asset repairs or equipment downtime. You don’t have to invest in costly laptops or tracking facilities to monitor your business assets, and that’s huge for small businesses!
2) Automate your procurement routine
Inventory control is a complex task. It entails the need for a robust procurement system to maintain inventory stocks. For smooth business workflows, you’ll need to make sure your stocks are updated regularly, without being over or under stocked.
For this purpose, a small business asset tracking software comes with a feature to automate purchase orders and streamline procurement. By using this feature, you can set minimum thresholds for your inventory, so that new POs are automatically generated when item counts run low. This way you never have to face shortages. You can link asset information to purchase orders which will enable you to manage all vendors and procurement costs details from one place! This improves asset performance as it allows employees to carry out their daily tasks effortlessly.
Use the mobile app to stay up-to-date, even outside the office
3) Prepare for tax season through timely audits
Leading a small business can be an absolute disaster if you miss out on yearly audits. To successfully meet your targets, it is important that you take good care of your assets. If you fail to keep track of your assets, you will end up incurring extra costs owing to theft and misplacements. When you generate audit reports you are in a better position to judge financial mismanagement and internal fraud, and control it before it affects your financial books.
With the help of asset management software for small businesses, you can conduct audits to increase transparency for your company. This way you can keep a record of the stages of an asset’s life cycle – meaning its phases from acquisition to retirement. Through this, you will be able to determine which assets have depreciated over the years and need replacement. Barcode scans can be used to facilitate these audits at a fraction of the cost!
4) Generate actionable reports on asset utilization
Being a small business in the market, you should invest in effective asset maintenance practices. One of these includes evaluating and examining asset consumption patterns to predict future trends. Once you have an idea of how your assets are being used, you can then try to tweak asset maintenance schedules accordingly.
One model does not fit all, therefore you might need to generate custom reports for your business. This is pretty useful if your company needs insights unique to its workflows. After studying utilization patterns, you can easily plan ahead for the next asset stock replenishment. You can also eliminate assets with decreasing economies of scale to push up utility maximization. This will help you optimize existing asset operations as well. When you have your stocks in order, your employees will be better equipped to perform their daily tasks!
Read more: Why subscribe to asset management software for SMBs?
5) Increase equipment efficiency with scheduled maintenance
Your tools are a valuable part of your inventory. Some of these tools are used every day and need to be maintained frequently in order to ensure flawless operations. Be it holding a meeting for your employees or working on a new construction project, equipment maintenance is a huge priority for companies. Even if a simple tool in your inventory malfunctions unexpectedly, it can cause work delays and severely frustrate employees.
You can easily avoid such unpleasant situations by scheduling maintenance routines. You should send alerts in advance and assign service tasks to specific employees. This way you don’t have to worry about your assets breaking down in the middle of a project. In addition, preventative maintenance helps you get rid of extra repair costs for last minute equipment downtime!
Now that we’ve discussed the benefits of asset tracking, it is important to know how to successfully incorporate an asset management solution into your business.
Tips for Implementing Small Business Asset Tracking
Implementation does not only mean putting data into the software but a successful implementation also requires an understanding of how your current workflows are going to be adapted in the software. Below we have listed some tips that will help you implement an asset tracking solution, effectively.
1) Define company goals
Before adopting asset tracking, it is important for businesses to define what they wish to achieve with its incorporation. Defining your goals will determine how an asset management solution will fit into your own organization. It can range from something as simple as minimizing asset theft or reducing inventory cost, to something more complex like streamlining workflows and reducing downtime.
Whatever your objectives are, it is important to define them and then adopt a solution that will help you achieve them. As an example, if you are a small business looking to reduce equipment downtime in between maintenance, you should look for a tool that provides you with predictive maintenance tools.
Planning and defining your objectives is important. Without clear goals, you cannot hope to achieve any clear success with your software implementation.
Read more: Using small business inventory software to accelerate your sales
2) Self assessment
Self analysis is used by businesses to both assess an organization’s current situation and to create strategies for improving that situation in the future. A self assessment will help businesses highlight specific areas and opportunities where the incorporation of a small business asset tracking software can be beneficial.
With this kind of probing, you can figure out the value, kind, and quantity of physical assets you own. You can also establish how many employees are available to deploy the software, and the funds available for Barcode labeling and printing. This data aids in the successful deployment of an asset management program.
Moreover, analyzing the current situation of the company will also help set the baseline to judge future performances, after the solution is implemented.
Study present asset consumption patterns to infer future trends
3) Know what you need to track
Before an asset management program can be deployed, it is important to know your asset and inventory count. It’s a good idea to therefore begin by creating a database of your assets. This helps you confirm the type and quantity of each asset that you own. Once you have identified your assets, you can then prioritize them according to their value.
Every organization has a mixture of expensive items that they keep strict checks on, and inexpensive items that are used and consumed every day. Depending on the size of your inventory, it may not be worth putting the same effort into tracking every asset. Asset tracking allows you to separate your items into different categories, depending on their type and usage, and helps you set benchmarks for which assets to track.
An inventory list will also help a business identify and eliminate ghost assets, which are fixed assets that can’t be accounted for because they are either lost, stolen, or unusable. This will allow for a more accurate deployment of the system.
4) Start small
Change is not easy. If you are incorporating an asset management solution into your business for the very first time: start small. It is wiser to start with individual departments, and then build up to span the entire organization instead of going global with the very first implementation.
As an example, if you are looking to introduce a new IT infrastructure for your business, you could start by first implementing it in the IT department. From there, depending on how successful the deployment has been, you can move up and implement it throughout the organization.
People are also wary of change and have difficulty adjusting to it. In view of this, you should try and formulate strategies that can be put into place to make this transition more effective, and establish support and confidence among managers and staff. You can also identify which members of your crew are directly affected by the change, and then brief them about the changes and the benefits they could potentially bring.
Read more: 3 reasons to implement inventory control to meet your business goals
5) Monitor, review, and update
To judge whether the deployed asset management solution has brought about expected levels of success, you need to monitor some key performance indicators. These may include asset utilization, inventory turnover, and equipment performance. Thy could also include any other business index directly affected by the deployment.
These system are built upon information which needs to be updated continuously. To determine whether the system is performing as projected, data on the condition and performance of assets is captured and analyzed on a regular basis. Using a small business asset tracking system, you can generate reports that give you a complete picture of the performance of your equipment.
For example, you can generate reports to identify the maintenance schedules and life cycles of your equipments, and use it to reduce downtime. Moreover, timely identification of unproductive equipment can save unnecessary maintenance costs and improve operational efficiency. And what’s great is that you can feed these performance report insights back into the asset management platform. The more data is has, the more meaningiful it becomes!
Get On Track With Small Business Asset Tracking Software
Your business needs a strong technology infrastructure which allows you to scale quickly. Being a small business, you really don’t want to shift your databases again and again. This will only cause you to miss out on important information created by lags in business activities. A small business asset tracking software brings to you a multitude of features to help you boost your business performance and productivity! It enables you to take care of your inventory by configuring procurement and maintenance, and allows you to work anywhere and anytime through the mobile app.
However, a poorly executed program isn’t of any use to anyone. To streamline your business operations cost-effectively, it is important that you pay considerable attention towards the deployment of your asset management software. A successful implementation is absolutely necessary to reap the benefits of this program, and we hope this blog has shed some light on how to go about doing that.
Want to Learn More About Us?
EZOfficeInventory is an asset tracking software used by small businesses all over the world to streamline business workflows and optimize asset utilization for a greater return on investment!
For more assistance, drop us an email at support@ezo.io.
