For most businesses, the purchase of assets will constitute one of the largest proportions of initial outlay when considering start-up costs. It makes sense therefore to protect your initial investment by ensuring you know where your assets are, what they are being used for and their current condition.
This is the job of asset tracking and thankfully there are now solutions available that make this a streamlined and efficient process. One such option is the G-SMart asset solution which combines web-based technology with barcoding to provide an all-in-one tracking system that provides a real-time, holistic view of all of your assets, all in one place.
Here we consider the top five benefits businesses can expect by having an effective system in place.
Never Lose an Asset Again
As the technological age advances, it brings a wider range of assets than ever before and this – coupled with an increasing likelihood of a remote workforce – means that it could be equally harder than ever to keep track of all equipment owned by a business. An effective asset management system enables the speedy creation of a register that lists the location of equipment in an accessible and consistent format.
In knowing exactly where each asset is, time spent looking for them is reduced, as is the possibility of buying a new one to replace a ‘lost’ asset which will undoubtedly turn up when the replacement has been bought.
Keep Up-to-Date with Maintenance of Assets
A key advantage of a system such as the G-SMart asset tracking solution is that the details of individual items are simply captured automatically via a hand-held data collector.
This eliminates the potential for human error in recording the data in the first place. The customisable nature of the system allows recording information about the frequency of use, for example, which provides visibility of when items might need to be replaced or maintained.
Accurate reports can then be created to provide a real-time maintenance schedule that ensures equipment is kept at its best with no time lost due to unexpectedly faulty or inefficient assets.
Compliance Benefits
Historically, the suggestion of an audit would send shivers down the spines of business owners and with good reason; often a significant amount of time and resource needs to be diverted from usual tasks with reports to collate, information to check and supporting commentary to write.
Now, however, the web-based application provided by G-SMart and hosted on UK-based servers delivers instant access to real-time reports that can significantly reduce that down-time so you can be assured not only of less time lost but also accurate reporting to provide evidence of meeting compliance requirements.
Ease of Installation
The handy, web-based platform requires no installation so there’s no impact to productivity, and it’s hosted entirely on our fully-managed servers, based here in the UK to give you peace of mind regarding security and accessibility.
The modular nature of the G-SMart asset tracking solution offers a straightforward, customisable option for managing your assets with additional features that can be added according to your needs such as the Support Call Logging module, which enables users within your business to select a faulty asset from the register and log a fault with the help desk instantly – again saving precious time.
This option is also perfect for a remote workforce and, when combined with the Preventative Maintenance Module, ensures that your equipment can be efficiently maintained to be in top condition and repaired quickly, should a fault occur.
Additional, more specific software solutions can be developed by our expert team which can be seamlessly integrated into your existing systems; no matter what your project or business, we can help you manage it effectively.
Reduced Administration Costs
There are obvious savings to be made in terms of time spent manually looking for assets or managing asset lists that the G-SMart system eliminates. However, there are less obvious downstream benefits too.
Whilst providing evidence of compliance is made much easier, so too is managing ongoing compliance. The real-time nature of the reporting capability allows businesses to ensure they are continually meeting requirements and can lend itself to setting interim review periods, for example. Compliance can then be maintained throughout the year so that even less time needs to be spent when the audits come round again.
The removal of manual data capture ensures accurate reporting that no longer relies on employees managing spreadsheets with potentially incorrect or inconsistent data.
The increased visibility of assets, and when they need to be maintained, calibrated or replaced, allows a more efficient operation – both in terms of the equipment itself and its storage – and enables business owners to scale up quickly without having to first consider modifying existing asset tracking protocols. New assets can be simply identified as required upon reviewing your current asset register and added to the inventory upon acquisition, enabling you to keep up with your competitors with confidence.
If you want to know more about how our new asset tracking systems can help your business, get in touch with us today.
With over 40 years’ experience, we here at GSM Barcoding will be delighted to hear from you and provide a free consultation to discuss your needs.
