Asset management has always been a big challenge for a lot of businesses. Technology has come in to help and over the past decade or two, we have seen an increase in the number of businesses using technology, particularly mobile devices, to manage assets and inventory. The applications of this technology range from use in a shop to track items on a shelf or on remote job sites to track different types of assets. Below, we will look at areas where mobile asset and inventory management makes sense and can offer businesses the most benefit.
Managing Inventory in the Field
When working in the field, it is easy to lose track of different assets if there is no system in place to track them. Such assets include work tools, service vans, or any other equipment your employees need to complete a project. By using an asset management system in the field, every item can be accounted for. Employees will feel inclined to report every time they move an asset, use it, or relocate it to another area because they know everything is being tracked.
Employees can use the cameras on their smartphones to scan QR or barcodes, and all the necessary data about the item and who has it will be recorded on a server.
Stocktaking and Physical Inventory Counts
Taking stock manually is tedious and time-consuming. Additionally, the business might have to close for a few days to allow the count to be completed. Mistakes can creep in, especially where items are located in different parts of the store and the warehouse, as well as when employees are tired.
Mobile stocktaking using an asset management barcode system eliminates all these challenges. It is faster, more accurate and it eliminates the chances of mistakes ever happening. Using mobile stocktaking and inventory management systems, all the data is sent to a server, summed up, and processed. This means multiple employees can do the count no matter where the items they are counting are located.
Tracking Borrowed Assets
Employees might borrow assets for a job outside the company. If you do not have adequate systems to keep track of everything in place, it is easy to lose this equipment. It is also harder to hold anyone accountable in case the equipment gets damaged.
It is therefore important to give your employees options on how to record any changes to equipment no matter where they are. If they borrow, return, lend it out, or even send it to repair, the company needs to know.
Asset Audits
Every company should be able to account for all its equipment at all times. This is often done through an asset audit that checks if everything is where it is supposed to be ab accounted for. As with stocktaking, doing this manually presents a whole host of problems that can be solved using software that makes it easy to do asset audits. All employees need is a mobile phone that sends the collected data to a server for processing.
The use of technology is making things easy for a lot of businesses. Instead of wasting a lot of time managing assets and inventory, businesses can use mobile asset management software to help the process go faster, all while ensuring no errors are introduced into the process.