Benenden School: Unlocking Next-Level Asset Management with itemit

In a world where technology is at the heart of modern education, keeping track of IT assets is no small assignment. For Benenden School, a leading independent boarding school in Kent, managing over 1,900 devices across classrooms, offices, and student loan programs became increasingly challenging with an outdated, legacy tracking method. Faced with inefficiencies, (the dreaded) lost assets, and time-consuming manual processes, the school needed a smarter, faster, and more reliable solution. The big lesson? Using itemit’s intuitive asset tracking software has transformed asset management into a seamless, intuitive and future-proof task for Benenden. Crucially, their team can now focus on the real task at hand: delivering groundbreaking education.

Nestled in the heart of the Kent countryside, Benenden School is one of the UK’s leading independent boarding schools for girls. With a reputation for academic excellence and an unwavering commitment to innovation, the school has always embraced cutting-edge technology to enhance both learning and operations. Recognising that technology is now an essential pillar of education also means that IT assets such as interactive smartboards, desktops and laptops have become as critical as pens and paper. Schools must know what condition their assets are in, as well as which assets are in the custody of staff and students at anytime, on any day. Beyond this, supporting the learning of thousands of boarding and at home students with their out of classroom study also requires a seamless equipment loans program.

However, with over 1,900 assets in circulation, ensuring that every device is accounted for, updated, and in the right place at the right time is no small feat. Previous methods such as spreadsheets (or heaven forbid paper based forms!) just weren’t cutting it. For Zafer, Lead IT Technician at Benenden, keeping track of the school’s digital assets was becoming a growing challenge. The existing system was slowing the IT team down, leading to inefficiencies, making audits and lifecycle tracking unnecessarily time-consuming. With so much to focus on and an exceptional program to consistently deliver on, the school needed a smarter solution, fast!

Before turning to itemit, Benenden School was using a SharePoint spreadsheet to track its IT assets. While it worked in theory, in reality it had become a cumbersome, unreliable system that created more problems than it solved. The IT team felt weighed down by red tape, which was achieving nothing.

Whilst spreadsheets were once the most efficient tool for asset tracking, those days are long gone. Tracking assets through a spreadsheet for Benenden meant manually entering data, often leading to delays and inaccuracies due to human error. Furthermore, if a device was moved, misplaced or reassigned, updating the details of the device often became an afterthought going through several staff members, ultimately leading to confusion and misplaced assets.

When it came to crucial audits, the IT team frequently struggled to generate accurate reports on asset locations, values and lifespans. This made crucial financial and compliance audits harder than they needed to be, sucking up time that the team could be using to develop more innovative solutions to improve their educational offering.

One of the key pieces that was frustrating Zafer was that when the school loaned devices to students whose laptops needed repairing, manually managing who had what (and for how long) often resulted in gaps and inefficiencies. Whilst students main interests were always protected and delivered upon, the work required by the team to support this delivery was cumbersome and time consuming.

Benenden ultimately needed a modern, intuitive system that would give them real-time control over their assets, eliminate the pains of outdated tracking methods, and make managing equipment loans a clear, simple and stress free system for all involved.

Recognising the need for precision and efficiency, Benenden School adopted itemit, a powerful asset tracking system designed to bring order and clarity to their IT asset collection. The transition was seamless, thanks to itemit’s import feature, meaning their data could be transferred to itemit with very little effort. In addition, Benenden opted to use itemit’s Active Directory Integration to streamline the adding and management of their user base. The benefits were felt immediately.

Every asset is tagged with a QR code, allowing IT staff to scan and instantly retrieve details about that asset’s location, condition, and user assignment. No room for human error, no more second-guessing or rummaging through endless spreadsheet tabs. Instead, a clear picture of every single asset is now available at their fingertips in seconds.

With itemit’s check-in/check-out feature, tracking equipment on loan has become as easy as borrowing a library book. The IT team can now assign a laptop to a student, set a return date, and receive automated updates on overdue devices, helping prevent loss and improve accountability. They can also choose to send email notifications to students, so they are also reminded when they are supposed to be returning their loaned kit – significantly increasing chances that loan schedules are maintained!

With itemit’s reporting tools, Zafer and his team can now track asset lifespans, monitor equipment conditions, and identify when upgrades are needed. The ability to generate and export reports instantly has transformed audit preparation from a stressful exercise into a straightforward, reliable process.

Using itemit’s asset lifecycle tracking, Benenden School is now extending the life of its IT equipment, a significant win for Zafer who was keen to extend the lifespan of the schools assets. Instead of replacing older machines, the team can now identify which devices are still viable and upgrade them instead, reducing waste, increasing the schools long-term sustainability and ultimately saving money.

By adopting itemit, Benenden School has transformed its IT asset management, making it faster, more accurate, and far more efficient.

Crucially, the IT team now spends significantly less time searching for and managing assets due to the data driven insights they have gained from itemit. The availability of this time now allows them to focus on larger goals for their IT equipment, such as how they can propel learning even further using the technology available to them. Benenden also particularly benefit from the better resource planning they have gained from data driven insights, such as itemit’s automatically generated Asset Utilisation Report. Audit preparation, a task which the team used to dread, is now quick and painless. Reports are always ready when needed, and features such as itemit’s continuous ‘History’ for every single asset gives the team peace of mind that they will always know every movement and historical issue with any asset.

For Zafer, the difference is night and day:

For educational institutions still relying on spreadsheets or outdated systems, Benenden School’s experience is a clear example of what’s possible when you switch to smarter asset tracking. The best bit? Getting set up is a breeze with an intuitive, off-the-shelf yet customisable solution (Oh and did we mention Educational Organisations get a 30% discount on our Pro packages?!).

From fewer lost devices and improved financial planning to simplified reporting and better resource allocation, itemit is a game-changer for schools looking to improve operational efficiency. If your school is still wrestling with time-consuming and error-prone asset tracking methods, it might be time to make the switch to itemit – the smarter way to manage school assets!

Have an asset tracking challenge that itemit can help with?

Here at itemit we love understanding how our customers are using itemit to achieve their own inspiring missions. If you’re in need of a better way to track your assets and want to run some questions by our experienced team members, drop us an email at team@itemit.com – we look forward to hearing from you and achieving great things together!