There’s nothing worse than spending money on something that you aren’t putting to use. When it comes to IT hardware inventory management, it’s no different.

There are many pieces of software out there that can help you with your IT hardware inventory management. If you’re looking for easy to use software, check out itemit. 

However, before you roll out your new software system, it’s worth checking that you have fully streamlined your process. After all, the quality of a system does rely heavily on the processes and data that go into it.

IT hardware inventory management is designed to make your company’s processes more efficient. Here are our 7 top tips to help you ensure that your PC and hardware management is as pain-free as it can be!

First things first. It may seem obvious, but knowing what PCs, computers and hardware you have is critical. We speak to businesses every day that are struggling to rectify the fact that they don’t know what assets they have.

If you have an out of date list of assets, it may be worth starting with that to establish which assets are still in use and adding any new ones to your IT asset inventory list. However, if your data is very old, you may find it more efficient to start from scratch and perform an audit of all hardware that’s in circulation.

IT hardware often includes assets that move around a lot. This may be mobile devices, laptops for working from home and monitors and computers that can be moved from office to office depending on where new recruits are being based. To ensure your IT hardware inventory remains as efficient as possible, it’s paramount that you start tracking the movement of these assets. 

We recommend using QR code asset tags to help track the whereabouts of your assets. Once each asset is tagged, it can simply be scanned to be uniquely identified. A quick scan of the tag from a smartphone and the GPS location on your phone will update where your assets were last seen, and who had them last.

The information you’ll want to add will differ from asset to asset. However, there are many patterns when it comes to IT hardware inventory management.

IT assets hold data, so information related to usage is essential for GDPR compliance. You may also want to add warranty expiry dates, PAT testing dates, and user manuals. This way, everything you may need to know about an asset is easily accessible.

Whether you’re onboarding new colleagues or just want to record which assets have already been distributed to the team, it’s important to know who’s responsible for which hardware. If you’re looking for a quick way to assign assets to users (particularly helpful for your onboarding process), check out the itemit’s Assigning feature to see how easy this is.

IT hardware inventory management is at its most efficient if you know who’s in charge of which asset and, therefore, who you need to talk to about replacements or maintenance.

As the saying goes: “Technology is great. When it works.” Sooner or later, your IT hardware will need maintenance and inspections.

This may be routine PAT tests, or it could be reactive maintenance should something break. Either way, it is essential that you track all maintenance related to your IT assets. This will reduce asset downtime significantly, but also helps with the next tip…

Without IT hardware inventory management, you’re in the dark regarding which of your assets are doing what. But with a good IT hardware management system in place, you’ll be able to investigate an asset’s historical performance whenever you need to.

For example, whenever an IT asset needs reactive maintenance, you’ll be able to use its history as an indicator as to whether it’s more economical to repair it or replace it.

Using great IT hardware inventory management software can streamline and automate a lot of these processes.

itemit can do all of this for you, from tracking maintenance and asset movement, to assisting with your IT asset register.

To find out more about what itemit can do for you, you can contact the team or fill in the form below to start tracking.

Instant access. No credit card details required.

or, download the itemit app to get started

ITAM Asset Management is the process of tracking, monitoring, and managing your IT assets. 

ITAM stands for “IT Asset Management” and can mean a few things. ITAM has a few subsets, so how you implement and use your IT asset management software can differ depending on why you have to use it.

For example, Software Asset Management (SAM) and Hardware Asset Management (HAM) are both subsets of IT Asset Management, and your needs may be more heavily weighted towards either.

If you want to read more about Software Asset Management, you can do so here, or, if you want to read more about Hardware Tracking Software, you can do so here.

Why Use IT Asset Management Software?

Why should your business use IT asset management software? 

Either you need to track your hardware, your software, or your fixed assets. With the use of IT asset management software, you can do all of this and more.

IT asset management software has many helpful uses, such as increasing accountability, showing you more transparency, and being able to assign assets to users, just so you know what everyone has.

With the use of QR code asset tags, you’ll be able to track and monitor how often your IT assets move, and who is using them. So, if you need physical tracking for a greater level of accountability, IT asset management software can help you with just this.

You can also use IT asset management software to set reminders. This will help if you need Software Asset Management, Hardware Asset Management, or both.

Reminders can tell you when warranties are ending, when phone contracts are running out, or when software subscriptions need to be paid. Of course, this increases your financial transparency but also streamlines upgrades and acquisition.

Audits and Reports

Of course, running a business involves a lot of finances, reporting, and auditing. IT asset management software can help streamline these processes.

For example, if you want to know which assets are underused so that you know you don’t need to purchase another bulk of them, you can use a handy reporting feature to discover this.

Month to month, you’ll want to work out your company’s expenses, too. Being able to see reminders related to when certain payments need to be paid allows you a greater level of transparency when you’re sorting these out.

Also, being able to see the history against a specific asset allows you to see how much maintenance it has undergone, or how much downtime it has caused. Knowing this allows you to make a more informed decision about whether it’s more economical to replace the asset or repair it.

Location tracking is also a lot simpler, so you can see how regularly assets move between offices. If it’s multiple times a week, you know that a decision on purchasing new assets for each office may create better time efficiency.

To find out more about what IT Asset Management is and how it can help your business, you can download the itemit app, contact us, or fill in the form below.

Instant access. No credit card details required.

or, download the itemit app to get started

Hardware Asset Management (HAM) is a component of IT Asset Management (ITAM).

Hardware asset management, however, is more specific than IT asset management. Where IT asset management is how you track and manage all of your IT assets, from your software to your USB sticks, hardware asset management hones in on one aspect of this.

With hardware asset management, you’ll be creating a system to track and manage the physical components of your computers, laptops, and systems.

To understand hardware asset management fully, it’s also important to understand the purpose of IT asset management.

IT asset management ultimately aids to save a company time and money by increasing transparency and accountability regarding their assets.

Where this differs from hardware asset management is that IT asset management can apply to software and data, as well as the hardware you’re using. 

In this way, hardware asset management is a subset of IT asset management, but the reverse isn’t true.

IT asset management can help with GDPR compliance amongst other things, where hardware asset management is more specifically helpful in creating an audit trail of financial information.

Hardware asset management is a process that will help you create accountability and transparency with your IT hardware.

Being able to assign assets to users assists with an on-boarding process and can be integrated into an asset’s life-cycle.

Adding reminders for routine maintenance allows you to book in PAT tests efficiently and create accountability regarding this part of your technology and tools tracking process.

Being able to report issues against an individual asset also assists with flexibility and simpler prioritisation when it comes to maintenance.

Of course, great hardware asset management software will also allow you to add the relevant financial information against a specific asset. You’ll also be able to create customised reports of this information and export it to your finance team.

With all of these features, you can track and monitor all of your IT hardware with ease. The moment something becomes uneconomical, that data makes this visible, and you’ll be able to rectify this. 

It also becomes a lot easier to know who needs what. For example, if a developer needs a laptop or PC with greater memory, you’ll be able to run a financial report to see if it’s economical to upgrade.

Of course, as itemit is an effective IT asset management software and can help with hardware asset management, it can also assist with other processes.

For example, Software Asset Management (SAM) can be implemented simultaneously with the itemit system without affecting the UI or making tracking and management unwieldy.

The use of collections will help you keep your software separate to your hardware, and our unique QR code asset tags will help you track your hardware with greater ease and accountability.

With our asset tags, knowing who has what and where becomes an instant process. 

Our features are helpful for a range of asset tracking and management purposes. For example, you can use reminders for software asset management to set when subscriptions are due, or you can use them to set warranty end dates to ensure your kit is economical and up to date.

To find out more about the itemit system, you can contact us or fill in the form below to sign up.

Instant access. No credit card details required.

or, download the itemit app to get started