If you have tools, equipment, fixed assets, or IT equipment that your business relies on, it is extremely likely that you will need an asset tracking system to help you track and monitor these critical assets.

What is an asset tracking system? Put simply, it’s a way of monitoring and tracking the assets that your business relies on.

All in all, your asset tracking system will be how you track and manage your assets to increase accountability and to ensure you know exactly what assets the business owns. For example, if a piece of equipment is moving from one construction site to another, your asset tracking system should reflect this movement. Alternatively, if your HVAC system requires maintenance, this will also be logged in your asset tracking system.

Using Software as your Asset Tracking System

The most effective asset tracking system you can have will be cloud-based and will allow you to invite your colleagues, bosses and team to interact with the system. If you have a cloud-based asset tracking system, you’ll be able to track your assets in both a mobile app and a web portal and see your assets being updated and moved in real-time.

If you’re still using a spreadsheet to track your assets, you don’t need us to tell you that it’s an incredibly manual process. Every asset change will need to be recorded by someone, leaving space for zombie or ghost assets, and a lot of human error.

Moreover, if you’re manually recording changes, there’s a lot of time getting wasted by your workforce that could be put to better use. For example, if someone in the lot needs to audit, then they need to email the information across, then it needs to be updated, it’s not an efficient process.

With software, however, an auditor need only scan a QR Code asset tag with their smartphone and the last seen location and person who scanned it will update in your system. This will update across the board, so those running reports will see the update, too, in real-time.

Using an Asset Tracking System

You’ll be able to use an asset tracking system for many different things. It may be in terms of IT asset management, hardware asset management, tools and equipment tracking, or even facilities management if you have multiple properties, for example.

The core of how an asset tracking system works is that every asset gets a unique profile. This way, you’ll be able to see and manage everything you need to against that individual asset. Instead of not knowing which assets need maintenance and which don’t, you’ll know instantly.

With each unique profile, you’ll then be able to track assets individually and in bulk. Therefore, if a group of assets is moving at once, you’ll be able to use a range of features to update all of these assets quickly. Or, if a single asset needs to be checked out, you’ll also be able to do this.

When you’ve created all of your assets in your asset tracking system, tracking and management become automated and speedy. All it takes is a scan of an asset’s QR code or RFID asset tag, and already information about that asset is updated.

itemit

itemit is an easy to use asset tracking system that will help you to track and monitor any critical assets. You can try the system for free for 14-days by completing the form below. Or if you’d prefer, give us a call on 01223 421611 and we’ll be very pleased to help you.

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or, download the itemit app to get started

If you’re looking for a tool tracking software, you’ve come to the right place!

Where to begin, though? How do you know which is the best software for your needs?

You may have a lot of different voices talking to you about different needs, requirements, and different functionalities, which can sometimes make finding the best tracking software difficult.

Luckily, we’ve come up with a few simple ways to select the best tool tracking software for you.

Why are you Looking for a Tool Tracking Software?

First things first, you’ll need to know what your needs are. 

There will be a core functionality behind any tool tracking software. This will be the use of barcodes, QR code asset tags, RFID tags, or GPS tags to track and manage the movement of your tools.

The best tool tracking software will update the last seen location and last known user with every scan of a QR code or barcode.

You will need this core functionality for many different reasons. This is where the selection process will come in.

Either you’ll want to know how assets have moved for auditing processes. Maybe you’ll have contractors on-site, and you want to verify that they’ve used the tools they’ve been hired to manage for the correct amount of time.

Or, you may want to run audits to see where tools have been at any time so that you instantly know what’s missing and needs to be replaced or retrieved.

It could even be as simple as increasing transparency, responsibility, and accountability when it comes to the movement of your tools.

Knowing what you want to do with the data, tool tracking software will collect is crucial in selecting the correct software for you.

What’s your Industry?

Whatever your industry is, tool tracking software can assist you with the tracking, management, and overall control of your tools, equipment and machinery.

However, your industry may change how your tools are used, or which tools you’re using. 

At first glance, this may not seem like it has much of an effect. Look deeper, and the way you use your tools will affect retrieval, use, maintenance, and movement processes.

For example, if you work in the restoration industry, you may leave tools and equipment on-site. It’s, therefore, crucial to have a tool tracking software that can tell you how long something is supposed to be left on-site, to streamline asset retrieval.

If you work in the construction industry, your tools may move from site to site. In this case, it’s important to monitor how your tools are moving, who’s moving them, and making sure they arrive at the correct site.

Knowing your industry helps you know your tools and equipment which, in turn, will help inform you in your decision about which the best tool tracking software for you will be.

Testing your Tool Tracking Software

Whatever you decide to go with, it’s important to be able to test it. Whether this is in terms of a smaller roll-out, before scaling to something company-wide, or a simple 14-day free trial, being able to test your tool tracking software is crucial.

Whether you’re looking to audit locations, increase accountability, track maintenance, retrieve assets on time, or lose fewer tools and, therefore, revenue, itemit may, in fact, be precisely what you’re looking for.

You can read more about how we can help with your tools and equipment tracking here. Or, if you have more questions, you can contact us at any time at team@itemit.com.

Instant access. No credit card details required.

or, download the itemit app to get started

Before we cover what hardware asset tracking does, first let’s make sure we’re on the same page with the question of what is hardware tracking software? In short, hardware tracking is a component that forms part of more general asset tracking. As a result, hardware tracking software is an element of asset tracking software that focuses on tracking hardware in your business.

Hardware tracking software assists you with your Hardware Asset Management (HAM) and is, therefore, a system you’ll use to track things like PCs, mobile phones, laptops, and so on.

We know your IT assets are crucial to running your business, which is why it’s so important that you track and monitor them. In addition, IT asset management helps you achieve GDPR compliance, create an audit trail of who’s been using what, and assists you with any onboarding processes by helping you assign assets to your staff.

To find out more about how you can use cloud-based hardware tracking software, you can read about it in our blog here.

How do I use Hardware Tracking Software?

There are two elements of how you’ll use hardware tracking software. The first is the physical tracking of assets.

What this means is tracking how your hardware assets change and move. If, for example, hardware assets are taken to remote locations, you’ll be able to use a quick scan of a QR Code asset tag to update a GPS location.

If your hardware assets are shared, you’ll be able to use asset tracking functionality to see who has what, book out assets, and create an audit trail of how many people have used an asset.

If a hardware asset gets damaged, you’ll be able to use an issues management feature to streamline routine and reactive maintenance, and to indicate when hardware becomes uneconomical.

The second element of hardware tracking is using this information to create an audit trail. A reporting feature will show you all the information you need regarding how assets move, change, get damaged, or get used. Then, this will help you make informed decisions about asset replacements and refurbishments.

How will Hardware Tracking Software Help my Business?

The benefits of extra accountability are clear. You’ll lose less hardware, and hardware will be used more responsibly by your wider team. Once your team knows assets are being tracked and monitored, you’ll notice a real shift in attitude. Having your hardware assets on your fixed asset register allows greater clarity, minimises the chance of ghost and zombie assets, and removes the chance of purchasing unnecessary duplicates.

Being able to track how your hardware works also allows you greater flexibility of use when it comes to tracking your software. Knowing which software is linked to which hardware allows more transparency when it comes to employee usage and GDPR compliance.

All of this ultimately helps you with any decision-making process. Knowing what hardware you have, and being able to add warranties and maintenance information, means that you’ll quickly see any gaps.

If there are gaps, you can make informed decisions about hardware that you need, therefore staying within budget and still optimising your business’ efficiency.

What Else can I use itemit For?

So, what does hardware tracking software do? It increases your accountability and transparency. This will, in turn, help you see more about your hardware assets, and allow you to make better and more informed business decisions.

itemit is more than just a hardware tracking software. With itemit, you can track your fixed assets, hardware assets, software assets, and more. With our customisable and easy-to-use asset tracking system, you’ll find yourself scaling and saving money in no time at all.

To find out more about what itemit can do for you, you can contact us at any time, or fill in the form below.

Instant access. No credit card details required.

or, download the itemit app to get started

What is a cloud-based asset management system? Having an asset management system has multiple benefits, from extra accountability to more transparency regarding your assets.

How does a cloud-based asset management system differ from this? If your asset tracking is integrated with the cloud, you get many additional benefits than if you’re just using an old-school internal system.

A cloud-based asset management system is a system to track and manage your assets that will save all changes and information in the cloud. Having your asset information in the cloud is crucial to your tracking, as multiple people will need to audit and update information.

Also, the most effective asset management systems will allow you to track your assets with your phone. Having a cloud-based system means that when any of your assets are scanned, or any data is altered, your app and web portal will receive those changes and update in real-time.

To find out more about why you need a cloud-based asset management system you can read our blog about it here, or read how it’s helping Camtech Biomedical here.

We’ve condensed a few of the benefits of having a cloud-based asset management system below.

Shareable With Your Team

In the 21st century, shareability is crucial to automation. If you’re integrating an asset management system, you’ll be doing so to make the most out of the automation of accountability.

If you’re able to share your asset management system with your team with ease, and if they can sign up and get started right away, everyone has less work to do.

The ability to add users and spread out your asset tracking and management processes speed up your efforts, without losing any accountability. You’ll also be able to edit user permissions, so that some information is still hidden to some, but readily available to all others with the right permissions.

All Changes Update in Real-Time

One of the handiest things about having a cloud-based asset management system is that every single one of your updates happen in real-time.

With a shared system, this is extra helpful as any asset change will be visible to everyone who needs to see it. 

If you scan a QR code asset tag, and the last seen location and user updates, then you instantly want to audit, you can log into the web portal, and the changes will be readily available.

With an asset management system, you’ll want to be tracking any and all asset changes, whether it’s a change in location, or if it needs reactive maintenance, or if the user has changed. Having this all update automatically and in real-time totally eliminates the chance of human error and makes your life a lot easier. A cloud-based asset management gives you something that your old system cannot – the confidence that your asset data is up to date and accurate.

Work Offline too

The best thing about automation is that it makes things faster, easier, and saves you a lot of time for more scaling, customer relationship management, or selling.

You may think that this will all go out the window as soon as you reach the tail end of a construction lot and lose 4G or WiFi, but this isn’t the case.

With a cloud-based system, it’s possible to store any changes to the location of an asset, only for them to update as soon as a connection is restored.

Being able to work offline means that you won’t lose accountability if your device gets disconnected.

itemit’s cloud-based asset management system has all of these benefits and more. To find out how itemit can help you, contact the team or fill in the form today.

Instant access. No credit card details required.

or, download the itemit app to get started

Tools are crucial in the successful running of many businesses and industries. Whether it’s for construction, restoration and remediation work, service providers or surveying, your tools are essential.

Have you got a tool tracking system in place? If you don’t, you may want to consider the benefits of extra layers of transparency and accountability across your team.

Being able to track and manage your tools means that your business can run a lot more smoothly and save money. So, how do you know if you need a tool tracking system? If you’re currently battling with any of these four problems, take this as your sign that you need a tool tracking system.

Your Tools Always go Missing

Tools can go missing for any number of reasons. Whether it’s theft, a lack of responsibility in the team, other companies thinking tools belong to them, or in terms of general losses.

I’m sure you may write losses into profit projections, but with an effective tool tracking system, you’ll be able to minimise these losses.

For a start, with the use of unique asset tags, you instantly create a theft-deterrent and display ownership details to passers-by. Having a tagged tool means it’s much less likely to be picked up by someone it doesn’t belong to as they will be unsure how this itemit is being monitored and tracked. We provide theft deterrent tags for exactly this purpose.

As well as this, though, having a tool tracking system in place means that your workforce will see assets as valuable, useful pieces of equipment and not something that’s instantly replaceable. 

A tool tracking system will also allow you to say which tools are on which construction site, and specifically where they are thanks to geotagging. This way, you know exactly where your tools are and who had them last.

Your Tools Get Damaged a Lot

If your tools are thrown around and damaged and require maintenance or inspections, having a tool tracking system can automate this process.

Being able to schedule maintenance, whether routine or reactive, speeds up any processes related to damaged tools.

You’ll also create an audit trail. Being able to look at a tool’s history and see how often it has been maintained makes asset lifecycle management much faster. The second a tool becomes uneconomical to repair, you’ll be able to make a speedier decision to replace it.

Being able to track fixed assets and tools this way means that there’s a lot less time you need to dedicate to maintenance and inspection, leaving much more time for customer service and running your business.

You Don’t Know What you Own

This is a big one. Not knowing what you own can leave you facing a large number of problems.

How many times have you purchased a replacement asset because it’s needed urgently and yet you know you bought that exact asset a few months back, but it’s nowhere to be seen? You can make that horrible feeling a thing of the past.

Using a tool tracking system means you’ll avoid any chance of ghost and zombie assets and know exactly what you have and who can use it. You’ll even be able to book out tools or assign them to your workforce, meaning you know specifically what’s available for use.

This totally avoids the issue of only finding out there isn’t a circular saw when it’s needed the most, delaying progress and disappointing your customers.

You’re Using Spreadsheets for Auditing

If you’re using spreadsheets for auditing, a fixed asset register, and to manage and see how many tools you have, a lot of problems can occur.

With a tool tracking system, you’ll still get all the helpful elements of a spreadsheet. You’ll just get more on top of that. 

So, you’ll be able to see a list of your tools, but you’ll also be able to add information against each tool. Each tool gets a unique profile, and there’s no limit to the amount of information you can add to it.

An asset profile allows you to automatically update location in real-time, as well as add financial, maintenance, insurance, health and safety, user, and training information. 

You can then use this information in your tool tracking system software to create customised reports, which you can export for auditing purposes.

To find out more about how itemit’s tool tracking system can help you track and manage your assets, you can contact us or fill in the form below.

Instant access. No credit card details required.

or, download the itemit app to get started