Asset tracking and management helps you to stay in control of your assets. You may already have an asset tracking system in place, which is great. However, it’s worthwhile to check your system follows these best practices, otherwise, you might be wasting both time and money.

There are certain things your asset tracking tool must do, like letting you know where your assets are and who is using them. This is vital for any business but particularly critical for businesses that operate across multiple sites or regularly move assets from site to site in e.g. Construction or rapid response industries.

Additionally, your asset tracking software should help you with the compliance side of things. For example, you will need to ensure your assets are inspected, serviced and maintained as per the manufacturer’s guidelines and you need to comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Picking a tracking system that can also be used to monitor your IT assets is a great way to save time and money.

With the right asset tracking system, you’ll get real time updates about your assets from all of your users. This is a great way to save time and increase the efficiency that can really help to keep your asset management on track.

Here are our top 4 asset management best practices, based on the help and support we have provided for companies across many industries, including construction, facilities management, schools, churches, charities and more!

1: Use a System that Updates in Real Time

The most commonly used asset tracking system in our experience is a spreadsheet that lists the company’s assets. Unfortunately, (as we’re sure you’ve found if you’re currently using a spreadsheet!) the biggest problem with spreadsheets is that they become out of date almost immediately. The nature of a spreadsheet is quite old fashioned now – your list of assets is static and usually only accessible by one, or a couple of people within the business. What’s worse is that you need to be at your laptop or computer to update it. So, often, you’ll find yourself jotting down notes on pieces of paper and making a mental note to yourself that you need to update this when you’re back at your desk.

What you need to improve your asset management process is a system that can be updated while you’re on the go. Not only this but you should use a system that allows other members of staff, particularly those that actually use your assets, to access the system and update asset records when necessary. This will ensure your asset register is accurate and up to date because you and your team can report any problems or update your asset records immediately, rather than things getting lost in translation as a result of emails, paper notes, etc.

2: Uniquely Tag Your Assets

It’s important to remember that, although 2 assets may look the same, they are in fact unique assets, with a unique history and characteristics. It is therefore very important to make sure you keep individual records for each asset.

A very quick, easy and cheap way of doing this is to physically tag each of your assets by sticking a small, discrete QR code or barcode onto each asset. With the right asset management solution, you’ll be able to scan the barcode/QR code tag and view your asset information. What you must not do is simply record the asset tag ID in your spreadsheet and create no other link between the physical asset and its digital record. This is a huge pitfall for many of the companies we meet and means your asset tracking process is doomed from the offset as you are not following best practice number 1.

An important factor when choosing your asset tracking app is to pick one that automatically updates the location of your assets each time they are scanned. This means that with no additional work from you and your team, your asset register will update automatically, so you don’t need to remember to do anything. As we’re sure you know, the less manual steps involved in a process, the better!

The unique tagging of your assets also means that you can very quickly identify an asset, just by scanning the tag. Not only will you see the asset’s key details but you and your team can even open user manuals, report issues about assets – all immediately and while you’re still with the asset (that should help minimise the chinese whisper effect!

An additional bonus of using asset tags is that this is proven to minimise the loss of assets and theft. When your team is aware that the business is tracking its assets much more rigorously, this has a knock on effect on the responsibility that team members feel for the assets. Now that the business has the visibility to see who had an asset last and where it was and whether, for example, any damage had been reported about it at that point in time, it means your business can hold individual staff members accountable for the loss of assets. You’ll be amazed by the impact this has and you’ll find you lose fewer assets as a result.

3: Utilise Reporting Tools

Make sure your asset management system allows you to run reports on your assets. All this data you gather from creating an asset register and tracking your assets is a really great start. But you’ll need to be able to create custom reports so that you can report back to the business on, for example, which assets are currently at which site, which assets are due for inspection in the next month, etc. A reporting tool means you can make the asset data work for you, so you get even more value out of the system.

If you’re able to run a report to see which assets haven’t been scanned in the last week or last month, then you immediately know which assets might have fallen off the radar. A quick check of who had it last will allow you to track the asset down to ensure it hasn’t been misplaced.

4: Categorise Your Assets To Keep them Organised

Your business is unique and that means the assets that keep your business ticking over are also unique to you. You may also find you have quite a lot of assets that need to be managed and tracked. This is no problem at all, all you need to do is have a plan of action for the rollout process of your new system. Our advice is to identify all of the assets you want to get onto the system but to start with a few different types of assets to begin with and add the others in subsequent phases of the rollout process. That way, you won’t be overwhelmed by the task at hand.

Once you start adding your assets to your asset tracking system, you should add in relevant categorisations that make sense to your business. For example, if it’s useful for the business to be able to see how many of each asset type it has, make sure you add in a property for your assets called ‘Type’. Similarly, if it’s crucial for the business to have a live record of the condition of each asset, be sure to add a property called ‘Condition’ and record the condition of each asset.

When you’ve got your assets neatly organised, you’ll be able to run even more helpful reports. You’ll be able to see at a glance, for example, how many of your drills are in the stores and available for use or how many laptops you have in circulation and who they’re assigned to.

Implementing the Best Asset Tracking Practices

Asset tracking and maintaining a fixed asset register doesn’t need to be hard and once you get it right it can be game changing for your growing business. If you find yourself feeling as though you’re banging your head against a brick wall, first of all, make sure you’re not falling into any of these pitfalls. This will highlight to you where your current process is falling short. Then, if you’re sat there thinking, I need a better system, get in touch with us. Helping customers manage their assets more efficiently is what we do and we’d love to hear from you.

Isn’t it time you started using a better asset tracking system?

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Work-life balance. Sound impossible? Well what if we told you that there are easy, small things you can do to improve your work-life balance. Yes, you may be snowed under with document after document and the words “work-life balance” may instill laughter, but bear with us. For anyone, a better work-life balance is possible.

Let’s go through some statistics. Fear not, these can change. Right now though, they show that we all have a responsibility to ourselves to improve our work-life balance. We all owe ourselves better mental health, happier days (and nights), and a better work ethic.

According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), an association for human resource management professionals, around two thirds (68%) of workers would like to work flexibly in a way that is not available to them. The Independent cites that British workers believe work takes up almost half of their life. A Harvard Business School survey found 94% of service professionals put in over 50 hours a week. Finally, Qualtrics, an employee experience company, states that 85% of UK workers report stress in the workplace.These statistics are normal, though, right? There’s so much to do? Everyone’s in the same boat?

You may feel like you need to:

• Balance enough sleep with a deadline.
• Manage to explore fulfilling hobbies while juggling work hours.
• Have enough time to cook a healthy lunch for work, rather than rushing to get something hot and greasy.
• See friends and family, but also keep your colleagues happy.
• AND keep happy, healthy, exercise plenty, sleep well, have enough water, get your five a day.

Sometimes, it can feel like this:

Breathe. it is possible, trust us. A work-life balance may be fragile, but it is so, so, so important. That’s why we have some of the best ways to improve yours.

Working Hard or Hardly Working?

According to the UK health foundation, work is good for your health. It’s not difficult to see why. It keeps us focused, it gives us purpose, and it’s better than laying around wondering which television show to watch on Netflix. Teamwork can both help you live a more fulfilled life, and can also help you decide between Good Girls or Line of Duty, so work can solve aimlessness in oh so many ways.

However, there are the natural shifts in balance you’ll need to contend with. There are many reasons why a work-life balance gets upset. The times your routine breaks down. There’s friction in the office because nobody’s sleeping. The partners want results but you’re all already stretched thin. Sure, everybody in the office understands, you’re all in the same boat. Until you celebrate reaching that big deadline as a team, though, that extra loud tea-sipping is going to make your eye twitchy.

Sometimes, you can predict these shifts in balance. Sometimes, you may underestimate them. Sometimes, they come out of nowhere. If you work in eCommerce, say, there might be a random day where you receive hundreds of orders.

Another problem is, a Summer routine will need to become a Winter routine. Blue skies means lower melatonin, which means you feel more awake. Television can help with this shift, with “more comforting” shows coming out in Winter, and “more trashy” (*ahem* Love Island *ahem*) shows coming out in Summer. Yet, you’ll still always be more tired and have a lower mood in Winter, because the skies are darker and you’re getting less vitamin D. 

Home is Where the Heart Is

The warm glow of your TV, Laptop Phone, or Gaming PC may well be the light that guides you home. Maybe you’re into yoga or cooking or you play an instrument. Maybe you’re ready to win the pub quiz this time, after hundreds of attempts.

Here’s part of the problem: when things are going well, when life is easy, a work-life balance is easy to maintain. When everything starts piling up, you look back at the days of carelessly thrusting your head back in laughter at work before heading home and doing your favourite thing and lament them. It’s like getting a cold, you know that familiar feeling of regret that you’ve taken not having a cold for granted?

Home life has a lot of admin and things to remember. We all find ourselves juggling with things like insurance, car MOTs, tax, contents insurance, pensions, house insurance, utility providers, bills, subscriptions. Then something breaks. It always feels like everything goes wrong in the same week.

When we think of a work-life balance, usually we think it means a perfect balance throughout the entire year. This is too much to ask, because things will always come up that create stress. When your work-life balance has shifted and you’ve got insurance renewals piling up, an MOT to book and the rest it is possible to reduce stress and keep on top of things.

Once you’re back on top of all your house admin, you’ll be able to switch providers yearly to make sure you get the most out of your money. You’ll be able to take advantage of the cashback offers you usually miss, and more!

Improving your Work Life Balance

In such a loud and busy world, there’s so much to do in so little time. So, what if you had more time? What if you could save time on work and life admin?

There are a few ways you can do this. Sometimes, it’s not enough to simply put the phone down when you’re out of the office. If you’re successful enough to have out of office calls or work, you’re probably successful enough to have to take them.

So, if you lessen the time you work at home by managing your work things with reminders and a more efficient system than spreadsheets provide, you’ll still be able to solve Jenny’s mishap and have enough time for a walk or some other leisure time.

After the call, though, there’ll always be life admin. It’s been a long day. All you want to do is relax. Everything’s messy, you need to sort out taxes and bills, your car is due its MOT. Netflix is waiting but you have to promise it later.

If you’re using a thousand spreadsheets to track everything from your receipts to your bills, everything is going to be far more difficult. You might forget something and remember it when you’re trying to get your hard earned sleep.

Using an asset register at work to track critical assets and IT assets will reduce stress and ensure you and your team waste less time hunting for the assets you need, allowing you to get more of the important stuff done.At home, you can also keep on top of all your life admin by using a system that keeps track of what’s due for renewal when, which provider you’ve switched to for car insurance, gas and electric, and the rest! Setting handy reminders so you’ll never forget an important date again. A tool like itemit means that you’ll be able to sort out life admin faster, and concentrate on your tasks one by one, and still have time to lie in bed with your feet up and catch up on Stranger Things.

If you track your car, an effective asset management app can remind you when your MOT is. Less stress. If you track your IT assets, such as your laptop, an effective asset management app can remind you when bills are due. Less stress. If you track your home, you’ll know where all of your contents or home insurance details are. Less stress.

You can even use integrations to streamline all of your processes!

All of this means more time doing what you love. Get more out of work, and life, by using an asset register. Check out itemit now and thank us later!

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All businesses need to keep track of their IT assets. Regardless of the size of your business, the industry you’re in, or the type of IT asset, it’s crucial to keep track of your IT assets to ensure GDPR compliance.

Tracking your IT assets also means that there are less losses. IT assets, such as laptops, phones, USB sticks, and discs are a lot more costly when they’re lost. Not only have you potentially lost a £1000 laptop, but you may have also lost a lot of work and data.

An extreme example is with the National Archives and Records Administration. In 2009 in America a hard drive was stolen which led to the need to send out over 15,000 emails to individuals who had been affected. The movie Toy Story 2 was also almost totally deleted and lost as backup hard drives weren’t being tracked and managed.

So, how are businesses preventing both data and the physical loss of IT assets using asset tracking and management?

The Systems

Depending on the size of the company, the systems may be different. For example, a huge company with hundreds of employees will have hundreds of laptops to track. A smaller company will, conversely, have fewer assets, but may have more sensitive information on each asset respectively.

The specifics of the systems will therefore be different. Larger companies will have to break down and group IT assets on their asset register a lot more than smaller companies. Smaller companies may have to add more information to each asset, however, to ensure GDPR compliance.

How Are Small Businesses Tracking Their IT Assets?

Smaller businesses often track their IT assets with a small but effective asset register. This way they can track and maintain any sensitive information in order to ensure GDPR compliance.

With an asset tracking and management system, it’s easy to create and manage an asset register in a flexible way that spreadsheets simply don’t allow for.

With an asset tracking system, adding important information such as who is in charge of which assets and what information they hold is quick and easy. More importantly, when this changes, for example when colleagues leave or when IT assets change hands, it’s a lot simpler to update this information.

Data is always being collected, used, and managed, and so having a small but effective asset register is helping small businesses with not only maintaining their GDPR compliance, but also with the management of the data itself.

How Are Large Businesses Tracking Their IT Assets?

With large businesses, the principle is similar. A larger asset register that is broken down into groups in terms of teams and locations is also needed.

If IT assets are travelling between sites or between teams, more accountability is needed to prevent a breach and to minimise the risk of data loss.

Larger businesses are using effective asset management systems that can update in real time whenever IT assets change hands or location. With QR tags, asset tracking is a lot faster and easier. It just takes a simple scan to update where an asset is, and which person in the company scanned the asset.

With this additional accountability, IT asset or data loss is minimised and the risk of a data breach is also reduced. Should something go wrong, an audit trail has also been created so that any issues that may come up can be fixed much faster.

How Can itemit Help Your Company?

itemit has been helping businesses of all sizes and in all industries for years. Over this time, we’ve perfected our system to help any industry track and manage their IT assets.

Whether it’s for location tracking when IT assets travel from site to site, or if it’s for placing IT assets into different collections to manage which teams have which assets, with itemit’s superior asset tracking capabilities you’ll be protected from the worst.

The app is also constantly growing and improving thanks to our customers’ use cases. We know how to help you manage your IT assets. Download the app today and make your work life that little bit easier.

GenieVentures is using itemit to track their IT assets and they said: “itemit has been such a great help to our company – It has been so useful for keeping track of all our IT equipment- we also use it to run reports which helps us with identifying which laptops might need replacing soon and which are the newest.”

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As a business, you have so many things to manage and keep on top of. Sometimes asset management can fall to the bottom of your priority list. If you’re using an Excel spreadsheet to track your assets or even just pen and paper, you’ll be spending so much time on this task. It will feel very frustrating to you, and you will likely not bother updating your records as often as you should.

This has long term consequences for your business and means you will not have the clarity required to keep your business running smoothly day to day. The good news is, there are tools designed to make this task less of a burden and more of a breeze!

The Difficulties of Tracking Company Assets

Whether you’re a construction company, a church, a museum, a charity, in an office, anything, you’ll have a lot of assets that need tracking and maintaining. That’s part of the problem. While having a lot of assets can keep a business running smoothly, trying to keep an eye on them might be slowing you down.

Then, there’s the number of people that use those assets. If you’re a small growing business, you don’t want to wait until your headcount doubles and all of a sudden you have twice as many people using and moving your assets around. Your asset management will rapidly get out of control, with assets being used and taken from site to site with no records of who has what, where they are or when they’re due back.

No matter how large your team or what assets you’re tracking, there will be troubles and difficulties if you don’t have a great company asset tracking system.

The Reasons You May be Struggling (and the solutions)

You’re currently using a spreadsheet to keep track of your assets.

Spreadsheets become outdated and inaccurate as soon as an asset moves location, gets taken by a different user or becomes damaged. They can’t be updated in real-time, on the fly. You, or whoever is in charge of your asset administration, will have to access either Excel or an email, the moment an asset’s status needs to be updated. This isn’t always practical. The more time it takes to update an asset, the more outdated your entire register will become

Even if you happen to be there when an asset breaks, and you can update your spreadsheet right away… Have you ever tried to use Excel on your mobile? It’s like trying to thread a needle while blindfolded. Excel was built for those older 2000s computers, not a smartphone. Your only option then is to email someone to make the updates, and then there’s the risk that this email will be lost.

The only way for you to know that your company asset register is always accurate is if it updates in real-time and if you and your team can all contribute updates without playing a complex game of chinese whispers.

You’re relying on one person.

As with anything, a problem shared is a problem halved. If you’re relying on one person to keep track of all your assets, it’s no wonder you’re struggling. If everyone in your team, or even company, are using the assets, where’s the accountability if there’s a single person checking up on them?

If all staff that are using the assets are scanning them, viewing them, checking them in and out, adding performance comments on them, or booking them for later use, an administrator has a lot more time on their hands. They don’t have to chase assets or distribute them.

Of course, you’ll need a system that means you only give specific permissions to each member of staff, because you’ll want ultimate control over your asset register. That’s why an excellent user access system spreads the burden but doesn’t allow accidental or deliberate edits that’ll affect the company.

With the right asset tracking system, enabling your team and colleagues to scan and view your asset records means what you get is an effortless, automatic and real-time, stock take of your assets – which occurs daily rather than annually! Every time they’re scanned, last seen locations and records of who has last used, checked in, or checked out the asset and when will automatically be updated.

Your assets are untagged.

What is asset tagging? Asset tagging is the use of asset tags in the form of QR code asset tags or RFID asset tags, amongst others, in order to create a simpler and faster way to identify an asset.

When your assets are tagged, all it takes is a scan of a QR code asset tag via a QR code reader (which is integrated into your smartphone) or an RFID asset tag with an RFID reader connected to your smartphone via Bluetooth. The asset tag links the physical asset to its digital record. A quick scan of a tag shows you exactly which asset it is and all the essential information relating to it.

Without asset tagging, you have no way of uniquely identifying your company assets. You won’t be able to tell one MacBook Air from the other, which keyboard is temperamental, which laptop has the lowest RAM. At least not without some time-consuming investigation.

Each of your assets are unique, and they are unique for a reason. Whether this is positive, such as the coveted brand new desktop, everyone is clawing after, or negative if there is damage, your assets are still unique. Finding which is which instantly is vital to making sure your business runs efficiently.

QR code and RFID asset tags will be easy to implement into your new, better asset tracking system.

OR you’ve tagged your assets, but you only record the tag ID in Excel with no link between the tag and Excel.

Using asset tagging and then recording your tags into an Excel spreadsheet largely defeats the purpose of using an asset tagging and tracking system. If there’s no link between them, the same difficulties are present.

You’re still having to update your Excel spreadsheet when you can instead of instantly, wasting time and energy. Your assets still aren’t updating in real-time, meaning that interactions and changes aren’t visible for the team to see.

If you pool these efforts and link an asset tagging system with your asset register, it’s a lot faster to simply scan an asset and edit its information. Then, its status will be updated instantly, meaning that there’s no need for spreadsheets anymore, yay!

Using an asset tagging system with your company assets supersedes the need for spreadsheets or data collections. All you’ll have to do is scan the asset, and everything you need to check, edit, or maintain will be right in front of you, at your fingertips.

You don’t know where your assets are or who has them.

If your team doesn’t have the ability to scan and access company asset data, nobody will be able to quickly tell where assets are.

Without a sound asset tracking system in place, monitoring asset use and condition will be difficult for you, and knowing what’s available to use or where company assets are will be difficult for your team.

A better system can help you know who has what, where they’ve taken it, where they’ve left it, whether or not it’s working properly, who they’ve handed it over to, and much more. Crucially, as the updates are in real time and with a simple scan of an asset tag, there’s no need for a paper trail.

Your team can share assets between themselves with ease and with bureaucracy left to a minimum because real-time updates mean there’s increased accountability. You can see at a glance who had what last and trace things this way, without having to follow spreadsheets or documents to see where assets may or may not be.

Even worse would be wasting valuable time finding an asset that’s gone walkabout. Imagine this: an asset was checked out at 9:00 by John. “John, have you finished with the tablet?” “I passed it to Linda, she needed it.” “Thanks, John! … Linda, have you finished with the tablet?” “I gave it to Emily.” Then you sigh a little and dial up Emily on the phone. She handed it to Paul, and so the search continues. This can go on until you find out someone’s just left it next to the kitchen sink all along. All the while you’re well aware of that looming deadline while you’re running around looking for something.

The alternative? You can open an effective asset management app and see “Last seen by Karen” maybe even with a comment saying “Getting more coffee, will return tablet to Paul when back.”

You keep on purchasing duplicates.

There’s only one thing worse than having to replace a lost asset. Replacing a lost asset and then finding the original.

Related to this are two potential problems: not knowing what assets you have and therefore assuming loss; not knowing where assets are or who they are with. It’s not great for morale or team spirit, for example, if an iPad hasn’t been seen for days or weeks, it gets replaced, and then it’s found inside a team member’s desk.

Here’s a fact. The more expensive the company asset is, the more crucial to your business it will be. If this were to get lost or stolen, it’s quite likely you’ll need to replace it immediately. Without an effective asset tracking system, it may feel like an instant decision to replace an asset instantly is proactive, when in reality it’s a more complex and difficult situation.

For example, “are you sure we’ve lost it?” Isn’t going to be a question that you’re spending too much time on if you have a crucial presentation or project the next day. These kinds of questions can be a thing of the past, as implementing a successful asset tracking system means you’ll know sooner whether or not something is lost.

Duplicates also clog up an asset register. This is whether you’ve lost an asset or not. It’s possible a request may be made for a crucial asset. It’s also entirely possible that your company already owns that asset, unbeknownst to the person making the request. Maintaining duplicates is a waste of time and money.

Then, you’ll still need to service the asset and maintain it because somebody has used it. It, therefore, can’t be returned, or, you might as well just have two. Asset tracking and management is great for streamlining yours and your team’s use of company assets.

You keep on losing assets.

Yes, there will be accidents, things might be misplaced onsite or in the field, things might get stolen, if you’re sharing or hiring in assets and items the wrong things might get taken back with the wrong company. With asset tracking and management, you’ll know if something’s lost instantly. You’ll waste less time investigating what happened to company assets. You’ll know who’s liable. You’ll even have plenty of evidence for insurance companies to look at such as receipts and last seen locations.

Not only do you save time, but you also prevent unnecessary cost by knowing exactly which asset, asset type, and asset condition has gone missing. If a £3,000 asset has gone missing that never worked properly, does it make sense to replace it with exactly the same make? Conversely, if an asset has worked well and your team are used to using it, it’s a lot easier to replace that company asset with exactly the same make and model, making everyone’s lives easier!

There may be more to losing an asset, however. Sometimes you might be lucky, and it might just be a misplaced cable or spanner. However, it’s much, much trickier if the asset you lose contains personal or private data. You belong to a company which means you must be GDPR compliant. If an important IT asset is lost, you need to know immediately so that you can put measures in place to minimise potential data breaches.

With a great asset register, it’s a lot easier to track and maintain this information, as well as fix any problems before they even become problems in the first place.

You don’t have one central, safe place to store all of your asset records and asset information, manuals, etc.

There’s a wide variety and range of information that comes with assets. Both you and your team need to have easy access to this information.

Take user manuals as an example. There’s a possibility that these are in a cabinet collecting dust, your team doesn’t know these exist, and/or that you’ll have to pass these out when you’re training new starters. You and/or your team will also need to access these manuals when you’re with your assets, on the go.

There’s a straightforward solution – link them to your assets! Not only does this save you money from printing costs and help protect the environment, but it also saves you time. You can simply attach the manual to your asset’s record and scan the tag to see it.

Then there’s legal and regulatory documents such as certificates of inspection, sign-offs that an asset is compliant, insurance information, financial information, etc. If these are linked directly to an asset, this information won’t be lost, and it will be instantly accessible.

With an asset tracking and management app like itemit, tracking your company assets is a lot easier. You won’t lose crucial information, and you’ll be able to find critical assets faster. You’ll be able to access user manuals and any and all other bits of information you may need on the go on a simple to use app.

Company Assets and itemit

These struggles are normal for any company. You may not even recognise that they’re struggles because of this. You may think that rummaging around in spreadsheets and folders is a normal part of managing assets, but there is a better way!

You need a solution to all these problems. A solution that will save your company time and money. A solution that allows you to have accurate asset registers that update in real time. A solution that’s available on iOS and Android, but that also provides an intelligent desktop web portal for running advanced reports that will please your bosses.

You need itemit.

With itemit, your ROI is quick. You’ll have much more free time to do your job. We can’t promise you a raise, but we can guarantee you that your day to day work life will become easier and more enjoyable, you’ll get more done and lose fewer assets.

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Since 2008, Airbnb has revolutionised the way property hosts and adventure seekers find each other. If you’re an Airbnb host offering unique escapes and experiences to inquisitive couples and adventurous families then you’ll know how rewarding being a host can be. You’ll also know that at times Airbnb Management can be challenging to keep on top of.

A key area of Airbnb Management is to ensure your guests are provided with the facilities as advertised in your ads and that everything is in good working order and safe to use. Now, if you’re juggling multiple properties or even if you’ve got just the one to manage currently, keeping track of all your assets can become quite challenging. Airbnb assets include things like your electrical appliances and white goods but also your home accessories, artwork, furniture and can even go as far as your cleaning supplies, the coffee machine you rent and even your netflix subscription!

What is Airbnb Asset Management?

In the context of your Airbnb property, asset tracking and asset management refers to keeping records of the assets you have and any information relating to them. This will include which property that asset is in, when it is due for a PAT test or inspection but may also include user manuals, safety certificates and more. The best asset tracking system allows you to store any piece of important information relating to your assets in one safe and convenient place.

Why do I need to manage my Airbnb Assets?

Being an Airbnb host, and working towards that elusive Superhost status means you have a lot of things to juggle. The booking of your properties is all handled by Airbnb, and you can use the handy Airbnb app to communicate with your guests on the go so they’re both covered. Your cleaning and turn around team are great so that’s all in hand. But how do you know when the TVs residing in your properties are due for their annual PAT test, or when the warranty on your washing machine expires? Last thing you want to do is waste money paying for repairs if they would have been covered under your warranty.

Health and safety

We know the safety of your guests is of the utmost importance to you. You’ve got all the necessary certificates and information, but it’s just not easy to find the information you need when you need it.

Each asset and each property will have a different set of health and safety requirements which might include inspections, routine maintenance, PAT tests and more. As a responsible host that wants to ensure the safety of their guests, it’s important that you take control of this information and help yourself to make your life easier by using an asset tracking and management tool to keep track of all of this for you.

Fixing and maintaining your things

When you’ve kitted out your Airbnb properties with top of the range appliances that allow your guests to enjoy a refreshing glass of water served over crushed ice and some of the best coffee available without having your own personal barista, you want these appliances to last.

Each of these assets is likely to have a different maintenance schedule, unique cleaning requirements and other general upkeep procedures to ensure that they continue to run optimally. But following the manufacturer’s guidelines can become challenging when you’re talking about maintaining assets across multiple properties in various locations.

It’s therefore vital to get a system in place that makes it easy for you to ensure your assets are fully maintained and serviced and therefore less likely to break down, meaning your guests can enjoy all the facilities on offer before leaving that five-star rating.

To keep you organised

As your Airbnb empire grows, with it comes an increase in properties and therefore assets within these properties and also all of the actions and processes associated with these assets.

Maintaining an accurate asset register of which assets are in which of your properties is crucial to keeping you sane and keeping your properties organised. This will help you and your team quickly check the inventory at a property, as you’ll be able to see exactly what should be there.

Your asset management system should also store and organise all the important due dates for inspections, warranty expiries, routine maintenance and all your energy and utility suppliers so that you don’t have to worry about forgetting an important due date or renewal when you have so many other things to remember!

To provide transparency to your guests

Nothing will make your guests feel more comfortable and secure than transparency from their host. If a guest is able to see information about your assets, they can see how well they are maintained and inspected. If you choose the right solution, guests will also be able to access user manuals and even report issues about your assets or property, simply by scanning an asset’s tag using their smartphone.

Some of the best asset tracking solutions make it very easy for you to share asset records with your guests and it’s certainly something that;’s beneficial for both you and your guests.

To ensure you’re covered when it comes to insurance

You’ll already have insurance covering your properties, the contents within them and your Airbnb business. But it can get confusing as to exactly which high value assets are specifically covered. If you’re savvy, you’ll also be switching provider each year to ensure you’re getting the best deals. It’s far too easy to forget who is your latest insurance provider, so you’ll need to keep an up to date record of that to make your life easy.

Your number one priority when it comes to insurance and your Airbnb management is to give both yourself and your guests the confidence that any eventuality is covered.

How can an asset management system help?

There’s a very simple way to combat all of the challenges associated with managing Airbnb properties and keeping track of all your assets. All you need is an easy to use, asset management tool that will keep your assets and your properties organised.

A good asset register tool will allow you to create records for each asset individually and record, view and update this information on the go, ideally using a handy app on your phone!

This means all your health and safety records and concerns are handled by the system, which will notify you when assets require your attention.

You’ll also want the ability to share these records with your staff and even your guests. Transparency is key when it comes to your guests feeling comfortable and secure in your property, and it’s crucial your staff know what to expect and also what’s expected of them when it comes to health and safety requirements.

For maintenance and asset inspections, an asset tracking system will transform the way you keep your properties running smoothly. You’ll get notifications when a fault or problem is reported against your assets and helpful reminders when assets are due for routine maintenance and inspections.

When it comes to insurance, you need to make sure you have all the necessary information to hand, should it ever be required. Use an asset management app to store all your purchase receipts against individual assets, so if you’re asked for proof of purchase, you don’t need to hunt down that pesky receipt.

An effective asset tracking solution provides you with a safe place to store all your critical asset information. Each asset has its own page where you can store, view, and update its data. This means no matter what the problem, you know you have a reliable system to turn to and find what you need.

In terms of organisation, once you find the right tool to keep track of your Airbnb properties, you’ll never look back. Asset tracking heavily assists Airbnb Management as you can instantly see which assets are in which room in which property. There’s no longer a need to try and remember which property has which television, or appliance as you can see it all in black and white from your phone.

All you need is a simple to use, asset tracking solution that will revolutionise the way you manage your Airbnb properties.

Try itemit, the simple asset management software, for free today.

Instant access. No credit card details required.

or, download the itemit app to get started

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The itemit team has been busy making simple asset tracking even simpler and even more effective. We’ve released Version 2.0 of itemit. You’ll see a lot of new features and a new design, designed to make asset management and tracking a breeze.

These new features will help you keep track of your assets in the same simple way, but you can now get things done faster, organise your assets more helpfully and even monitor issues raised against your assets – all from one system. The biggest game-changing feature itemit now offers is the ability to share a sub-set of assets with your colleagues, so you can control who can see what!

Another handy addition – you can now track your personal and business assets separately. Keep track of your car’s MOT, insurance and tax in your personal workspace and monitor your laptops, devices and tools in your company workspace. Everything you need, all in one handy app.

Here’s a bit more information about the new asset tracking capabilities:

Workspaces

Workspaces are how you separate the monitoring of business assets from your home inventory tracking. With workspaces you can have a personal set of assets as well as a set of business assets.

Your personal workspace will be where you manage your home inventory, including assets such as your car, your washing machine, your creative assets, your books and more! Keep track of important due dates such as your home insurance renewal date and the warranty expiry dates of your white goods and appliances. Create a handy home inventory that holds all the important information about your assets, so you never forget a crucial renewal again.

Separate to your home inventory workspace, you’ll have a Pro workspace where you create and maintain an asset register for your business. You can, of course, still use QR code asset tags and RFID asset tags to keep track of your critical business assets.

This means your home assets will be kept safe and sound. You can choose to share your personal assets with your family, so they can help you keep track of things. Meanwhile, your boss and your colleagues can all access your company assets from your company workspace, which is completely separate. So, your home assets stay private but it’s still quick and easy for you to switch to viewing your work assets.

You can now also create collections and collection profiles.

This means it’s a lot easier to manage and group your assets by type, price, owner, colour, anything! It’ll all update on your fixed asset register, and so now it’s a lot easier to see what your assets are or who is in charge of them.

Visit the Reports page and analyse your fixed asset register. Here you can easily filter your assets by any properties. Need to run a report on which assets are due for inspection – it’s simple. Need to know which assets are currently in London – now you can!

You can even export all of this information for financial, legal, insurance, or business purposes.

Create your own location hierarchy for asset management

In addition to itemit recording automatically the last seen location of your assets each time they are scanned, you can now create a custom location hierarchy to which you can assign your assets to. This allows for quick and easy asset monitoring and location tracking.

If your assets belong in a specific laboratory or store room, or even on a particular shelf, you can now ensure they are where they’re supposed to be. This is especially helpful if you have critical assets that you need to find at short notice or if your tools and equipment assets move from site to site or room to room.

For example, you can add a hierarchical location of your building, including the building’s name, floors, rooms, even down to store cupboards and shelves. Then you can assign assets to particular locations and update them on the fly by scanning an asset or piece of equipment.

Find your assets much faster using locations and location hierarchies.

Issues Management

The itemit issues management feature lets you raise issues against individual assets – gone are the days of vague issue and fault reports! Your team will no longer need to try and find out which air con unit in the room is the one with the fault, now they’ll know!

Issues management uses cutting edge technologies to make your life easier. All you need to do is report an issue against an asset by describing the fault or problem. The smart itemit AI bot will prioritise your issues for you so you can spend less time sifting through them. You can always re-prioritise your issues, should you need to.

Your maintenance team will be able to see incoming issues in real time and set to fixing them.

Sharing

Share your assets!

You can now share sub-sets of your assets with your colleagues, so you can restrict what your team has access to. If you have multiple sites and want to restrict visibility of critical assets to only staff based at that particular site, it’s super easy, just share the assets at e.g. the London Site with those that need access.

If you’re a personal collector of coins, books, DVDs, miniatures, action figures, anything, you will now be able to share your collections of assets with friends and family. Why not show off those collectibles!

Instant access. No credit card details required.

or, download the itemit app to get started