Helpful Summary
Overview: This article takes a deep dive into asset monitoring, its importance for your business, and how you can easily monitor and effectively manage the physical and digital assets of your business.
Why You Can Trust Us: At BlueTally, we’ve worked with international brands by providing advanced asset management features like real-time tracking, custom reports, automated data entry, and seamless integrations for efficient asset monitoring.
Why It Matters: Asset monitoring is vital for optimizing resource use, preventing theft, and enabling proactive maintenance, which together enhance overall business operations and reduce costs.
Action Points: We recommend businesses adopt BlueTally for comprehensive asset monitoring, leveraging its versatile tracking capabilities and customizable alerts to ensure better management and utilization of assets.
Further Research: Visit our website to learn how BlueTally can be tailored to meet the specific needs of your business regarding asset monitoring. You can also check out our blog for more expert knowledge and industry trends in the asset management space.
Think about all your business assets. There’s probably much more than you anticipated, and if this is the case, then there’s no doubt you have to elevate your asset monitoring processes. Regular asset monitoring is crucial for maintaining operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness when running a business.
Through effective asset monitoring, business owners can ensure that their valuable resources are used appropriately, taken care of, tracked, and accounted for.
Fortunately, in this BlueTally guide, we will discuss everything you need to know about asset monitoring–the benefits, how you can monitor your assets effectively, and the perfect tool you can use to accomplish the task.
Let’s get started.
Why Listen To Us?
At BlueTally, we've guided many businesses in various industries to perform asset monitoring successfully. For starters, our platform streamlines and automates asset tracking for accurate audits.
Our collaboration with global brands and companies such as Pfizer, Unilever, Vodafone, and more demonstrates our commitment to providing businesses with effective solutions for accurate asset monitoring, using advanced integrations and security features for seamless management.
What is Asset Monitoring?
If you want to ensure that your assets maintain the value you expect of them, keeping a close eye on their movements is essential. Asset monitoring–also known as asset tracking– is the process of tracking and managing various assets to ensure they are secure, used efficiently, and in good working condition.
Today, robust asset tracking solutions, like BlueTally, help you remotely manage all your movable and fixed assets. They are cloud-based systems that provide you with real-time data regarding the item name, purchase date, owner, usage status, and location. This way you’ll be aware when anything goes amiss.
Why is Asset Monitoring Crucial for Your Business?
Regular tracking and monitoring of assets is crucial for your business because it helps ensure that all business resources are functioning optimally, which in turn supports smooth business operations.
By efficiently tracking where your assets are and how they are being used, you’ll get:
- Enhanced Security: According to recent studies, asset misappropriation is the most common type of occupational fraud and makes up 86% of all fraud cases worldwide. So, keeping track of asset locations reduces the risk of theft and loss, especially for high-value items.
- Reduced Costs: Asset monitoring helps identify underused or misused assets. This will allow better resource management and cost savings on maintenance and replacements.
- Downtime Prevention: Regularly monitoring the condition of your physical assets allows for timely maintenance, preventing unexpected breakdowns that may disrupt your business operations.
- Improved Overall Efficiency: By having accurate data on asset performance and usage, companies can make informed decisions that optimize their operations and increase productivity.
How To Monitor Your Assets Effectively
Below are crucial steps that not only help in tracking and managing assets efficiently but also in maximizing their utility and lifespan.
1. Proper Asset Identification and Cataloging
The first step in asset monitoring is to identify all assets within your organization and categorize them appropriately. This could involve creating an inventory of your IT equipment, vehicles, machinery, software licenses, and digital assets.
Then, categorize your assets based on type, uses, and value to ascertain their functions in your business operations.
Through asset identification and cataloging, you’ll have a clear idea of all the items that need to be monitored and prioritize them accordingly.
2. Establish Clear Asset Monitoring Goals
The next step in asset monitoring is establishing clear goals. These goals can be reducing downtime by 20% or improving asset performance by 15%.
By defining clear objectives, you’ll be able to stay focused on what truly matters and make informed decisions based on data-driven insights, whether it's monitoring vehicles or IT equipment.
An efficient way to accomplish this task would be to set goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
3. Pick the Right Asset Monitoring Tool
An asset monitoring tool like BlueTally can help streamline your entire asset monitoring process.
For starters, asset monitoring tools can provide real-time visibility into the status, location, and condition of assets. This will help you better manage your assets and avoid theft, loss, untimely stockouts, and interrupted productivity due to misallocation of resources or downtime.
Another upside of using an asset monitoring tool is its reliability in monitoring asset health and performance.
With this data, you can gain valuable insights into which particular assets are due for maintenance and repair, effectively minimizing unexpected operation downtimes due to asset malfunction.
The bottom line, a monitoring tool like BlueTally can significantly benefit organizations by improving asset visibility, optimizing performance, reducing costs, enhancing security, ensuring compliance, and facilitating data-driven decision-making.
Take a look at our Best Practices for Deploying Asset Management Software.
4. Implement Tracking Solutions
Considering all things are in place, it is now time to implement suitable tracking solutions for your business assets. Asset tags help identify your movable assets such as computers, furniture, equipment, vehicles and more.
Innovative asset tags like barcodes, RFID tags, GPS for mobile assets, and BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) for proximity tracking offer various ways to monitor different types of assets conveniently.
Using BlueTally, you can assign a unique barcode for each of your assets based on the Asset ID you choose. This way, you can print out your barcodes and put them on your physical assets for easy scanning and tracking.
5. Set Up System Alerts and Thresholds
Configuring the asset monitoring system is important to alert you about any event that happens to your assets.
Below are some of the useful types of alerts you can set using an asset monitoring tool like BlueTally:
- Usage-Based Alerts: Tracks usage metrics such as operating hours or cycles and generates alerts when assets reach predefined thresholds, indicating the need for maintenance.
- Time-Based Alerts: Alerts triggered based on predefined maintenance schedules, ensuring that assets are serviced and checked regularly to prevent breakdowns.
- Geofencing Alerts: Geofencing can be used for mobile assets to define virtual boundaries, and alerts can be triggered when assets move outside these boundaries without authorization.
- Motion Sensors: Assets equipped with motion sensors can trigger alerts if they are moved when they shouldn't be, indicating potential theft or unauthorized use.
- Performance Metrics: Monitoring systems can track performance metrics such as energy consumption, output levels, or idle time and generate alerts when anomalies are detected, indicating potential inefficiencies or misallocation of resources.
- Historical Data Analysis: By analyzing historical data, the system can identify patterns that deviate from the norm and generate alerts when such anomalies occur.
- Temperature and Humidity Alerts: For assets sensitive to environmental conditions, the system can monitor temperature and humidity levels and generate alerts if they exceed or fall below specified thresholds, potentially damaging the assets.
- Unauthorized Access Alerts: Alerts can be configured to notify managers of any unauthorized access attempts to assets, ensuring prompt action to prevent theft or damage.
- Predictive Maintenance: By analyzing asset data, the system can predict potential maintenance needs and generate alerts in advance, allowing managers to proactively address issues before they escalate.
Fortunately, with BlueTally, you can easily track and schedule asset audits and maintenance tasks. You’ll receive timely notifications whenever any audits are overdue, preserving compliance and operational integrity.
6. Analyze Data and Optimize
Analyzing the data collected through asset monitoring is crucial for optimizing your asset management strategies.
For instance, by identifying trends such as usage patterns and performance, you’ll be able to optimize asset usage and streamline operations.
This analysis also helps in planning for future asset needs by optimizing maintenance schedules, understanding asset lifecycle stages, and making informed decisions about asset retirement or replacement.
Data-driven decision-making based on this analysis improves operational efficiency, ensures compliance with regulations, and enables continuous improvement of asset management practices.
7. Ensure Compliance and Security
Effective asset monitoring can ensure compliance with industry standards and regulations by tracking key metrics and ensuring adherence to required standards, including performance and maintenance records.
To achieve this, check if your assets meet the correct industry standards and regulations. Then, address any compliance issues to reduce the risk of penalties.
Additionally, you can enhance asset security against unauthorized use or theft by implementing asset tracking tracking solutions like GPS or RFID tags.
Finally, by training your employees on compliance and security you’re further equipped to prevent and minimize problems in the future.
Ready to get started with asset monitoring? Forget about spreadsheets and clunky systems! There is a better way.
How BlueTally Streamlines Your Asset Monitoring Process
BlueTally is a free and simple asset management software, designed to monitor and protect all of your business assets, including operational tools and equipment, intellectual property, personnel data, business systems, and brand integrity.
BlueTally comes with a suite of advanced features that provide a comprehensive asset monitoring solution tailored to every business's needs.
Versatile Tracking Capabilities
BlueTally supports a variety of tracking technologies, including QR codes and GPS, making it suitable for a wide range of asset types, from small tools and machinery to large vehicles and equipment. This versatility ensures that businesses can track their assets in real time, regardless of their nature or location.
Customizable Alerts and Reports
With BlueTally, businesses can set up customizable alerts for maintenance, unauthorized asset movement, and other critical thresholds. The platform also offers detailed reports and analytics, enabling businesses to gain insights into asset utilization, maintenance schedules, and lifecycle management, aiding in informed decision-making.
Seamless Integration
BlueTally is designed to integrate seamlessly with existing business systems, providing a unified view of assets across the organization. This integration capability ensures that asset data is readily available when and where it's needed, improving operational efficiency and asset utilization.
Enhanced Security and Compliance
Our platform offers features that help businesses secure their assets and ensure compliance with industry standards and regulations. By providing detailed records of asset location, usage, and maintenance history, BlueTally aids in compliance reporting and audits while enhancing asset security.
User-Friendly Interface
BlueTally offers an intuitive, user-friendly interface, making it easy for businesses to implement and adopt asset monitoring practices. This ease of use ensures that businesses can quickly start tracking their assets without a steep learning curve, facilitating smoother operations and better asset management.
By leveraging BlueTally for asset monitoring, businesses can not only improve their operational efficiency but also extend the lifespan of their assets, ensure compliance and security, and ultimately achieve better asset utilization and cost savings.
Simplify Asset Monitoring With BlueTally
Asset monitoring is essential for ensuring that both physical and digital assets are used optimally, maintained properly, and secured against theft or loss.
This practice supports smooth business operations by preventing downtime, reducing costs through better resource management, enhancing security, and improving overall efficiency.
We at BlueTally are dedicated to enhancing your asset management process through efficient and comprehensive asset monitoring.
By leveraging our asset monitoring software, businesses can gain valuable insights into their asset management processes, leading to improved overall business decision-making and enhanced asset performance.
Try BlueTally for free today!
