Why Does Asset Management Software Matter?
Business owners and technologies are reevaluating their priorities after the COVID-19 period. They cannot afford to lose the assets that they have. Here, productive asset management software (AMS) can help them.
Suppose you own a small or mid-cap business in domains like manufacturing, construction, or goods distribution. In that case, you can probably be aware of how dependent they are on a complicated group of tools, machinery, vehicles, etc.
In startups, there are usually a small number of assets; that are easy to handle without any difficulty. However, just when the company grows, the number of assets also increases. It gets tiresome to manage all of them.
For such reasons, asset management software becomes necessary. You can get your own AMS by setting up a dedicated software development team.
In the upcoming content, we will explore different reasons why asset management systems matter, pros and cons, and much more. Let’s dive in and explore more!
Asset Management- Brief introduction
Managing assets for IT is used to keep track of managing an organization’s software and hardware assets. It includes finding the assets from their location, hardware installed, and multiple key information like maintenance and warranty schedules.
A professional IT technician must have tabs on how many laptops are distributed across the team, the serial number of each laptop, the history of downloads and updates, and make a record of each maintenance process of each laptop. It helps the technicians solve problems quickly, and upgrade the equipment whenever needed.
Over time, this data helps businesses to make decisions about how frequently a gadget needs a replacement. It’s just one of the multiple alternatives on how to manage particular types of assets. Here’s the list of other assets that are to be managed using particular software:
Desktop computers
Laptops
Monitors
UPS surge protectors
TVs
SSL certificates
Headsets
Now, let’s see why Asset Management Software Matters.
Reasons Asset Management Software Matters
Here are the top reasons why Asset Management Software matters:
1# Asset management software is important to handle everyday operations
Tracking gadgets and licenses is a good start to managing assets. Collect basic IT information and then collect more information regarding the assets.
Involve legal or HR systems in this process as well. Also, import metadata from different organizations. People also limit their thinking on asset management to IT, but you should take all the assets of your business. It could be hardware, compliance work, or even a vehicle fleet. These assets are worth tracking.
Eventually, the asset management system is the single source of data collection. It gives control over your organization, whether controlling simple IT assets or intelligence, etc.
2# Organizations can make effective decisions
For instance, you have purchased eight laptops, three of them from different vendors than the remaining ones.
Finally, it’s time to enter these assets into your asset management software. The first three that were purchased from a different vendor stopped working in one year. Over time, only one out of the five laptops purchased from other vendors stopped working.
As you have a track record about these laptops in your software, you can see these details on the dashboard, and search these computers from a list of assets that could include different assets. It might happen that your organization will decide to only buy laptops from another vendor, instead of the first one.
3# Quick Access to Asset Data
You will need asset information to keep an eye on asset performance, replace or repair decisions, and know the asset’s tax implications.
When utilizing an AMS, you can easily shift through asset data quickly. You will have the option to look for asset information based on different criteria like asset type, location, warranty, and also its repair history.
Get this information and save the time that you might waste looking through complex asset management spreadsheets.
4# Efficient data availability gives innovation
With SRE and DevOps principles becoming more modern and influential teams face increased pressure to get changes quickly. It also doesn’t compromise reliability.
AMS is a comprehensive image of what systems and tools are available to make asset management effective. It’s also seamless to import information from service providers and receive automatic upgrades to know what you are using, what is not necessary, and what you use.
As teams are working autonomously, AMS also provides flexibility and freedom with minimum risk and more innovation. With accurate information from CMDB, teams move with speed and anticipate when the repair or replacement is needed.
Just when the assets devalue, the expense of ownership often rises. Consider a machine that may demand more frequent repairs over time. At a certain point, the expense of continual repairs may outweigh the benefits.
Accurate maintenance and repair records are crucial for evaluating whether asset replacement is warranted. If the total cost of ownership, encompassing repair, maintenance, and operational expenses, surpasses the economic value it delivers, replacing the asset becomes a prudent decision.
These are some of the primary reasons for using ASM. Now, let’s see some common types of ASMs.
Types of Asset Management Software
There are multiple types of asset management software, let’s understand them in detail:
CMMS and EAM
EAM is Enterprise Asset Management and CMMS means Computerized Maintenance Management System. These are two common types of AMS.
CMMS and EAM are different from each other based on managing computerizing asset management vs managing comprehensive overview.
Overall, EAM software is quite more comprehensive than CMMS as it fully manages the capital assets of the business, starting from procurement to disposition. While the CMMS is a smaller-scale technology that focuses on maintenance.
Both provide software support maintenance and help organizations in monitoring corporate assets like:
Linear assets like railways, power lines, pipelines, etc
Fixed plant assets like oil refineries, manufacturing equipment, etc.
Fixed and mobile assets like rail cars, service equipment, trucks, locomotives, pumping stations, transformers, etc.
APM Software
APM means Asset Performance Management software. It offers advanced maintenance decision support for optimizing asset operation and reliability.
Through data integration, APM can analyze and visualize the data to make better maintenance decisions and identify when to perform maintenance & inspect activities on industry assets.
APM products have capabilities and functionalities for modern maintenance requirements, risk management, support asset strategy, reliability-centered maintenance, and more.
AIP software
AIP means Asset Investment Planning. It’s a capital planning decision support tool that asset-centric & asset-intensive industries use to build capital expenses for assets.
AIP systems play an important role in modernizing asset management techniques. By integrating data from EAM systems, APM software, and other tools, these systems provide comprehensive insights into asset conditions, criticality, budgets, maintenance costs, and risks. Leveraging this wealth of data, AIP systems generate forward-looking capital investment plans that transcend current budget cycles.
These strategic plans extend over extended time horizons, spanning 20, 30, or even more than 40 years into the future. Such long-term planning enables organizations to make informed decisions that optimize asset performance, mitigate risks, and maximize returns on investment.
How does AMS help Businesses?
Here are certain advantages of using AMS for bringing success to your business:
Using IT Asset Management Software helps in maintaining the vendor portfolio. Also, it helps in optimizing the same.
AMS helps with cost optimization and avoiding extra expense by eradicating resources from where faulty assets were bought.
It helps in tracking the software installations and usage is also necessary. It is mainly used in hybrid work environments.
Final Verdict
In the end, the importance of AMS can’t be overstated in the rapidly evolving business realm.
As firms navigate complex operational bumps and strive for greater efficiency, the need for strong asset management solutions becomes apparent. It empowers businesses to manage processes, optimize resource allocation, and enhance decision-making based on real-time data insights.
By centralizing asset data, automating workflows, and predictive maintenance features, these software solutions enhance asset performance, scalability, and reliability. Moreover, asset management software is crucial for ensuring regulatory compliance, mitigating risks, and maximizing returns on investment.
As technology continues to advance, embracing innovative asset management software becomes imperative for organizations seeking to stay competitive, resilient, and future-ready in an ever-changing business environment.