Signs you’ve outgrown your existing asset management software

In this competitive world, asset management software needs to be able to meet new expectations and your expanding needs. Be able to incorporate new business processes, and grow with your business. If your current solution is unable to leverage the latest technologies, it could be harming your competitive edge.

Businesses that adopt the latest-generation asset management software are automating business processes, getting real-time visibility into asset conditions, increasing productivity and creating efficiencies. They are providing information to field teams, no matter where they are. Access to asset data is of vital importance to any business looking to compete at the highest levels.

Competitive businesses are looking for integrated solutions

Latest-generation asset management software solutions not only improve operations and reduce risks, but can also be a source of competitive advantage.

How information gives you a competitive advantage

Enterprise ERP systems often lack the functionality and specialised capabilities necessary to effectively track and manage assets. This creates multiple challenges for the business such as data integrity, accuracy, and the ability to produce accurate reports.

Embrace an asset management system that can integrate with your existing important systems and is easy to implement. Look for seamless integration options via a combination of third-party integration tools, such as Microsoft Biztalk or IBMs WebSphere, .NET, Message Queuing (MSMQ), Excel, text files and web services.

All software components of your asset management solution should be designed to provide superior asset management capabilities. Either stand-alone, or complement wider-reaching ERP and finance systems such as SAP, Oracle, Technology One, SmartStream, and Sage, among others.

Competitive businesses are looking for solutions that will provide for all their ongoing needs, through a single solution. This avoids having multiple projects and duplicated data across an organisation. Resulting in lower project costs and a consolidated view of assets. Today, businesses expect asset management solutions to:

• Track location, usage and consumption of assets
• Ensure optimal availability (as shared usage is definitely a trend)
• Automate assets operational and cost management

While many traditional asset management systems are built on desktop or simple web technologies, businesses today are looking for solutions that leverage the benefits of collaboration and mobility. It is critical to invest in a scalable solution. Asset management solutions capped/limited by the number of end-users and assets also limits the opportunity for growth.

Latest generation asset management software is a business strategy

The world of asset management continues to evolve, and at a rapid pace. Not only are business processes changing to support an intelligent enterprise strategy, but underlying technologies and platforms are changing as well to meet these expanding needs. The result is a need for next-generation intelligent and connected asset management capabilities.

Ed O’Brien – Director of Research – ARC Advisory Group

Latest generation asset management solutions are a business strategy, designed to be integrated into your business workflows. Thus, enabling processes for the initial planning of acquiring assets, identifying desired use, installation, set-up of maintenance schedules, operations, and concludes with the eventual replacement or retirement of an asset.

Your total business costs must balance and inventory levels must be optimised to run a lean business. Therefore, an effective asset and inventory system incorporating finance, maintenance and procurement, provides detailed information and guides you to a course of action.

How do you know if your asset management system is working for you? Examining the output is a good place to start.

Companies want smart solutions that make asset management much simpler and will help them to achieve more savings. So, what does latest-generation asset management software bring?

• Superior user experience; user-friendly and intuitive UI

• Collaborative and mobile solutions; making it easy for managers, asset users and suppliers to work together

• Web and mobile access; actionable notifications/alerts to take action on time and avoid additional costs

• Integrated and collaborative workflows that are user-friendly; working even more efficiently between managers, users and suppliers

• Multi-asset capability; allowing for the management of several types of assets, enabling understanding of global costs as well as assets costs per user

• A single source of truth; that avoids duplication of data and interfaces with multiple systems and multiple projects

• Integrated asset tracking and lifecycle management solution

• Remote asset management and/or asset tracking; enabling the collection of data from all connected devices

• Strategic analysis capability, forecasts and predictive analysis to provide actionable insight that will help companies use their assets more efficiently and control costs

Signs you’ve outgrown your existing asset management software

Here are just some of the signs that your asset management system or processes may not have adequate controls in place to manage your physical assets efficiently.

Unable to accurately record portable asset movement

When you issue (check-out) or return (check-in) portable items, your database does not reflect the ownership/location change (movement of an asset). Therefore, your database information is constantly out of date, making it hard to locate assets.

Physical audits are time-consuming and inaccurate

No periodic or spot inventory counts/audits, or only wall-to-wall audits that are performed every few years (to reconcile your database). Consequently, the accounting department spends more hours at the end of each month, and at the end of the fiscal year, to try to reconcile both assets and inventory.

The database is out-of-date

It is a struggle to obtain accurate information about asset finance and residual or replacement values. With the maintenance history, location and usage condition out-of-date, making provision for accurate insurance coverage is difficult and time-consuming.

The database doesn’t contain all assets and inventory

You only track high-value items (say, >$5000 in purchase value) while not tracking other items of lesser value, but critical to business operations. Therefore, your system does not truly reflect your business processes.

No lifecycle projections

You cannot project when your assets will need to be retired or replaced, because there is not enough adequate historical data, supplemented by ongoing maintenance records.

No record of audit-trails

You cannot provide a full audit trail on individual assets and your organisation has just failed a recent financial audit. If there is no verifiable source, you cannot provide clarification for any concerns raised!

Companies are required to efficiently capture and report data to certain regulatory boards and track changes to their assets. Latest-generation asset management helps your business comply with regulatory requirements, streamlining reporting and facilitating compliance.

Asset audit trails report on the “who, what and when” behind asset maintenance history. Protecting your business from liability; assists in monitoring data for security breaches and demonstrates compliance.

You have a high number of users

If your company is growing rapidly, you need software that can cater for all employees, assigned IT equipment and their devices (especially if your company does BYOD). Consequently, if the number of users is constantly growing, and you are considering onboarding more sites, this is a sure sign you need to upgrade to an EAM solution.

Maintenance and operations are not in sync

A lack of communication and re-prioritising can lead to friction between maintenance and operations. Without defined processes, accountability, and the right tools to support workers, it can be difficult to reach a consensus. Leading to schedules being changed as work is changed, and different decision-makers compete for the work they consider most important.

Working in a reactionary mode

Working in a reactionary mode can increase stress and may lower employee satisfaction. People inherently want to do a good job and take pride in their work. The right planning and scheduling tools not only enable supervisors to hold workers accountable but also show when and why schedules are being broken. This presents an opportunity to improve the process and get out of a reactive mode.

Never the right spare parts in stock

When assets, equipment and machines break down, engineers and technicians hit the storeroom and grab spare parts regularly. If there is no control over this process, parts become unavailable (out of stock) and need to be brought in quickly, at a higher cost, increasing downtime.

Equally, it isn’t cost-effective to keep a large inventory of spare parts. But businesses that are constantly working in a reactive state need to keep these parts in the storeroom, for when machines break down.

No purchasing insights

With proper planning and scheduling (preventative maintenance), you can prevent failures and keep the right amount of parts, achieving that delicate balance. As a large inventory of parts isn’t necessary when purchasing has a sufficient heads-up on when to bring these parts in-house.

No supplier relationship management

Negotiated savings may never be realised if there is no supplier data that can be leveraged to negotiate savings for your business. You want to work together with your suppliers instead of fighting against them.

Supply chain disruptions have a significant impact on a company’s business and financial performance. Research into supplier relationship management indicates that many organisations do not have a comprehensive view of all sources of risks.

Asset procurement and purchasing risk is the potential for failures of a procurement process designed to purchase services, products or resources. Common types of procurement risk include fraud, cost, quality and delivery risks.

In many cases, procurement risks are also compliance risks and the potential for failures in a procurement process results in business losses and disruption.

Latest generation asset management

The latest-generation asset management software solutions are a process that includes people, business activities and technology. Implementing a system requires making changes in multiple areas. The implementation process requires cross-functional coordination and impacts multiple systems and processes.

Failure to set up asset detail, expectations, performance measurements correctly, in the beginning, will result in ineffective and useless reporting. If your current reports are missing lifecycle projections, efficiency reports and are unable to make workflow recommendations. Then it is time to consider upgrading.

If you’re looking to improve the health of your assets, increase collaboration, and dramatically accelerate business performance. Updating to a latest-generation asset management solution is worth the time, to give you that competitive edge.

Implementing Hardcat’s latest-generation asset and inventory management software answers all your questions in one single source of truth. Housing the fundamental activity about every asset with full audit trails. Hardcat asset management solutions help companies manage their assets more efficiently, saving both time and money.

We have solutions that suit all company sizes. Make this year your year to invest in Hardcat software solutions that align with your future.

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