How Controlling your IT Assets Can Save You Money
Its amazing to consider just how much our dependence on IT has increased since a decade ago.You can’t find a single department in an organization these days that doesn’t depend on computers to work. Indeed, IT has been the core of the competitiveness of successful organizations.
What comes hand in hand with this reliance on computing is a fundamental dependence on the IT infrastructure sitting behind it. This could mean anything from computer hardware, keyboards and mice, software, monitors and more specialized hardware. The value of this runs into trillions of dollars in the US alone.
But IT assets are notoriously tricky to keep track of and manage, particularly in large, sprawling organisations. Without tight control, monitoring and a strategic approach to replacing and renewing equipment, things can and frequently do descend into chaos. There isnt anyone in the organization with a handle on what IT equipment is being used and by whom. Noone has an handle on software usage and whether that software is properly licensed. The IT helpdesk gets inundated with requests that it can’t deal with because of a lack of information about users’ machines. Upgrading equoment or moving to different sofware packages can descend into a slow, inefficient chaos. Does this sound familiar? The truth is that most organizations today face exactly this problem. Futhermore the expense associated with these issues can take a significant chunk out of your annual profits. This is even more true when you look at the accountancy aspect, particularly the capital depreciation of IT hardware and assets - having this info can bring big savings in tax.
The fact is you need to control IT assets or the costs associated with them can spiral out of control. The answer comes down to a process called fixed asset management. Fixed asset management for IT hardware and software basically falls into two distinct categories
Management of Physical Assets. This basically means keeping track of all the IT Assets that exist in your organization. That includes what you have, where it is, and how it is being used. A robust system of asset tracking provides you with invaluable information on which you can act and introduce greater levels of efficiency.
Financial Asset Management. This is where a business can plug some serious leaks in costs.After recording the equipment being used it is then possible to make a calculation of expected depreciation in value. This information is music to your accounting deparment’s ears, as cutting costs on fixed assets can sometimes be the difference between profit and loss in a financial year.
Many organizations know full well issues they are facing with regards to their IT assets. The problem lies with inefficient techniques in trying to solve them. The old method of using an Excel spreadsheet to record fixed asset inventory is clunky and inneficient. However there are now highly sophisticated asset management software solutions on the market that are designed to tackle all aspects of asset tracking, accounting and management. It might be time for your business to think about investing in fixed asset management - it could be key to survival in the recession.
