Cost Cutting by Managing Your IT Assets
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. In fact, computer usage has been at the centre of the success of many businesses and organizations, large and small.
Behind this dependence on computers lies a heavy reliance on the IT hardware and systems supporting this. By this I mean computers, peripherals, screens, software and specialised electronic equipment. In the US alone this amount goes into trillions of dollars.
However keeping track of IT assets can be pretty difficult, especially in large organizations. Without tight control, monitoring and a strategic approach to replacing and renewing equipment, things can and frequently do descend into chaos. Nobody knows what IT equipment is being used in the organisation. There is general confusion on what software is being used by who, and whether it has a license. The IT helpdesk gets inundated with requests that it can’t deal with because of a lack of information about users’ machines. The seemingly simple task of upgrading software and hardware becomes a long, drawn out drain on resources.Sound familiar? Well it’s surprisingly common in today’s organizations. Futhermore the expense associated with these issues can take a significant chunk out of your annual profits. Particularly considering the tax savings than can be made from properly keeping track of depreciation of IT assets.
The bottom line is that without managing your IT assets you could be haemorrhaging unknonwn amounts of cash through related costs. The key to resolving this is fixed asset management. As far as managing IT assets is concerned, there’s really two areas to be aware of
Physical Assets. This basically means keeping track of all the IT Assets that exist in your organization. This comprises information on inventory, as well as where and how each item is 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 the really big cost savings can be achieved.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.
A lot of businesses are aware of these issues relating to their IT equipment. 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. Maybe the time has come for your company to lay down a little investment in this regard.
Tags: asset management, asset tracking, Business, business accounting, cost cutting, fixed assets, it assets, it equipment
