In today’s fast-paced business landscape, every tool, piece of equipment, and physical item represents a significant investment. Proactively managing these assets is no longer a luxury but a necessity for operational excellence and financial health. This systematic approach, known as asset management, involves tracking, maintaining, and optimising your physical assets throughout their entire lifecycle to maximise their value and operational efficiency. Without proper systems, organisations face substantial consequences, including costly unplanned downtime, excessive maintenance expenses, and reduced equipment lifespan.
What is Asset Management, and Why Does It Matter?
At its core, what is asset management? It’s the organised process of overseeing a company’s physical assets to get the most value out of them and achieve business objectives. This includes everything from machinery and vehicles to IT equipment and tools. Effective asset management provides a structured approach to maintaining equipment value and functionality, offering key benefits such as reducing maintenance costs by 20-30% compared to traditional methods, improving regulatory compliance, and enabling efficient resource allocation.
The advantages are clear:
• Reduced Loss and Theft: By tracking who uses equipment and where, accountability increases, and items are less likely to go missing.
• Extended Asset Lifespan: Proper documentation and scheduled maintenance prevent premature wear and costly breakdowns, making assets last longer.
• Improved Budgeting: Understanding asset lifecycles allows for better planning of replacement costs and data-driven investment decisions.
• Reduced Human Error: Digital systems eliminate issues like misread serial numbers or illegible handwriting associated with manual tracking.
• Enhanced Compliance: Centralised documentation and detailed asset histories aid in regulatory compliance and audit readiness.
The Dawn of Digital Asset Management Systems
To truly leverage these benefits, businesses are increasingly turning to digital asset management systems. These cloud-based solutions eliminate information silos, foster collaboration, and provide real-time data access from anywhere, including via mobile devices for field technicians. By using QR codes and barcodes on equipment, organisations can create powerful tracking systems that simplify data entry and reduce human error. Technicians can instantly access maintenance history, specifications, warranty information, report issues, and update service records by scanning these codes.
This move towards digital asset management allows for:
• Real-Time Tracking: Instant location and status updates for all equipment.
• Preventive and Predictive Maintenance: Scheduling routine care and using data to forecast when service will be needed, catching problems before they cause failures.
• Optimised Utilisation: Balancing workloads across similar equipment and analysing usage patterns to prevent premature wear and identify redeployment opportunities.
• Integrated Inventory Management: Ensuring the right parts are available when needed, optimising spare parts inventory, and linking assets to their components.
• Comprehensive Reporting and Analytics: Generating customised reports to gain detailed insights into asset performance over time.
Boris Software: A Comprehensive Digital Asset Management System for the Modern Business
Leading the charge in this digital transformation is Boris Software, offering a robust digital asset management system designed to simplify operations for various industries, including those involving contracting and managing numerous contractors.
Boris leverages digital forms to help you identify, locate, store, and manage your business assets throughout their entire life expectancy. Imagine having full product specifications and service history at your fingertips, accessible via the BORIS app or the host portal.
Here’s how Boris provides the essential tools for effective asset management:
• Digital Asset Creation: Any item can be transformed into a digital asset by applying barcodes, QR codes, or NFC pins/tags, which can then be scanned by the BORIS app. This is particularly useful for contractors who need to track tools and equipment across multiple job sites.
• Centralised Data Storage: Critical data relating to your assets, including specification, location, cyclical service history, inspection reports, and defect management, is securely stored in one central place.
• Planned Preventative Maintenance (PPM): Boris allows you to auto-schedule regular inspections, create notifications when inspections are due, and allocate them to the relevant team member. This helps prevent unexpected breakdowns that disrupt operations and ensures compliance with safety regulations.
• Real-time Insights: The system provides real-time data, a KPI dashboard, and search/filter functionality, enabling data-driven decisions.
• Mobile Accessibility: Available on iOS, Android, and web browsers, Boris ensures that field contractors and maintenance teams have seamless access to asset information anytime, anywhere. This mobile capability is crucial for updating service records on the spot and accessing detailed maintenance history directly from the field.
• Streamlined Workflows: Boris integrates features like bespoke forms, job creation tools, photo capture, and digital signatures, significantly cutting through paperwork and manual processes, potentially saving over 10 hours a week and reducing costs by more than 20% for businesses. For a contracting firm, this means less administrative burden and more time spent on productive work.
• Compliance Support: The system includes compliance tracking and reporting tools to help businesses meet industry regulations. For contractors dealing with fire safety equipment or specific industry standards, this is invaluable.
Boris’s ability to manage assets across multiple facilities and track tool and equipment usage makes it an ideal solution for contracting businesses and managing diverse teams of contractors who frequently move equipment between sites.
In essence, adopting a robust digital asset management system like Boris Software is akin to giving your business a sophisticated GPS for all its physical possessions. Just as a navigator helps you avoid traffic, find the quickest routes, and anticipate potential roadblocks, Boris guides your asset management, helping you avoid costly downtime, extend the life of your valuable equipment, and ensure your operations run smoothly and efficiently.
