The Importance of Asset Tagging Your IT Equipment

Nov 16, 2018

Tech+ Asset Tags on Meraki Switches and a Meraki MX84 Firewall in a client's networking closet identify each piece of equipment

What are Asset Tags?

Simply put asset tags are uniquely numbered stickers that affix to any equipment your company wants to track. Think taking out a book from the library - every book at your library has an asset tag, that then ties to a database tracking who has checked out the book, when the book was purchased, the current condition, and when that book is expected to be taken out of circulation. 

Asset tags for IT Equipment work the same way.

 As networks expand and more assets are added, it is easy to lose track of what assets you have and where they are located. As a business grows, this process can become more and more convoluted, making it more difficult to compile a definitive inventory list with all company I.T assets and necessary information like model numbers, serial numbers, and warranty information. This is where asset tracking comes into play, once you are able to devise a system that attaches an asset ID (consisting of numbers and letters) to each piece of your I.T inventory, you’ll be able to have the data at hand making it easy to identify information about individual pieces of inventory and analyze the whole lot.

An Asset Tag let's this printer quickly get identified to the Help Desk staff  for troubleshooting

At Tech Plus we use Salesforce to track our managed service clients assets. We've created a custom App within Salesforce that tracks information on each piece of client equipment such as:

1. The Vendor purchased from and warranty information
2. The End of Life date
3. The end user of the asset, company division, etc
4. The serial number and model number (very useful in case of theft)
5. The MAC addresses (an ID number for everything that connects to the internet, meaning we can find them on the firewall logs)
6. The equipment specs 
7. Any login credentials, admin/service codes, etc.
8.  The items condition and general notes

We can then tie all this info to a custom QR Code label. Clients can either opt to order their own custom roll of labels, or use ours for free. The labels - asset tags - are made by 3M and are waterproof, tamper resistant, and generally hard to peel off. Our tech's can use an iPhone to scan the QR code and pull up the records.

More Reasons Why Asset Tagging is Important

• Scaling

As your business grows,  I.T assets are being added to your inventory. From laptops and monitors to desktops and conference room equipment, asset tagging becomes a very useful tool that will allow you to log imperative information such as the date of purchase, the expiration of the warranty, and the technical specifications of a particular device. Once this system is in place, you have the convenience of being able to re-deploy assets or know when it’s time to purchase new ones.

• It saves a lot of time

Without a system in place or depending on employees to maintain a list of assets they have can be a recipe for an administrative and I.T nightmare. Once you purchase a new asset, you’ll be able to add it to a concise inventory list that you can refer to whenever necessary. This allows for tracking of assets assigned to personnel as well as being able to differentiate between similar models of computers and other peripherals.

• Ensure Accountability

With proper asset tracking in place, you’ll be able to correctly identify lost assets and easily manage existing ones. Without a system in place, losing assets on a regular basis may go unnoticed, which results in higher over all operating costs and lets carelessness or dishonesty go unchecked. A proper asset management system increases overall accountability and discourages misuse by employees. The sooner a loss is noticed, the easier it is to recover from it.

• Lower administrative costs

Your administrative costs become lower because your employees don’t need to hunt down assets manually, which can be a time-consuming task. This can free up enough time for personnel to be assigned other important duties which more directly contribute to your organization’s success.

A proper asset management system is an essential component in building the foundation of a solid organization. Once a system is in place, it won’t be long before you realize how beneficial the system is to your bottom line.

Asset Tag Attached to Chris' Stovel's iPhone X - not only does it track company inventory, but it assists if the phone is ever lost or stolen.

Asset Tag on this smart AC unit links to our App where the login credentials for the AC Unit are stored as well as schedule and temperature the unit is set to and instructions for reprogramming it and ordering new filters.