Location Management: Solving the challenge with asset tracking software
While your business grows, it becomes difficult to balance inventory levels at multiple locations. It doesn’t matter if you are a wholesaler, manufacturer or retailer; you have to manage your supplies effectively if you want to practice consistent growth. An addition to store or office locations not only means more products to monitor but also reaching out to new customers. The logistics can be overwhelming but keep yourself focused – as a cloud-based asset tracking software helps you through all your complex challenges.
The biggest drivers of change in location management process over the last three decades are technology and globalization. You will only make multiple locations more manageable by using an asset tracking solution. This software lets you map your warehouses or storage rooms and associate a list of products to them. The maps are extremely helpful in locating the products you are looking for so you can deliver them to your customers faster and cheaper. You can use this information to make well-informed decisions regarding your inventory to pump up your sales and make your customer service even better.
According to a survey, global assets value was estimated around 56.3 trillion euros in 2016. When your business becomes global, you will also have to adjust your assets and transport them from one location to another. With the right functionality, asset tracking solution comes with, you cannot just document this transfer of assets but also track and locate them whenever you need to. Global companies encounter various location-oriented issues but asset tracking software is a surefire way to nip the problem in the bud with innumerable opportunities for your business. Following are some global asset management challenges and ways to improve your location management on a global scale using online asset tracking software:
1. Communication is a priority for managing multiple locations efficiently
Why size matters? When your business expands, you naturally have to manage departments in multiple locations and oversee employees in distant offices. This can trigger tough challenges and a lot of productive time consumption. It doesn’t matter how widespread or global your organization is, you need to keep working to maintain team cohesion. Like the old adage goes, systems run your business and people run your systems. You need to have a system in place to keep up the quality of your communications, targets, and products.
Robust systems like asset tracking software enable you to monitor multiple offices, reduce training times, grow faster and minimize supervision. If you want to collaborate with your clients, coworkers and your offices, you have to communicate. When you ignore this part of your business, you are putting your business at stake particularly when you are dealing with multiple locations.
Asset tracking tool can bridge the communication gap that exists in global companies leading to big losses.
When companies are successful in one location, it is natural to be tempted and expand the business to new locations globally. To succeed with multiple locations, you need to set clear boundaries, authority, and responsibilities. You need to make every employee’s responsibilities very clear. The check-in/out feature, calendar, dashboard, and alerts are great features to reinforce accountability, effective communication and instill responsibility in your employees – no matter where they are based. Asset tracking solution sure helps your organization cut down on business travel expenses with its collaborative features.
Read more: Using Asset Tracking System to Leverage Location Management
2. The fear of losing assets as they move between buildings or sites
You know how it is! You lose something really valuable and someone asks you where you last had it. Well, if you knew that, wouldn’t you just know where to look for it? Companies possess quite a number of assets that are distributed at various locations and redistributed from time to time. Businesses have experienced long-lasting episodes of losing items while transferring them from one location to another. Imagine the feeling when you realize that a recently transferred asset is now on the list of ‘missing assets’ instead of ‘successfully moved assets’.
A good solution is to tag all your assets for simplified barcode tracking. Every time you scan an asset tag, it’s last tracked location is automatically recorded in the asset tracking software. You will be able to know when it was last checked-in or checked out, and by whom. For instance, if a valuable equipment was transferred from location A to location B, your asset tracking system will not only record this transfer but also update the inventory levels in location A and B. Business processes are tremendously optimized with such intuitive location inventory control.
Read more: Tracking and Eliminating Ghost Assets using Inventory Tracking Software
3. Manage business assets and inventory for seamless audits
When you want to keep a close watch on your employees and boost their accountability levels, you can automatically generate location-based audit trails for your assets and inventory. These include everything – from current value and purchase price to how often your assets have been maintained. Collaborate with your team and contribute to the same data in order to maintain up-to-date asset records. Audits let your global company transform the challenges of managing multiple locations to lower costs and higher ROIs.
Audits rain down a variety of benefits for your organization. It allows you to establish useful asset maintenance routine, help you focus on productive assets, hold your employees accountable – no matter what location and that business premises comply with different regulations. For this, you have to conduct an audit of different locations and make sure they keep track of all the required tasks. Creating work orders with the help of asset tracking solution is a useful option as you can easily conduct a location-specific audit quickly.
Read more: How To Keep It Simple With Equipment Tracking Software
Conclusion
Not every location will have the same needs. There can be no one-size-fits-all approach. It is important to get the right mix of assets and inventory at each of your locations. Locations are not static but rather dynamic spaces that keep changing with business workflows. Yes, location is important because of all the assets and inventory it houses. However, its mighty value doesn’t just end here. It also maps out proximity to other locations, opportunities and employees.
Online asset tracking solution comes with customization and flexibility. It treats a location as a dynamic entity that takes the form the new setting endows it with and the solution molds itself accordingly.
Want to learn more about our asset tracking software?
EZOfficeInventory is a leading asset tracking software that is utilized by global companies around the world. Seamlessly optimize your assets and inventory at multiple locations!
For more assistance, drop us an email at support@ezo.io.
