Get Your Assets Under Control in 2019

Businesses often find themselves caught in a never-ending cycle of playing catch up and putting out fires, never having time to assess what you’re doing right as well as where your business needs improvement. A business owner’s immediate reaction to growing business shouldn’t be to purchase assets to meet demand. Instead, the focus should be set on using data to gain visibility into the usage of assets to then make informed decisions on where to make adjustments in operations that will yield greater production. By improving asset utilization and minimizing excessive investment, businesses can more effectively allocate time and money.

The end of a year presents the opportunity to evaluate your performance and identify ways to optimize your operations by gaining a holistic understanding of your asset lifecycle and how to improve asset utilization. The right asset tracking solution can help you track the metrics that matter most and provide a competitive advantage through a stronger understanding of your assets and their productivity with utilization reports.

Centralize your data

Asset and equipment management systems help businesses monitor maintenance as well as performance to help ensure optimal utilization. Centralizing all your asset data streamlines asset management by eliminating the need to access various systems and integrate disparate data. It also helps you gain a better understanding of whether your assets are being effectively used in real-time, the first and most necessary step in taking control of your business, particularly your operational efficiency.

Set maintenance alerts

Asset management solutions provide visibility into how often and for how long each piece of equipment you own is being used and allows you to track and stay on top of manufacturer-recommended maintenance schedules through maintenance alerts. The ability to set maintenance alerts for all your equipment —regardless of manufacturer—in one interface helps extend the life of your valuable assets by addressing issues before they become more serious, preventing costly downtime or breakdowns.

Accurately measuring and cataloging mechanical health and asset status by usage, for example, the number of hours an engine in a piece of equipment is in use, allows you to schedule inspections at proper time intervals simply without wasting unnecessary time.

Keep your eye on your assets

Due to customized upfits and the type of work they do, assets and equipment that help fleets accomplish their work are often extremely expensive to replace. Tracking the location of your valuable assets helps you reduce the risk of theft, increase the likelihood of recovery and prevent the additional cost of purchasing new equipment. A comprehensive asset management solution can also allow you to utilize geofence alerts, creating a virtual perimeter for added proximity security, triggering an alert when a piece of equipment is moved from the approved location or outside work hours. In the event of a breakdown, asset management solutions also help you to easily and quickly reallocate assets to reduce the hit to your bottom line from a loss in productivity.

Share metrics with your team

Your data is critical for making informed and well-educated business decisions, but keeping that data to yourself, especially when those decisions can impact employees at all levels, will do little to help garner loyalty, let alone improve any behavior that negatively impacts your business. For example, collecting and then sharing data about unsafe driving habits with your technicians is a fast, straightforward path to improving driver behavior. Transparency like this also encourages buy-in from employees, increasing the likelihood of improved behaviors and reducing risk.

Look to the future

Asset management metrics allow business owners to make informed, proactive decisions instead of reactive choices that are forced upon them by failing equipment and the consequences of ineffective utilization. By failing to look forward and take proactive steps, you can miss the opportunity to set your business up for future success and avoid preventable and costly challenges. Make the breadth of data you have available at your fingertips work for you by using your data to look ahead and make informed decisions about changes you can implement today to set your business up for success in 2019.

To learn what to look out for in an asset tracking solution and provider, get our free ebook, 2018 Buyer's Guide: Asset Tracking Solutions.