From desks, tables, chairs and lamps, to widescreen TVs, projector screens, and artwork, every business has valuable assets to manage. It may not seem significant, but when you actively begin to account for these assets, the cost adds up quickly. In an environment where business is so competitive, there are enough tangibles that you can't actively control the cost of - office furniture is not one of them. Studies showing the hidden expense of managing fixed assets and inventory are illuminating. If you can get a good handle on this overhead portion of your business, you're a step ahead of the competition. So, start tracking office furniture now.
One very simple solution that has been around for decades is barcode. As with any project, one component solution won't necessarily resolve the issue, but several components of a reasonably simple system can. Okay, yes there are challenges to tracking assets and inventory control using any tool - barcode software isn't a magic, one wand wave cure.
There are key variables to consider to track office furniture:
• Assign a Champion - Projects seldom run themselves, and assets are not going to track themselves. Volunteers aren't going to magically take responsibility for tracking your office furniture, so someone has to be assigned to direct the tasks at hand.
• Make staff, contractors, employees and users responsible - Everyone who has assets assigned to them - whether it's a desk, a box of file folders or a portable heater - needs to understand that there's a cost associated with that item and they're responsible for its care, custody and condition. Lost or misplaced office assets and furniture have a way of finding their way home if a company has a policy for issuing items so that they're traceable.
• Implement a solid Asset Tracking Software product - In order to track office furniture, you need not only to tag it, but also to document it's existence, note who it was checked out to, its location (or, at least where it's supposed to be), is it in good condition or does it need to be replaced, and what did it cost. Simply placing tags on office furniture isn't going to be sufficient - Asset Tracking software is a must.
• Asset Tracking Barcode - Barcode labels or RFID tags are your best option to tag and track office furniture. It can be a simple process - slap the barcode label on the asset, scan barcode label with a barcode scanner, document the asset immediately in the asset tracking software - repeat as necessary. Asset tracking applications that include barcode labels have proved to yield significantly fewer errors than manual, handwritten methods. No duplication of effort (wasted labor and $'s) to write down something, then turn around and hand the information to someone else to enter into electronic format.
• Maintain Data - It's of little value to set up an asset tracking system to track office furniture, if it's a onetime shot and then nothing is ever done with the data. A good asset tracking software application is going to provide you with basic information on each asset and provide for online, anytime reports to document its use. From the time you purchase it to the time its retired, information pertinent to not only overhead expenditures, but also depreciation and tax accountability should be easily available.
A savvy company knows every $ that goes into the business has to be accounted for - that includes the cost of office furniture. Your business success depends upon how well those $'s are managed and at GigaTrak Barcode Solutions, we specialize in asset tracking barcode software solutions for businesses - . We offer asset tracking barcode software as standalone packages; we also offer barcode software bundled with barcode hardware. Our software systems include not only asset tracking, but also inventory control management products and tool tracking barcode solutions. In additional to our Basic, Pro and Contractor or Education versions, we also offer a Starter ATS (Asset Tracking Software) at $495 to help our customers get started with their asset tracking projects. Our GigaTrak team is dedicated to developing barcode software solutions that improve the quality of a business's life. Give us a call today at 877-204-9237. We can set up an online webinar for you, or you can download a demonstration application and see for yourself how simple asset tracking can be.
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