How To Find The Best Asset Management Software?

Thinking to implement Asset management software in your business? This software is designed to assist organizations effectively track and maintain the property and resources they own and gather information on item’s physical location, usage history, value and more. Most businesses usually do all these activities using accounting software or Excel. Remember, these programs are not developed for asset management task and there are chances to experience problems like outdated information, manual errors, etc.

Asset management software or application is accurate and cost-effective, so it offers complete peace of mind to the users. But remember not all the asset management software services or features are the same in terms of user-friendliness and features.

What should you look at when selecting asset tracking software?

It is not an easy task to select the best asset management software. At present, there are numerous choices on the market. It is not advisable to select software just because it has worked for another company. Each company has unique needs and requirements.

If you are not sure about what you want, it takes a lot of time to evaluate and finalize the options. It is the reason we recommend to select asset management software with certain important elements as listed below.

Let us take a close look at each element in detail.

1. Auditing options: Assets auditing are important for checking the existing assets of your organization and the location of the assets. When you have an advanced asset management software, it allows you to plan your audit timeframe, make changes for unrecorded and missing assets and receive status updates and notifications about the process. Certain software lets you do the auditing from any mode instead of switching one application to another between modes. If you have hired the third party to do the auditing for your business, then you would require a blind auditing feature. In this feature, you can restrict the data, the users can view while performing the audit.
2. Mobility: One of the essential features of effective asset management software is being able to obtain and update data instantly on the go. It is the reason you should purchase asset management software with an appropriate mobile user interface. When the application lacks this feature, it will annoy you eventually. When you have this feature, you do not have to carry your laptop wherever you go. You can easily take your smartphone, track and update the details instantly.
3. Check-in and check-out: A simple to use check-in and check-out feature lets you reduce the time you spend for receiving and passing out assets and greatly improve accuracy. It is recommended to select software with an auto-populate field for check-in and check out. The quick search feature in the software lets you easily search the database by customer, vendor, asset, employee or asset tag. Certain software lets you perform a single transaction while checking in and checking out numerous assets to numerous assignees. It is an excellent benefit for schools, emergency response units, and tools with a huge quantity of assets that has to be continuously checked in and checked out to numerous users.
4. Web or cloud-based: Though it is convenient and simple to host the software on your server, web-based software or cloud-based asset management software provides much time saving and cost-saving benefits. There is no need to constantly depend on IT professionals to install updates, patches or software. All these tasks can be handled with the cloud. As the software will not be on the server, there is no need to care about issues like clashes with other programs or computer crashes. Moreover, you can also receive the latest features immediately when they are developed and launched instead of waiting for the release of the latest software version.
5. Notifications: An asset management software should let you communicate with users. If the software does not have this feature, it is waste to use this software. Ensure to select asset management software that permits you to set up automatic emails and in-app notifications for particular events. It should let you designate who should obtain them. It is an important and helpful feature. The users will be notified regarding matters like asset use violations, past-due actions, audit checklists, funding limitations, and other problems.
6. Multiple quantities: It is complicated to track numerous quantities of matching assets. If you are structuring each thing with its asset history and tag, it can be a time-consuming and cumbersome process. For instance, if you are running an educational institute and have an office with numerous laptops and desktops or thousands of textbooks, tracking each asset will be tough and time taking. If you want to track such assets easily and quickly, it is best to switch to asset management software with multiple items tracking features. This way, you can manage numerous items with a single asset ID or number.
7. Fund restrictions and tracking for educational and nonprofit organizations: Nonprofit organizations like human service agencies, schools, and arts organizations can make better use of asset management software. The software helps in simply tracking grants and donations. Search for the software that permits to tie details to the recipient, grant or individual. As an additional bonus, certain software will send alerts automatically when the assets are not maintained, stored or used according to the funding requirements.
8. Customizable data fields: Certain asset tracking software has pre-named data fields. Some will be relevant to your business and some will not be relevant. If you wish to alter the fields, you need to approach the tech team and they charge extra fees for this modification. It is best to purchase software that lets you to easily modify the names and develop new fields as you wish.
9. Recover or dispose of assets: The majority of asset management software lets you dispose of unusable or missing assets. However, only certain software permits to recover the assets. When there is no recovery choice, the software allows you to establish the recovered asset as a new item and update records with the history of the item manually. It would have been in the trash when the application dumped the asset. It is best to purchase software with the simple recovery process by rebooting old asset numbers.
10. Asset tag design/ Barcode label: Asset tags are also known as a barcode label. It plays an important role in all asset management system. Ensure to check whether your software has inbuilt agility to design barcode labels.
11. Training: The software service provider should offer sufficient training options. With training, your team members can learn to use and operate the software easily and quickly. On-demand video training and product guides will be helpful. However, live training through Webinar or on-site visit is the best option than any other medium.
12. Technical support: The majority of the asset management application is designed in a user-friendly manner. Ensure to check whether your application has good access to technical assistance when issues arise. It is frustrating to get support through email exchanges. The software service provider should provide chat or phone support with professionals. It is mostly offered for free of cost.
13. Security Access: There is no need to think that entire users will get complete access of the asset management system. When you use the advanced software, you can restrict users according to the position and location. It is possible to restrict viewing of modules, reports, data administration tools, asset site places users can edit and view, and asset types as per your requirements.
14. Reporting: The majority of asset management application comes with pre-defined reports like asset by type and asset by location. But in some cases, you will need more than this. Search for the application that permits to easily develop customized reports without the SQL knowledge or requirement to purchase additional software. It is advisable to own software that permits to plan reports and format who should accept them.
15. Pricing: It is important to focus on what you are paying for. You also make sure the pricing remains sensible for your future requirements and use case. Top asset management solutions provide pricing plans with additional values they offer. For instance:

• • The features added
  • Number of assets
  • Number of particular events
  • Number of users

             Ensure to have an idea about the quality value ratio.  Most people find the least expensive option attraction but it remains insufficient for your requirements.

What are the types of asset management software?

There are different kinds of asset management software on the internet. It is basically classified according to the kinds of assets they assist to manage.

Types of asset management software:

Physical asset management: It covers all the assets that are utilized to manage all types of physical assets possessed by the company. It includes cabinets, tables, light fixtures, computer equipment, and essential physical assets.

Software asset management: This application helps in managing license renewal, usage, purchase, and other features of the software request within the company.

Financial asset management system: This application helps in recording the financial assets possessed by the company. It covers loans, securities, investment funds, and financial assets.

Infrastructure asset management system: This software is utilized for recording physical infrastructure assets like transport equipment, power generators, utilities, roads, etc. it is mostly utilized by large companies and public organizations.

Digital asset management: This application remains as a portion of the firm’s intellectual property management utilities. Being in the electronic media content supervision form, it is associated with managing digital properties like digital data, videos, and photos that the company licenses or produces from the thirty party vendors.

IT asset management: It is the overarching group of business practices which join inventory, contractual and financial function to support strategic decision making and life cycle management for the IT ambiance. IT asset management is part of the IT service management task of the company. Some of the examples of IT assets include company possessed end-user devices (like phones, printers, monitors, etc.), digital information from operations, software licenses, in-house developed software, infrastructure hardware, and infrastructure and facility lease agreements.

Conclusion:

It is recommended to buy asset management applications as per business needs. Ensure what you want to accomplish with the software. Draft a list of various kinds of features you expect to remain in the software. In most cases, large companies will expect to have all the features mentioned above. Small business owners will have limited needs. After determining the requirements, research thoroughly, trial certain applications and then finalize the software for your business.

The trial versions will help you determine whether it is right for your business or not.  Ensure to read a lot of blogs about asset management software. This way, you will know the present status and list of the top software in the market. The knowledge you gain through research will help in a great way in the selection process. Check online ratings, reviews, and feedback before buying the software. If you are not able to find any good or positive reviews, it is best not to avoid the software from that particular company. Asset management software with good reviews is the best option always.

You should also see whether the application is priced reasonably. Some software will be expensive without any extraordinary features. You need to be careful in terms of pricing. If you think that it is worth that price, do not consider buying that application.

Be it you are shortlisting three or five applications, ensure to ask for a demo. The free software will show all the positives and flaws. After trial, you can shortlist the best one that you find comfortable to use. Remember, the application should also be easy to use. Your entire team should find it simple to learn and use the application. If it involves coding or technical tasks, it is better to not purchase that application.

We hope you find this guide useful for choosing and buying the best asset management software. If you are looking for a trial version of the latest asset management software, get in touch with Zed Axis.