RFID has been used in many applications, and one of them is asset management. Every business has assets which they need to organize and manage. Using technology to manage assets is a great idea because that would mean fewer errors and faster processing.
What Are IT Assets?
Assets are items that belong to a business and have a significant financial value. They can provide the company with profits in the future. IT is the short form of Information Technology, and it covers everything that falls in the category of computing, including hardware and software. A few examples of IT assets are routers, monitors, laptops, mobile phones, keyboards, and printers.
IT assets are called “assets” and not “inventory” because they bring value to the business in terms of profit, but you don’t sell them. They allow you to earn money until they have completed their life cycle.
The lifecycle of an IT asset can be described in the following steps:
- Planning
- Acquiring
- Deployment
- Maintenance
- Support
- Retirement
Once an IT asset goes through these steps, the business stops using it or assigns it another task. Each IT asset requires maintenance and management, which is not an easy task to do. For instance, if you own an office where you have 50 workstations, each having a monitor, CPU, keyboard, and a mouse, you would have 200 IT assets present in the office (if we consider the hardware only). Keeping an eye on 200 assets and taking care of their maintenance needs is a challenging task. For this reason, IT asset management has gained popularity.
RFID Based IT Asset Management System
The growing need for an IT asset management system made the world move towards the concept of IT management. With the advancements in technology, RFID has been integrated with IT asset management to automate this process and decrease the chances of errors.
RFID tags are embedded in every IT asset, and its information is stored in the tag. The data includes maintenance dates, manufacturing date, its usage, and other similar information. It helps the company locate lost assets and decreases the chances of theft. Moreover, a digital database of the IT assets present within a company is created, which helps the owners keep an eye on the assets and schedule their maintenance on time.
It also decreases the chances of using outdated software, which can hamper business operations. Moreover, it also saves the company from paying for software licenses that are not in use. The RFID system can easily track which software is being used regularly and which software is sitting idle.
An RFID-based IT asset management system’s components include RFID tags, readers, and software for storing and processing data. The readers can be handheld or non-portable, depending on the company’s requirements. RFID management software also comes in a variety of versions having different capabilities. You can choose the one which best fits your needs. Some businesses need the software for storage purposes only, while others want to run complex calculations. The choice is yours.
RFID is an excellent choice for IT asset management. If you’re looking for an IT asset management system, then you should opt for RFID. It will cater to all your needs without burning a hole in your pocket.
