What is Asset Tracking? How It Optimizes Operations

Assets are the backbone of every organization. 

From warehouse and storage to in-office assets, there’s a lot for companies to handle on a daily basis. Assets are the stronghold of any organization, and can vary from a small laptop cable to large containers. 

How do you regularly audit and monitor so many assets? Enter asset tracking software. 

Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel can both maintain records of all the assets within a company. However, spreadsheets are prone to errors.

Apart from being prone to human error, spreadsheets are tiresome and time-consuming to maintain. While this might not be the case in the initial stages, spreadsheets quickly get clunky and slow with the amount of data being entered on a regular basis. 

How does asset tracking work?

Asset tracking systems have two components to work effectively: hardware and software. 

The hardware component makes use of asset tracking beacons, a GPS tracker, barcodes, or RFID tags. These hardware components have unique IDs that interact directly with an associated software to allow users to track their assets at any given time. 

For example, if you want to know the location of shipments using GPS asset tracking, you can simply use the driver’s cell phone as a tracking device. The application you use, either on a desktop or mobile device, allows you to track the vehicle’s location on a map.

Asset tracking software can be a standalone solution or bundled with a computerized maintenance management system (CMMS) or enterprise asset management (EAM) software.

Who uses asset tracking software?

Employees of a company, such as maintenance technicians or supervisors, use asset tracking software. Here are some common examples of how different industries use these systems. 

Retail stores

Whether it’s an online shop or an outlet, all retail stores use asset tracking software to understand the status of their assets. Retail stores use this software to track their orders, product availability, and the delivery status of shipped orders. This helps retailers save big on costs and provide a better experience for their customers. 

Construction

The construction industry deals with a lot of assets on a daily basis, such as blueprints and equipment. There is a need to keep track of all on-site and off-site equipment since its unavailability can cause unnecessary project delays. Asset tracking software allows users to efficiently keep track of resources, including construction vehicles, and required tools. 

Education

Schools handle many different assets, such as textbooks, computers, science laboratory equipment, furniture, and physical education equipment. They can save lots of money by implementing an asset tracking solution and keep an eye on what’s available and prevent theft and loss. An asset tracking system helps prevent this with unique asset tags and labels for every resource.

Medical

Hospitals deal with complex machinery, tools, documents, and equipment. That’s why it’s imperative for them to implement an asset tracking solution. While implementing this solution can help hospitals understand where various equipment is, it also allows them to increase their operational efficiency and reduce patient wait times.

Why is asset tracking important?

What if you couldn’t account for a particular asset because its unit number is incorrect on a spreadsheet? Or what if you needed to track an asset, but don't have access to real-time tracking? 

Asset tracking is one of the most important tools for your business. From reducing costs to helping you stay organized, here are five benefits of asset tracking:

Reduces costs

When you implement asset tracking, you can track the location of all your assets in real time. When all of your assets’ information is on track, there's less chance of misplacement. Apart from this, asset tracking also eliminates the need to fill out paperwork because the system takes care of it for you. Asset tracking helps your business reduce costs by reducing human errors and continuously checking all your assets.

Allows you to monitor assets

Every asset in your business is accounted for with an asset tracking system. The system ensures that all your asset information is in a single location, along with their tags or unique IDs. This gives you the ability to monitor them whenever you need to. Additionally, you can prevent your assets from being stolen or its location data being tampered with, ensuring they are safe and secure. 

Improves relationships with your customers

When your customer places an order, naturally they expect to know when it will reach them. Sometimes, minor updates on an irregular basis just won't cut it. 

You need to help your customers track the location of their orders in real time. An asset tracking system enables you to provide this information to them and monitor the efficiency from order placement to delivery. 

After all, solid customer relationships boost the credibility of your business.

Helps you adhere to regulations

No matter the size of your business, you need to ensure it meets the industry's rules and regulations. To do this, you need to maintain reports and charts of all your assets. 

An asset tracking system maintains all your assets with ease and can help you look for them quickly. You can also ensure that they have an updated inspection certificate if needed. 

Reduces human errors

Maintaining data with spreadsheets seems simple at first. But as it grows and collects more information, it becomes unmanageable. Since multiple people handle it, there are high chances for errors to occur. 

Making small mistakes can end up costing you a lot of money later on. An asset tracking software takes care of this information for you, so you don't have to worry about updating asset information manually. In turn, this reduces the probability of human errors – big time. 

Asset tracking technologies

Asset tracking doesn’t just use one type of technology. You can track the location of assets within a few miles or pinpoint their exact location, depending on what kind of use case your business requires.

Short-range asset tracking technologies:

Short-range asset tracking is easy to implement, mostly low-cost, and is most commonly used by companies. 

Radio-frequency Identification 

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to identify tags attached to your assets. When a nearby RFID device triggers a pulse, the tag attached to your asset transmits data, usually an identification number, which you can then use to track resources in your inventory. For example, RFID asset tracking prevents theft at clothing stores. It’s also used on automobiles to track their progress through an assembly line. 

There are different types of RFID, including passive, active, and battery-assisted passive. While active and battery-assisted passive devices have small batteries that transmit a signal, passive devices purely use radio frequencies to track devices. 

What are the advantages of RFID? 

• RFID reads frequencies from the tag, even if it is covered by the asset, whether it’s a large box or a small piece of clothing 
• Passive tags don't need a battery to function, and in general, RFID offers low-cost but highly-effective solutions 
  
  

What are the disadvantages of RFID?

• While the tags themselves are low-cost, the readers used to track them are generally expensive 
• Materials like metal and liquid interfere with tracking capabilities 

Barcodes

Barcode asset tracking technology marks assets with long lines, both thick and thin, in a form that is readable by a scanner. You’ll notice barcodes on food, electronic goods, or even books as it automates the entire checkout process. You can use barcodes to identify the correct price for an item or identify shoppers' buying patterns. 

What are the advantages of barcodes?

• You can quickly identify fast-selling and low-selling items for better inventory management
• You can seamlessly print them on a shipment box, which lets the receiver to know exactly what they’re going to get once scanned
• Barcodes and barcode scanners are relatively inexpensive to implement and highly accurate 

What are the disadvantages of barcodes?

• Barcodes can quickly be reprinted and do not offer a significant advantage over RFID
• Scanners can read only one code at a time, while RFID can scan multiple 
• Barcodes are slower and store much less data than RFID 

Near-field communication

Near-field communication (NFC) is a method that allows two electronic devices to communicate with each other at a distance of one and a half inches. NFC works similarly in principle to RFID, using a tag to track and identify assets.

What are the advantages of NFC? 

• An NFC reader is cheaper and an essential component in most modern smartphones 
• Can easily be attached to a phone and is more affordable than a barcode scanner or an RFID reader 
• You can use a smartphone alone in most cases without purchasing a separate reader 

What are the disadvantages of NFC?

• NFC tags have a limited range of about one and a half inches between the tag and the reader 
• Offers very low data transfer rates 

Bluetooth low energy

Bluetooth low energy (BLE) is a type of Bluetooth technology optimized to be long-lasting and work at distances over three hundred feet. BLE uses small beacons planted on assets, allowing users to track them with mobile devices. 

These beacons come in different shapes and sizes and broadcast signals at regular intervals that allow tracking devices to single-down on the asset’s location. 

What are the advantages of BLE?

• BLE consumes low power and has long battery life 
• BLE beacons offer 128-bit encryption-based security 

What are the disadvantages of BLE?

• You cannot track assets over long distances with BLE

Wi-Fi

Like BLE, Wi-Fi uses a fingerprinting technique to locate and track assets over a specified range. Since Wi-Fi is widely used by both businesses and individuals, it requires fewer mechanisms for data. 

What are the advantages of Wi-Fi?

• Wi-Fi asset tracking provides high data throughput
• Well-suited for smaller-scale tracking
• Users don't need to implement an extra infrastructure to get it working

What are the disadvantages of Wi-Fi? 

• Wi-Fi is known to be inaccurate and unreliable for asset tracking
• Moving objects and obstacles can interfere with tracking
• If all your asset tracking solutions operate on the same Wi-Fi network, it becomes prone to network congestion, which slows your tracking efforts down

Ultra-wideband 

Ultra-wideband (UWB) transmits a signal across a wide area, which provides users with less interference and high signal energy. This signal works with nodes planted throughout a storage area, allowing you to pinpoint assets quickly with great accuracy. 

What are the advantages of UWB?

• UWB allows you to track moving assets 
• Fast data transfer rates
• Consumes low power
• Straightforward to implement

What are the disadvantages of UWB?

• The tags used for UWB location tracking are very expensive
• Interferes with existing systems since it uses the same spectrum as cellular, military, and other applications 

Long-range asset tracking technologies?

Long-range asset tracking provides more precise information about your resources and even lets you know where your assets are at any given point of time. These are generally more advanced and complex to implement.

Here are different types of long-range asset tracking technologies:

Low-power wide-area network 

Low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) transmits small messages over a wide area network and consumes low power. LPWAN overcomes the shortcomings of BLE and RFID by tracking objects at farther locations and consuming low power.

What are the advantages of LPWAN?

• LPWAN doesn't require a gateway to transmit information, so you don't need to set up additional infrastructure 
• Less expensive to use
• Communicates over long distances
• Provides secure communication between nodes and gateways by using encryption algorithms

What are the disadvantages of LPWAN?

• LPWAN supports only lower data rates of transfer, which makes it unsuitable for higher data rates
• Offers only high-latency support

Global Positioning System 

Global Positioning Systems (GPS) allow you to track your assets in real time, at every minute or hour of the day. GPS technology tracks your assets and transmits the data to the back-end using Wi-Fi. 

What are the advantages of GPS?

• GPS uses low power, and there's zero transmission cost involved
• You can track assets wherever they are, and you get a near-accurate result every time
• You don't have to over-communicate with delivery drivers since you can quickly check your system to see where they are

What are the disadvantages of GPS?

• GPS can sometimes provide inaccurate results 
• The battery can drain fast, which causes a loss of communication 
• There is no off-the-shelf solution available

Challenges of asset tracking

As with any business-imperative system, asset tracking comes with a few challenges. While they are likely not deal-breakers, it’s important for you to understand their limitations before you implement one for your business. Below are a few challenges of asset tracking:

Doesn't prevent manual labor

Asset tracking provides you with visibility of where your resources are at all times. However, it cannot completely ensure that every asset is where it needs to be. While asset tracking solutions reduce the number of times employees have to update logs, it cannot solve the problem of unorganized inventories. 

Cannot prevent human error

While asset tracking can reduce the chances of human error, it doesn’t completely rule it out. Employees can still take resources to the wrong loading dock or shipment delays can occur that are out of your control. You will still need to oversee your employees to ensure these things don’t happen. 

Systems have limited scope

While asset tracking software is one of the best options for small to medium-sized companies, larger companies sometimes require more advanced solutions, such as EAM or CMMS solutions. 

Systems need to be connected with other software

Asset tracking systems need to be connected with multiple solutions to work effectively. This includes ERP, accounting, inventory, and field service management software. SaaS-based asset tracking systems are easier to set up, but most of them are on-premise, making integration challenging. 

Asset tracking best practices

Having an asset tracking system is crucial for your company, and you must be able to make full use of its complete potential. Otherwise, it’s just another system in place. 

Whether it's IT asset tracking, fixed asset tracking, or IoT asset tracking, below are some best practices to follow:

Have an inventory 

The first thing you need to do with your asset tracking software is create an inventory. Having an inventory in place ensures that you have a catalog of every resource your business has in one place so you can effectively track it. 

Understand what you need to track

Sure, you do need to track everything your business owns, but you simply cannot track every single item. Prioritize what you need to track versus what you don’t. For example, if you’re in the construction industry, you would prioritize your machinery over trash cans around your construction site. 

Pin-point where each asset is

With an asset tracking system, you can make your resource locations as detailed as possible. Mapping every asset to a specific location helps your employees find them faster. This means assets can leave your warehouse faster so new ones can be placed quickly in your storage. 

Stay connected

Regardless of the hardware your asset tracking system comes with, you need to ensure that you have the means to connect to it at all times. Most asset tracking solutions come with a mobile application to track your resources, helping to prevent disruptions in your daily activities. 

Maintain consistency

Asset tracking solutions record default and custom fields for every resource. Ensure each resource is mapped to a particular data field so that the data is consistent throughout your database. This helps avoid confusion and saves you time. 

Best asset tracking software

The asset tracking software you choose for your business should provide you with inventory management, tracking capabilities, asset history, and GIS technology. 

If you’re looking for asset tracking software, look no further! We have you covered.

To be included in this category, a product must do the following: 

• Create lists of assets or registries
• Manage different types of assets and categorize them
• Track different assets across various locations
• Provide asset inventory and location and allow users to view its complete history
• Track assets on the field using GIS technology

*Below are the five leading asset tracking systems from G2's Winter 2022 Grid® Report. Some reviews may have been edited for clarity.

1. UpKeep

UpKeep helps you efficiently manage and utilize assets and provides you with real-time insights. UpKeep provides solutions for reliability teams by helping them keep track of the long-term efficiency of their assets. On the other hand, operations teams use UpKeep to monitor assets regularly through sensors.

What users like:

“We’ve been using UpKeep for our private school for just over a year. It has worked well to keep my guys lined out, and the faculty likes using it. It also has worked well for compiling a list of our HVAC units with model and serial numbers. Using the PO system for tracking parts ordered and working with our business office has also been a nice feature.”

 - UpKeep Review, Brett L.

What users don't like:

“The process of inputting projects could be a little more user-friendly. We may be unique in what we need to complete at our stadium, and that may be why it is not as easy for us to enter items.” 

- UpKeep Review, Trevor N.

2. Fracctal One

Fracctal One helps you monitor aspects of asset management from end to end. You can plan, assign, and execute tasks, as well as assign KPIs to your employees from a single place. Fracctal One provides you with a powerful asset management solution regardless of the device you use.

What users like:

“Fracttal gives you total control of your assets in an effortless way. You can create all of the maintenance plans you need to have everything in its best condition, with the possibility to consult or modify it every time you need to. 

It also gives you many ways to create work orders that best adapt to every singular necessity. For example, create work orders every month, every day, every week, create a checklist, and more.” 

- Fracctal One Review, Andrea C.

What users don't like:

“When a technician places a wrong hour reading, the tool does not generate an alarm based on the logic that is determined between the average use of the equipment and the number of hours in a day. ”

- Fracctal One Review, Luis M.

3. EZOfficeInventory

EZOfficeInventory is one of the leading asset lifecycle management solutions on the market. You can track asset depreciation, create custom reports, track location and maintenance histories, and even use the mobile application for RFID, barcode, and QR code scanning. 

What users like:

“We like the check-in/out history for all assets that are added to the EZOfficeInventory software. Asset groups are a great feature that we wanted when we were looking for asset tracking software.” 

- EZOfficeInventory Review, Tomislav T. 

What users don't like:

“I cannot use it for more than inventory, like timecards or time management. The cost is above what we would typically budget. Demos and offers for direct engagement are only offered during the trial or initial use of the system, and the team is less engaged after that point.” 

- EZOfficeInventory Review, Xaviera M.

4. eMaint CMMS

eMaint CMMS is a solution that manages work orders, PM schedules, and parts inventory. With over 50,000 users worldwide, it provides users with the ability to reduce asset-induced downtimes and customizable layouts, fields, and properties. eMaint CMMS can completely streamline maintenance processes in an organization. 

What users like:

“I like the flexibility of eMaint when setting up systems, processes, and reports for a multitude of business models and  functions.” 

- eMaint CMMS Review, Dustin C.

What users don't like:

“From time to time, there are updates that change what the user sees. Most of these make for easier daily use, but sometimes the system update feels a little clunky. As with any new product, there is a paradigm shift involved with changing how things are done. With eMaint, this shift was noticeable but all staff eventually became accustomed to the new procedures.” 

- eMaint CMMS Review, Sean A. 

5. Simply RFID Wave

Simply RFID Wave helps users handle and track assets with ease by allowing them to track missing items, track location history, and even assign pictures. With RFID technology, Simply RFID Wave helps you reduce inventory times. 

What users like:

“The Wave application is the foundation for our own Inventory Control app that was developed by SimplyRFID. It is extremely versatile and SimplyRFID can cater to most business models. I like how the Wave app is structured and can change its functionality to be used in a broad range of businesses and their needs. I also like that the Wave app is able to update automatically and without any effort for the end-user. If SimplyRFID makes a change to the current build it will automatically update all users.”

- Simply RFID Wave review, Kendall R 

What users don’t like:

“I'm not too fond of the lack of dashboard customization. I also don't like how some tasks can be very repetitive such as selecting the location repeatedly when adding items to the inventory via quick tag.”

- Simply RFID Wave review, Kurtis B

Asset tracking is crucial for your business

Asset tracking software is essential for your business. While asset tracking makes use of different technologies, it serves one purpose: to help you stay aware of where your resources are at all times.

Looking to implement an asset tracking system? Learn more about CMMS software, compare your options, and choose the best one for your business.