The asset can be defined as a valuable tangible or intangible item or property owned by an individual, business or company. Examples of tangible assets include cars, Furniture, and buildings while intangible assets include software, patents, digital valuables (photographs, videos, animations, etc.) and domain names. Asset management is the maintenance and monitoring of these valuables. With the advent of modern technology, asset management software is available to help you keep neat, accurate and reliable information regarding your assets.

The importance of Digital Asset Management Software (AMS) cannot be overemphasized. Besides providing asset information, you can easily tell the location of your asset, their status and current user(s). It captures the updates regarding the asset deployment, operation, upgrades, maintenance, and disposal. Getting such information through a single and simplified interface not only cuts the cost of asset management but also, makes it easier.

Nonetheless, before setting up such a management tool you ought to know the different types of software and the kind of information they generate for stakeholders. There is an infrastructure management system that involves the management of physical infrastructure such as the buildings owned by the business. The Enterprise Asset Management tool, which covers the IT assets and the digital assets owned by the business. The financial valuables management software takes care of the invested funds and the business clients’ accounts and any other financial obligation owed to the enterprise. There is a public asset management tool that manages all valuables owned by municipal jurisdiction.

Having these categories, you can choose among these software providers according to the demands of your business. The Asset Panda software, the LANDESK, Solarwinds, servicenow, ManageEngine and GOCODES to mention just a few.

Setting up your software should be informed by the asset’s estimated lifecycle. Whether tangible or intangible assets, emphasize on a management program that is strict with real-time information across the supervising departments of your business or enterprise. This will serve as an efficient communication tool, to all the stakeholders (owner, clients, and shareholders).

Set your management software in such a way that it captures the clear goals and targets of your management policy. Hold consultative meetings with your employees and furnish them with short term, medium-term and long-term aspirations of your enterprise. This will create a shared commitment towards achieving the aims of the businesses’ asset management.

If your business is more tech-oriented, consider installing an Enterprise Asset Management system. This system has two segments, the IT management and Digital Asset management segments. The former deals with the management of software and hardware valuables while the latter is concerned with the management of businesses’ digital assets such as videos, photographs, music albums, and animations.

After setting up your appropriate software in place, consider the following factors to ensure effective operationalization. The operating system used. The software ought to run through the operating system already installed in the hardware used. A different OS would mean asset tracking is unrealizable. Consider the language incorporated into the software. Do you have an interpreter or specific compiler for running the system?

The format of the software should also ring in your mind. It should have the facility that is supportive or conversable into tapes or disks for easier transfer to media like drive disks when need be.

The simplicity of your software is of prime importance. The program should be easy to grasp while functionality and operation should equally be easy. This will encourage your staff to interact easily with the system while at the same time reducing the overall cost and time for their training.

Paul watson