"Asset Tracking 101" graphic cites reasons to know where your assets are

Does your company know where all of its assets are right now? If not, you're not alone. Many businesses, including some that carefully watch over their inventory, don't—and they're needlessly spending a lot of time and money, according to a new "infographic" created by Wasp Barcode Technologies, a supplier of asset-tracking systems and bar-coding solutions.

Asset tracking—knowing what items of value a business uses, where they are, and who has them—is different from inventory tracking. According to Wasp's "Asset Tracking 101" graphic, asset tracking involves managing the location of internal resources needed to continue operating; tracking items being lent out; and monitoring depreciation, maintenance, and warranty contracts. Inventory tracking, by contrast, entails managing products that are sold, distributed, or consumed; tracking the receipt, storage, shipping, and sale of products; and monitoring inventory turns, age, and reorder levels.

What do you gain by tracking assets? Time and money, it seems. According to sources cited in "Asset Tracking 101," 64 percent of businesses conduct manual searches for inventory or assets at least once a day, and 64 percent of those searches take 30 minutes or longer. Furthermore, 10 percent of companies say they have to write off an average of $437,000 annually as a result of lost assets and inventory. Finally, according to the folks at Wasp, organizations that manage their assets accurately will achieve 20 percent cost savings per managed asset within nine months.

Click here to see the infographic.