Real SMB IT: It Asset Management, On the Cheap

Having a handle on your IT assets is important. Both in the context of ITIL and from the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of your IT assets. 

For larger businesses in the SME space, there are dozens (if not hundreds) of tools that you can purchase.

For smaller businesses, you can do it yourself – and do it pretty cheap as well!

So here is how to start an asset management system on the cheap.

Step 1 The Asset Tags

If you are tracking assets by a name like Jeff’s PC or Printer next to Christine. What happens when Jeff leaves or the printer is moved?

Companies such as Maverick Label  will do Asset Tags in smaller batches, complete with your company name and logo starting at about a buck per tag.

That Asset Tag number becomes the global identifier for that asset. That remote sales rep calls with a laptop or projector problem?

That number will pull up every detail for you.

Step 2 The Asset Data

The exact data that you want to track may vary, but I track the asset number, the device serial number, make, model, manufacturer, purchase and warranty dates, vendor, asset type, who it is assigned to, location, and some general configuration information. I also keep space to document any service and historical information of the asset.

Step 3 The Asset Tracking Tool

Yes, it can be something as simple as a spreadsheet. However I like to use the freely down-loadable Microsoft Sharepoint Team Services.

I used Sharepoints custom list ability to create the asset management tool quickly, and free.

The benefit that I find is that with Sharepoint’s search capability I can pull up any asset by its asset number, or any other criteria.

Who has the projector that Jane used to use? one sec … got it

Which PDA is John using? .. got it.

The SMB Takeaway

Managing the life cycle of your IT assets is the first step in ensuring that you are accounting for both the whereabouts, and status of all IT assets.

It also reduces the time and cost of servicing assets as you have a central repository of each and every asset you own.

It also reduces purchasing assets that you may already have in surplus, and can even identify assets that are beginning to fail to frequently. 

And best of all, for smaller businesses, you can do it cheap!

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The SMB & Software Asset Management

I did a post previously on IT Asset Management located here.

Let me add, IT Asset Management includes less tangible assets including your software licences and media.

In the SMB space it is too easy to lose the handle on what software licences have been purchased, or to whom the licence was supplied to.

Too often the “techie” orders the required software package, installs it for the one that requested the software & “files” the installation media and licence in a box or back room somewhere.

Software Asset Management does not have to be expensive and complex, but it should be centralized and documented, the title, licence, version, purchase date, assignee etc.

A Day of Frustration

I maintain an inventory of all software assets, however periodically the search starts for some (expensive) title purchased a few years ago that was quietly being used by someone who left our organization. Now a new individual will be assuming that position, and they need that tool.

I wasted the better part of a day trying to track down that software and its associated licence. That included finding the original invoice and back tracking through the reseller and software vendor.

I admit, I can be stubborn, But how many would have just called up the vendor or reseller and ordered a new copy?

As well as the time wasted trying to find that software and licence, properly documenting them will improve software licence compliance. Five people may need that thousand dollar software tool, but five more “want” it because it is cool.

When the “Wants” come to me asking for that tool, it takes seconds to show the 5 licences and that the 5 people that “need” it are using it. If they want it – they can try to convice their manager to shell out the grand for another licence.

Real SMB IT – Asset Management Through Problem Management

On this blog I have posted many summaries of how even SMB managers can save time and money utilizing ITIL processes . This post is not one of those summaries, but a real world example of how “practicing what I preach” has just saved me an inordinate amount of time.

This is one small example – but scale this small example over time, and you begin to see where the time and productivity savings start to accrue.

The Incident

At my organization we use many of the same make and model of laptop computer. Approximately 6 months ago, one of these computers died. The symptoms were extreme corruption of the video screen and then a failure to boot up properly.

My home built Asset Management system told me that the unit was under warranty, So I called the vendors warranty support line.

The support issue lasted almost 2 weeks and took hours of my time, on phone calls, repair work and shipping;

* the support representatives shipped a new hard drive for the laptop. I had to remove the old drive, return it to the vendor, install the new drive, and start to reinstall the operating system. No luck – still dead – The operating system install died halfway through.

* they then shipped new memory (RAM) chips – I had to remove the old memory and install the new chips – Again no luck – still dead.

* Finally they sent a service technician to replace the Video Processor and Main Board – voila – it was actually the video board that was the problem

So the ITIL Incident Managememt Process has a “failure to boot” of that particular asset

The Problem Management Process documents that the Video Processor card was the culprit that caused that incident.

The Benefit?

I just had another laptop of the same Make and Model fail with the exact same symptoms. Will I have to repeat that 2 weeks and countless hours?

No!

I will be calling the Warranty support line again, but due to my documentation from the first incident and problem, I can reference that first “service Ticket” with the vendors support staff – we know what the fix will be.

They will still have to replace that video processor – but we will avoid the days and days of shipping new parts and hours on the support line.

Duuh Can’t you remember that?

Of course – I personally could remember that first incident – but the point is that regardless of your IT being supplied by a provider, or internally – anyone could avoid that wasted time and effort.

The Caveat

I have written in the ITIL summaries that the process of managing the ITIL framework can be the most difficult. If staff do not follow the framework, all the knowledge captured in that first incident and problem resolution is wasted if the second time it happens some tech just ignores the historical information and picks up the phone to repeat it all over again.

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IT Asset Management

Even in the SME space – we spend a lot of money on technology assets. (I hear all the financial types saying too much!)

Yet too often we do not carefully and completely track the life-cycle of that hardware or software asset from the cradle to the grave – and that can waste money.

IT Asset Management is the concept of tracking and managing this asset life cycle.

How Does IT Asset Management save money?

1) You already bought it once – do you remember? Why buy it again?
2) Where is it now? – You think that the remote sales guy that used to work for you had a Laptop and cellular phone. (Sorry, he had a projector and printer too)
3) warranty & service agreements – You paid for it, don’t spend money again.
4) Service History – As detailed in my blog about ITIL reducing the cost of support by not re-inventing the wheel

Larger organizations can use dedicated asset or seat management tools and applications, smaller organizations can use free tools or existing software tools. The key is to identify and record all asset purchases with an asset number, plus all the details, both physical and financial of that asset.

The amount of data that you collect may be incredibly deep for larger organizations – to just basic information for smaller businesses.

The extra few minutes that is required updating your Asset Management tool after every Move / Add / Change (MAC) is miniscule compared to the long term benefits.

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Do We Already Have Something To Do This?

Technical staff can often be the worst at this – but how often has the comment: “who reads the manual?” been heard? That is a mistake. I have seen many instances where a need exists for a particular technology asset, either hardware, software or both. With the best of intentions, a solution is identified, and a few more dollars leak out of your A/P.

Have you looked to see if you already have something that will do the job? If the manuals for existing tools had been read – you might find that the capability to perform that task already exists.

This article on Managing Inventory for Profitability by Ellen DePasquale at Inc.com demonstrates that many accounting packages can already deal with inventory management. Ditto for Purchasing Managemement.

An Asset Management system I have used did a reasonable job of performing Help Desk management as well. And in a fairly extreme case, Captain D. Michael Abrashoff Author of; It’s Your Ship: Management Techniques From The Best Damn Ship In The Navy (see The Bookshelf) Describes a communications rating who actually read the manual and identified a key communication system that no one knew existed.

So you may already have something that will do the job.

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