UK’s Best Asset Management Systems For Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs)

Find an asset management system to replace spreadsheets, get real-time mobile access & increase asset workflow & lifecycle visibility.

What Is Asset Management For Small Business?

Spreadsheets are handy for managing up to 100 assets, but anything beyond that becomes tricky.

They are limited in managing workflows, assigning assets, setting user permissions, tracking real-time locations, scheduling maintenance, and disposal planning. For that, you need a robust system like Asset Management Software.

For small businesses, asset management systems are easy to use, simple to set up, and affordable. They deliver a mobile app that offers a single source of truth for your equipment, inventory, IT, and endpoint data.

They provide features like label printing, barcode scanning, software license management, and third-party integration. SMBs gain greater asset visibility and reduce time-consuming manual tasks like year-end auditing.

Why Small Businesses Need Effective Asset Management

72% of small businesses have become digital in the last two years. Most have rightly focussed on serving customers digitally.

SMB’s efficiency will double if the same digital adoption happens in managing assets. Yet, most SMBs find it tricky to invest time (mainly) and money in managing assets.

Small businesses have more to lose if they misplace an asset or do not make full use of an asset. Making the most out of every asset is at the very core of every successful small business. So small businesses often seek out any avenue to make the most out of every asset. The contrasting side to this thought process is often small businesses are heavily time, resource and budget constrained. As a result, the following scenarios are often common in an SMB set up.

• Lack of asset visibility.
• Communication gaps arising from lack of asset visibility.
• Consistent physical asset audits requiring considerable manual efforts.
• Working with unstructured budgets.
• Asset and its data sit separately which lowers overall confidence in asset data.
• Reactive and high spending on asset maintenance

Most SMB’s start with a spreadsheet to address the above asset register-related issues. After a few months, most SMB’s identify the pitfalls of using spreadsheets and consider a cloud-based asset management tool.

The Benefits of Small Business Asset Management

Collect Asset Data in One Centralised System

Assets can include physical items such as IT equipment, machinery, and fleet vehicles, as well as properties, land, and furniture. One key benefit of asset management is being able to manage an entire inventory in one place. This allows asset managers to geolocate assets or check which staff have access to them.

An example is if you’re storing and shipping products via a warehouse. Asset management software allows you to track assets using tracking technology such as barcodes, GPS trackers, and RFID tags. This lets you determine when inventory is low and order more stock from suppliers. You could also see which aisle and row in your warehouse assets are located, helping staff on the ground pick, pack, and despatch quickly.

Consider a small printing agency. Even though the number of assets is minimal, they still need to be managed effectively, as their printers are worth a great deal to their business. If one printer fails, the company would be operating at a lower capacity. An asset management system can keep track of these vital assets and automatically provide alerts for planned maintenance, helping to keep them in good working order.

Eliminate Manual Methods

Small business asset management tools offer effective automation solutions, helping to eliminate manual processes and significantly reduce errors. On average, fraud and human error are costing businesses in the UK £98.6 billion a year.

Unlike spreadsheets, software enables quicker reporting and automatically checks the status of assets. It can alert staff when maintenance is required, as well as understand how much assets are worth according to depreciation value.

Automating your asset management has a positive knock-on effect on other areas of a business, including finance, HR, procurement, and IT, allowing employees to perform with more efficiency.

Access Data From Anywhere with Cloud-Based Apps

A beneficial feature of modern asset management software is cloud-based mobile apps. This enables an entire asset directory to be accessed by anyone at any time from any location, unlike non-cloud methods such as spreadsheets.

Managers can check and update asset data from anywhere using both desktops and mobile devices. This means employees can access and update inventory, log maintenance activities, and run reports in the field or on the go.

Asset Management Software Is Cost-Efficient

Although an asset management system will be an initial expenditure, it is cost-effective in the long run. Asset Management Software can reduce costs arising from unexpected repairs or from having to replace lost or stolen equipment.

Because you can track assets so precisely, you’ll also know where they are at all times. Routine maintenance scheduling helps prevent problems with equipment before they happen.
Out-of-the-box asset management tools might be sufficient for smaller businesses and are also cheaper than highly customised solutions. It makes sense to opt for a standard solution if you’re moving from a manual spreadsheet-based system.

Produce Accurate and Detailed Asset Data Reports

A management system can store detailed information, especially when compared to the limitations of spreadsheets and paper documents. It can log dates that assets have been purchased, inspected, and accessed by staff, as well as an asset’s purchase value and current worth.

This means that when an audit is due, you’ll have the necessary information to hand. Auditors can use these records to determine whether your accounts are financially viable. Even if your business isn’t required to undergo an audit, it’s good practice to do this every twelve months.

Promote Small Business Growth Scalability

You might be happy managing your quota of thirty assets in an Excel file, for now. But, how will you cope in the future when you have hundreds of more assets to manage and track? As well as more members of staff editing and updating the same spreadsheet. Small businesses have one common goal; growth. Asset Management Software helps to scale for future business growth.

6 Factors to Consider When Choosing a Small Business Asset Management System

1. Consider If You Need Asset Audits as a Service

Even if your business does not have a regulatory need to audit assets, most businesses benefit from a thorough asset audit once every six to twelve months. Auditing assets is even more important for a small business because finding asset auditing experience can be hard. So consider this option upfront.

2. Find a System That Takes Care of Fixed and IT Assets

In the asset management market, you will find that some products focus on fixed asset management and some on IT asset management. For a small business, a more profitable approach is to choose a system that allows you to manage both fixed and IT assets, along with basic asset tracking capabilities. This will enable you to get more return from your investment but also ensure that you have more visibility and control over your assets.

3. Involve All Stakeholders In Your Decision

A software solution that looks good may not be the one that gets used. It is important to involve all of your users right from the start. Most asset management systems have a good user interface – but your users are the best judge. Don’t cut corners here, as full user adoption is very important to the successful management of your assets. Try to involve them during the search, shortlist, and demo stages of your decision-making process.

4. An Out-of-the-Box Configurable Software Is More Suitable

Asset management systems come with various configurable and customisable options. Configuration means changing field names and making minor tweaks like getting the right reports in place. Customisation is deeper; it can involve adding small software features to incorporate your workflows.
Where possible, try to stick to standard software with almost no customisation, as for a small business this is more cost-effective. Jumping from spreadsheets to a heavily customised solution can be a huge and time-consuming.

There are cases where customisation will save you significant overheads and in some cases even give you a competitive advantage. Software customisation comes at a higher cost and should only be considered if the return and the rewards are clear and tested.

5. Choose a Supplier Who Will Value Your Business

From a supplier relationship perspective, choose an Asset Management Software supplier who will value your business. Most companies have good account management protocols, however, a protocol is one thing and genuine care is another. Push hard for the small business references from your potential asset software suppliers to see if the supplier really cares.

6. Get a Clear Idea of Implementation Before Committing

Implementation not only means putting data into the platform but also understanding how your current workflows are going to be adopted. Think about data duplication, user rights, field names, and reporting.

Before you sign on the dotted line, try to ensure you have a good understanding of the implementation plan. Where possible, free trials and evaluation licences should be used to test out the implementation.

Ongoing costs such as additional users, cloud storage limits, support limits, training limits, new locations, and customisation costs can be hidden. Get clarity on all the possible future costs before you sign the deal.