An asset manager is hired to manage, track, and monitor a company’s asset portfolio to improve decision-making when managing high-value assets. Responsibilities of an asset manager include;
- Procuring and investing
- Tracking
- Analysing
- Calculating deprecating values
- and disposing of assets in the most profitable way possible
Asset managers will take control of a business’s fixed assets, property, money, stock, digital assets, and other financial-led products or services.
They’re expected to ensure a greater return on investment (ROI) from asset purchases and to identify further asset investment opportunities.
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What Type of Assets Are You Looking to Manage?
What Are the Roles of an Asset Manager?
Essentially, asset managers have similar roles that include:
- Planning for asset acquisition
- Acquiring assets
- Calculating asset valuation and depreciation scales
- Disposing of assets (either replacing, selling, or scraping)
- Tracking asset location
- Analysing asset performance
- Producing asset risk assessments
- Recommending asset investment opportunities
However, the roles of an asset manager will depend on a company’s asset set, industry, operations, and size.
For instance, a hotel asset manager will carry out roles to help increase the real estate value of a hotel. Whereas a school asset manager will be instructed to ensure asset availability and performance to increase the quality of education provided to students.
How Businesses Can Benefit From Asset Management
Whether outsourcing through an asset management company or making an asset manager role available in-house, the benefits of deploying asset management depend on what you want to achieve as a business owner. Ask yourself, do you want to;
- Maximise the life cycle of your assets
- Increase asset availability – including reducing downtime and eliminating ghost assets
- Improve the accuracy of your inventory through an asset register
- Increase the visibility of your assets
- Or, generate a greater return on your asset investments
Hiring an asset manager can also have benefits in terms of offsetting workload.
For instance, an SMB that is rapidly scaling will see their asset ownership increase, meaning a dedicated person is now required to manage its assets (although 43% of small businesses still fail to track their assets). Whereas before, the asset management roles would have been assigned to office staff or even the business owner.
An asset manager can also benefit a company directly from a financial point of view when considering asset depreciation values. With better accounting practices and an accurate overview of the asset life cycle, decision-making is based on profitability in terms of how an asset is purchased, maintained, and disposed of. This is particularly the case when it comes to fixed asset management.
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What Type of Assets Are You Looking to Manage?
Types of Asset Manager Roles You Should Consider
Asset managers can range from large companies such as BlackRock (the largest asset management company based on assets under management) Vanguard, and Goldman Sachs, to smaller in-house teams.
To identify what asset manager you require, you must first understand the different types of asset managers:
- Financial asset manager: The job objective is to increase the ROI of assets through wealth management and investment opportunities.
- Property asset manager: Property asset management involves having a real estate manager carry out strategic measures to maximise a property’s value.
- Enterprise/Fixed asset manager: Focuses on controlling a company’s fixed assets and EAM (mainly operational and maintenance).
- Digital asset manager: DAM (digital asset management) incorporates managing and distributing digital files such as copyrights, privacy records, and NFTs.
- IT asset manager: IT asset managers will track, update, acquire and maintain business hardware and software. This role can also be split into hardware and software asset management.
4 Tools to Help an Asset Manager Thrive
1. Asset Management Software
Asset Management Software provides all the capabilities that enable asset managers to manage and monitor a company’s asset portfolio in one system. Features include asset registers, asset tracking technologies, and maintenance planning.
Each feature helps to generate greater asset visibility throughout an organisation and provides an accurate financial overview of its asset values. While asset maintenance planning helps to promote a more preventive approach instead of reactive, which 80% of equipment maintenance currently is.
2. Enterprise Asset Management Software
Fixed asset managers will use EAM Software to measure the performance of physical and fixed assets. EAM tools are specifically designed around the operational and maintenance values of assets. They ensure assets are available at all times during production and have an optimal output.
A CMMS can also be used by a fixed asset manager but there are key differences between EAM and CMMS Software. A CMMS is focused only on the maintenance of equipment and machinery, whereas an EAM system encompasses the entire fixed asset life cycle.
3. IT Asset Management Software
IT asset managers can utilise the features found in ITAM Software such as CMDBs and ticketing systems to track and manage a company’s library and hardware and software assets (although dedicated SAM Software can be used to solely manage software).
With an ITAM system, asset managers will gain an overview of a company’s entire IT environment. As well as analysing assets through asset discovery to identify risks such as cyberattacks and failed offboarding protocols – On average, 35% of a business’s data requires some form of security.
4. Digital Asset Management System
Digital asset management tools are being used more frequently as the evolution of electronic files used in businesses quickens. Asset managers will use DAM tools to set company-wide standardisation, increase digital security, and identify the digital asset life cycle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I Need an Asset Manager or an Asset Owner?
An asset owner is a person or organisation who owns the assets, which, in this case, is you. As an asset owner, you may want to entrust a person or a company to manage these assets, who will be the asset manager.
What’s the Difference Between an Asset Manager and an Investment Manager?
Whereas an asset manager will determine asset value, performance, and potential for investment, an investment manager – or investment advisor – takes into account economic value and risk assessment to ensure their clients get the most out of their portfolio’s investment returns.