Why Auditing Fixed Assets Matters for Lifecycle Management

Why is auditing fixed assets so important for technology lifecycle management? A company’s technology assets are probably some of the largest, if not the largest, investments they’ll make. Every fixed asset – and that includes every IT fixed asset – has an estimated useful life that begins upon acquisition and deployment within the organization. The ultimate length of that useful life depends on several factors including usage and how well the company maintains and updates the asset. An IT asset that’s regularly serviced as recommended likely will have a longer useful life than one serviced occasionally or never. Ultimately, the IT asset will reach the end of its useful life, and the organization will opt to retire and/or replace it.

Auditing fixed assets gives companies insight into the IT assets they own as well as the condition of those assets. That knowledge not only can encourage more attention to equipment maintenance. It helps the organization identify missing assets and ghost assets and gives managers the real-time data they need to create equipment refresh schedules.

Do You Know How Many IT Assets You Own?

Perhaps not surprisingly, a lot of organizations don’t know exactly how many IT assets they own or where those items are located. Maintaining that knowledge is an almost impossible task, as many companies rely on heavy technology investment, and some of those assets move throughout a company and even outside company walls. Manual auditing procedures all too often set companies up for failure. In order to make informed decisions about the IT assets in their inventory, organizations must be able to trust that their data is in a system of record that is accurate and in real-time. Auditing fixed assets through an IT asset tracking system allow them to do just that.

Maintenance Determines Lifespan

Is your IT department staying on top of preventive asset maintenance? Are your employees ignoring those reminders to update their computers? Keeping your technology updated is vital for efficiency, security and even morale. Machines that are routinely inspected and properly maintained run faster and are more responsive. When routine maintenance keeps getting shoved to the back burner, productivity inevitably is affected; employees could lose several hours or even a day’s work due to a breakdown that could have been avoided with proper maintenance.

Cybersecurity: a $6 Trillion Problem

Perhaps most important, the issue of security is becoming an increasingly pressing one. IT assets that aren’t updated are far more vulnerable to hackers. According to Cybersecurity Ventures, cybercrime is forecasted to cost the world $6 trillion annually by 2021, up from $3 trillion in 2015, representing the greatest transfer of wealth in history, making it more profitable than the global trade of all major illegal drugs combined.

In every IT asset’s lifecycle, there comes a point at which the asset is no longer helping you run your organization more efficiently; it’s become an impediment. Auditing fixed assets enables companies to pinpoint those assets and determine whether it’s time for repair or replacement. Addressing the issue now instead of months down the road could save you significant time and money.