Why You Should Automate Your Asset Tracking Rastrac Team | Jan 29, 2020 2:15:00 PM

As your drivers deliver assets to job sites and equipment is being used daily, your assets are being constantly moved around. Your business may be tracking location and maintenance scheduling by hand, which can be less efficient and costly. What if there is a typo, or if an employee forgot to schedule one of your asset’s maintenance appointments? With automated asset tracking, human error is removed from the picture.

Automating your asset tracking can help your team save time and money as well as increase consistency and accountability in your fleet. Read these tips to find out how asset tracking automation can help streamline your asset tracking operations.

What is Automated Asset Tracking?

Asset tracking is the ability to track and monitor your tagged assets through real-time GPS asset management software and an asset tracker device. Asset tracking does more than monitor location; it can also track conditions such as driver behaviors, humidity, temperature, and hours of use.

An automated tracking system archives your data and ties it right into an asset’s system, providing condition reports and location tracking without having to manually compute anything. An automated asset tracking system can also keep track of maintenance so you are reminded when your assets need to be scheduled for an appointment.

The Benefits of Automating Your Asset Tracking Software

There are a plethora of benefits to automated asset tracking software, ranging from acquiring the latest positions of your assets to monitoring their usage hours, just to name a few

Track a Variety of Conditions

Asset tracking allows you access to valuable data in real-time. When combined with specialized asset management software, asset tracker devices allow you to record different events, activities, and statistics ranging from asset activation, asset hours of use, location, asset motion, and more.

It would be incredibly meticulous and time consuming for all these conditions to be manually updated and tracked. With automated asset tracking, these conditions are monitored by GPS computerized systems and updated to your database in real-time. This means your data is at the tip of your fingers when you need it. Automated asset tracking also updates itself in real time, so you don’t have to wait for an employee to submit a manual report to notice if something may be wrong with your assets. Using an automated asset tracker device and software is a more efficient and accessible way to manage your assets so you can take swift action if an asset appears damaged or is being misused.

Removes Human Error

If your business relies on manual asset tracking, that means you are trusting employee and driver reports to monitor the status of your assets. Typos, late reports, and other examples of human errors can compromise your asset management efficiency.

For example, if an employee forgets to record the amount of hours an asset was used, much needed maintenance appointments will not be scheduled and potentially damage your assets. The same thing can happen with typos. If a report has inaccurate data, this could negatively impact your asset’s condition and your overall efficiency.

With automated asset tracking system, impartial and accurate analytic data is collected and stored in a database so it is safe from human error. It’s within reach for fleet managers to pull from when they need to look at data, so it is very convenient. When analytics are automated into a computer system, you can be assured that the data is as accurate as can be and never misses a day.

Reliable Maintenance Scheduling

One of the benefits of automated asset tracking is preventive maintenance. When asset tracking is programmed to monitor the maintenance of your assets, you can keep track of accurate analytics of your asset’s condition and be notified when to schedule appointments. Or, if your schedule is automated, your asset tracking system will send you notifications so you don’t forget!

Automated remote performance monitoring allows you to manage and improve your maintenance scheduling based on asset use. You can check if an asset is being under or over utilized and archive this data in your cloud system for future reference. This allows you to keep all your assets in their best shape for deployment to clients. With preventative maintenance, you can catch issues that may turn into more expensive repairs down the road. Not catching inefficiencies as early as possible may even put your assets out of commission, which can further cost you revenue!

Automated asset tracking captures reliable and impartial data in real-time, allowing you immediate insight into your asset conditions.

How to Automate Asset Tracking for Your Fleet

You can set up automated asset tracking for your asset fleet with most GPS tracking devices and asset management systems. There are specific benefits based on particular GPS asset tracker devices and software you use.

What software and devices you choose are based on your own particular needs and your assets. If you want a GPS asset tracker device to make frequent reporting updates, you need to be aware also that report frequency affects battery life, data usage, and accuracy of the “current” location data for your assets. The more frequent the reports, the more accurate location data is and the more control you can have over assets. However, more frequent reporting affects battery life, so if you need an asset tracker with a long battery life for remote job sites, you may need to look into a device with less frequent reporting. Lower report frequency helps minimize power consumption and server load, helping to minimize costs.

Automate Asset Tracking with Rastrac!

With automated asset tracking, you can gain control over your assets and rest assured that you’re receiving the most updated reports. Your employees can focus on other activities while automated asset tracking provides you with data-driven reports and statistics with the precision and reliability you need. With the right asset tracking software and asset tracker, monitoring your assets in the field is easy.

Reach out to Rastrac today and learn more about how automated asset tracking can improve your fleet management efficiency!