RFID-Asset-Tracking

All organizational assets turn out to be things that are absolutely essential for the organization's operation. It is precisely for the reason that they are absolutely essential that the organization buys them at inception, or in the course of its operation. This means that should they get lost, the organization's operations would be hampered. And to get the operations moving again, money will definitely have to be spent on the replacement of the said assets. Money spent in this way is, effectively, most lost. Repeat the process several times, and the organization starts feeling the impact. Fail to take steps to mitigate the situation, and soon, the organization will be on its knees.

This is not a tale.
We have seen organization that failed to keep track of their assets having to die. And this makes it essential for an organization that doesn't want to suffer the same fate to undertake proactive RFID Asset Tracking. In a nutshell, asset tracking is necessitated by the fact that if no system for the same is put in place, it is almost a cinch that some of the assets will be lost. And this will translate to a situation where the organization's operations have to be hampered by the gap left by that asset, or else where the organization has to spend money to replace the lost asset. None of these is an attractive option, from an organizational development point of view.

In days gone by, organizations trying to put in place asset tracking systems would have faced quite a hard time. These were the times when asset tracking could only be done manually, as no machine had been developed with the necessary level of sophistication for such a role. Thus if the asset being tracked was a vehicle, the driver may be equipped with a radio call system to be reporting his locations as he progressed on a journey (these being reports that couldn't be independently verified). In a retail setting, where the assets being tracked were stock inventory items, the whole asset tracking venture would turn out to be a nightmare. The operation would be dependant on having strategically placed guards all over the shopping floor, monitoring each and every customer's movement. This is the stuff nightmares were made of, because in addition to protecting the assets, one needed to beware of putting off otherwise innocent customers.

Other assets would have to be tracked through folio-books, where they would be logged out whenever authorized for external release, and logged in when they ever found their way back into the organization. The painful thing would be the fact that, in spite of all these efforts, assets still tended to get 'inexplicably' lost. The system was not foolproof. The asset tracking systems were also tedious, expensive and time consuming.

It is worth noting that there are still some firms making use of these traditional approaches to asset tracking, either out of ignorance about the modern asset tracking approaches we are about to explore, or because of a mistaken belief that the modern asset tracking system are too difficult or expensive to implement.

Most of the modern asset tracking approaches are based on skilful deployment of information and communication technologies. Specifically, the backbone of the whole system tends to be an organizational asset database. In such a database, every asset the organization owns (and considers worth tracking) is assigned a unique identifier. Then a combination of technologies, such as RFID and bar-coding are used to connect the assets to the database - so that, in simpler terms, it is a 'fully devoted' computer system rather than a scattered human mind that is charged with the actual tracking task. The connection of the whole system to the particular assets (where an asset could be something as small as bread on a retail shelf or even a pencil) could be through something like a set of barcode ribbons.

Now one thing that tends to off put some people is when they hear about things like barcode ribbons, and imagine implementation of a system that includes such things would be too expensive. As it turns out, such a system isn't likely to be too expensive, as there are barcode scanners going for, literally, hundreds of dollars; just as there are barcode printers going for the same amounts of money. Laser scanners may be a little more expensive, but not particularly so and in any case, most of the roles that can be served by such laser scanners turn out to be roles that can be served by ordinary Barcode Scanners. Simply put, the amount of money that would be spent in implementation of a traditional asset tracking system (in the long run) is bound to be more than adequate for the implementation of a modern asset tracking system. That would be the case even after making provisions for purchase of things like laser scanners (or ordinary barcode scanners), barcode printers, and materials for printing the barcode ribbons.

If you are developing an asset tracking system for your organization, you would be well advised to make use of the modern approach. For one, it is a much cheaper asset tracking approach, especially when you take a long term perspective and when you consider the fact that it is self sustaining. It is also more effective. And it is more convenient (for instance, in a retail setting) than a traditional, manual approach to asset tracking.