all together now: eliminate siloed business challenges through … · 2018-01-02 · you won't...
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ALL TOGETHER NOW: ELIMINATE SILOED BUSINESS CHALLENGES THROUGH A HOLISTIC SOFTWARE PLATFORM
December 2017
Tel: (855) 898-6058
Email Us: [email protected]
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Most companies require several departments in order to keep up with daily business operations. Human resources help you manage your employees, accounting keeps an eye on your finances, and your IT department is there to make sure everything works the way it should. Some of the time, these departments don't share information with other teams; this decision is so they don't have to worry about the hassle of keeping this information up-to-date across the board. However, this lack of sharing can cause major problems in your business, as there is often a lot of necessary overlap in different areas of your company. If your departments don't share information with each other, it could seriously damage the health of your business.
One of the areas in which using a siloed business approach can be dangerous is in tracking non-physical assets. Intangible assets are one of the most common investments in business today. In fact, your company likely has more intangible assets than you do physical ones. American companies currently possess more than $8 trillion in intangible assets.
You understand the importance of tracking your physical assets. You know that you need to keep detailed records of each of your investments, their value, life cycle, and maintenance logs. But tracking intangible assets is just as important, if not more so.
Examples of non-physical or intangible assets include:
n Employee hours
n User agreements
n Software licenses
n Compliance records
n Customer Data
When you don't track intangible assets such as these, you risk a number of issues surfacing in your business. For example, if your intangible assets don't appear on a balance sheet, there's no way for you to know about the value or lifespan of these assets. This, in turn, can lead to losing out in money if your assets aren't lasting as long as they should.
Additionally, using multiple software programs to track or access intangible data makes it difficult for company departments to communicate with each other. Neglecting to share information on those assets can create errors in your data, which means your employees won't have everything they need to do their job correctly. This can lead to dissatisfied customers, subpar performance, and confusion on how to proceed.
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There's an easy way to avoid these issues, and that's to use a centralized software program to track your non-physical assets. Using a SaaS makes it easy for all of your employees to access customer information, user agreements, compliance records and more, no matter what department they work in. You'll have a great insight as to what is happening in your company in real-time and you'll save your employees a lot of time and effort when it comes to communicating company information. A centralized platform reduces the need for data migration, which in turn makes your data more accurate.
Complications Caused by Using a Siloed Approach to Track Intangible Assets
What happens, though, if you don't implement a holistic, centralized SaaS platform to track your intangible assets? Here are several of the problems you could encounter:
You Can't Find Intangible Assets on Balance Sheets
If your asset information is spread across several departments, you might not be able to find your assets on your company balance sheet when it comes time to make quarterly reports. This is probably the worst problem of them all, as not having any information on your assets makes it difficult to track other aspects such as life cycle and maintenance requirements.
When your intangible assets don't show up on your balance sheets, it's difficult to know what you have on hand. This can lead to you spending more money than necessary if you end up purchasing software licenses, user agreements, or licenses that you can already access.
Additionally, tracking valuable company assets like employee hours is vital to properly balance your finances. If you don't use a centralized, reliable system to keep track of hours worked, overtime, or vacation hours, you risk not being able to pay your employees the correct amount owed because your data could be incorrect. This could easily be the case if you use something like a spreadsheet to keep track of hours, which multiple employees can access to adjust their hours. In the end, you won't be able to accurately track how much profit your company is making compared to the overall man hours you're putting in, and you won't be able to successfully improve your efficiency and output.
You Don't Know How Long Your Assets Should Last
Each year, US companies invest between $800 million to $1 trillion in intangible assets on average. Yet because of the nonphysical nature of assets like copyrights, employee skills, branding, and more, most companies don't have a clear idea of how long they can expect their assets to last. How long can a company go before they need to update their marketing campaigns? How many months can a construction company rely on a specific contract to keep them afloat before their client doesn't need work anymore?
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Neglecting to track these assets can leave your company scrambling when it's time to renew them. Software subscriptions can increase on an annual basis. If you only use a handful of licenses, this might not be a big deal. But if you have dozens of licenses for all of your employees to use, being caught unawares by renewal fees can add up. And if your brand is in need of a major rehaul, you might lose customers who want to support a company who is with the times. Outdated branding can cost you big when it comes to retaining customers.
You Aren't Aware of Asset Maintenance Needs
Many companies utilize databases on a daily basis, such as an SQL database or inventory-tracking software. However, in order to ensure your database is accurate and up to date, it needs to be maintained and checked regularly. If you aren't tracking the database changes, you'll have no way of knowing if the information within is accurate. This can lead to clients not receiving what they've paid for, employees providing the wrong type of service, and business relationships ending before necessary.
Outdated software can seriously mess with your company's ability to provide products and services. Older programs have a tendency to break or slow down, which can cost your business a lot in terms of employee work time. Healthcare facilities rely on fast and accurate software to provide stellar patient care. If you lose track of patient information, or can't keep track of their medical history, you not only risk losing their business, but could end up paying fees up to $50,000 for HIPAA violations.
You Don't Know How Much Your Intangible Assets Are Worth
Trying to determine the value of your intangible assets can be incredibly difficult. There's no clear metric on
how to value a brand name or a trademark. Company contracts can also be incredibly difficult to value. The
work your employees do literally makes up the well-being of your company. Sales contracts might be more
straightforward, as they often have a number or rate attached to them. However, your advertising assets
might be more difficult to appraise. Marketing efforts bring in new customers and clients, which mean the
difference between making a profit and going under.
Educational facilities like college campuses and technical schools have huge libraries of information at their
disposal. These large data repositories are irreplaceable. You might be able to assign a number to it by the
cost of replacing it, but certain types of information and knowledge can't be reproduced. And if they have
knowledge that can't be found anywhere else, the value of that information could be priceless. The Assets
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and Education Research Symposium have found that these educational assets are worth far more than any
economic value that could be assigned.
When you track your intangible assets through a siloed business approach, it's nearly impossible to know
how much they are worth. You don't have all of the information necessary to appraise your assets, and will
come up with an incorrect number if you try to value them.
Your Productivity Suffers
The skills and time of your employees are often more valuable than your tangible assets. However, trying to
put a number on the value they bring to your business isn't easy. Whether your company benefits from the
skills of an outgoing human resources manager, who brings in some of your best employees, or you rely on
one of the best accountants to keep your finances in check, quantifying employee talents isn't something
most businesses do.
However, neglecting to track employee skills in some way can have a serious impact on company
productivity. Without some kind of system, it'll be difficult to know how much your employees are working.
“American companies currently possess more than $8 trillion in intangible assets.“
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You won't have any way of identifying your weak spots, which means you won't know what kind of talent to
hire on.
And if you don't track employee hours, you run the risk of not paying your talent the salary they were
promised. At best, you'll have unhappy workers, and at worst you'll be found violating the Fair Labor
Standards Act and be forced to pay a settlement.
Unhappy employees result in unhappy customers. If your employees aren't being treated fairly, your
customers will pick up on their dissatisfaction and will take their business elsewhere.
You Lose Time and Money
As far as individual businesses go, intangible assets can make up to 84% of their value. Neglecting to track
84% of your business leaves out a lot of data your company needs to have in order to make well-informed
decisions. Not tracking the majority of your business means that you don't have a clear idea of what's going
on from day to day. You won't be able to determine how much profit you're bringing in, which assets are
benefiting your cause, and which ones are just causing problems.
Lack of focus is one of the major causes of business failure. If your asset information is spread across several
different databases, you won't be able to identify areas of improvement. You also won't be able to tell what
methods are bringing your company success, and which ones are slowing you down. Focusing on market
success is one of the only ways your company will continue to profit, and you can't do that unless you track
your intangible assets with a centralized system.
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Your Asset Information is Inaccurate and Full of Holes
Multiple software solutions make it easy for company information to slip through the cracks, producing more
errors and incorrect data. This can make it so that your consumer information is unusable, which means you
can't leverage your market niche to your company's advantage.
Incorrect data also has several other ramifications for your company. Missing information makes it difficult
for you to know what your audience wants, which means you will have wasted marketing efforts. And if you
don't appeal to your customers, you could end up with thousands of dollars in lost revenue. You also run the
risk of creating a bad customer experience, which will result in losing business.
How Asset Tracking With Asset Panda Addresses These Problems
You don't have to deal with the repercussions of using siloed software to track your intangible asses. Asset
Panda makes it easy to track physical and intangible assets. Our flexible platform can be customized to track
things like company time, employee behavior, team skills, and department actions or activities. If you have
any physical assets that come into play while tracking any of these non-physical assets, you can include all of
the relevant information on each item in any asset record.
Using a single software program to track your intangible assets benefits you in a number of ways. You'll
have all of the information in one place, so you'll know exactly when you received your assets, how long
they're expected to last, which team members are using them, and how various departments interact with
them. Having all of your asset information in one place will save your company hours of time in searching for
specific data.
Holistic software solutions also give you the power to stay ahead of regulation changes and industry
compliance issues. You can store information about what regulations apply to different assets right where
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you store the data about usage history and maintenance requirements. You'll be prepared for any audits that
come up instead of scrambling at the last second to get reports prepared.
When your business is ready to grow, you'll know exactly what assets and investments are required to move
forward. Asset usage history will help you identify which tools your company uses most, which ones need
replacement or upgrades, and what skills your team is currently lacking. With this knowledge in mind, you'll
know exactly what kind of candidate you need to hire, and what types of assets you need to acquire to
achieve your desired growth.
Asset Panda's asset tracking platform is a great way to keep tabs on all of your intangible assets. By having
all of your information in one place, your workplace efficiency will skyrocket. You won't need to figure out
which database holds the information you're looking for because it will all be in one place.
Our platform is great for construction firms who need to track their employee hours on various client jobs.
Customizable fields make it easy to track which workers were at which job sites on a given day, as well as the
technology and processes they implemented. That same platform can be tailored to assist medical providers
in tracking healthcare software implementations in a patient-focused environment. Educational facilities
can also use Asset Panda to track their specializing knowledge databases and prevent the loss of any unique
educational assets that can't be found anywhere else.
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Check out how our clients use Asset Panda to track their intangible assets:
Construction Equipment
One of our construction clients uses Asset Panda to track everything related to their heavy machinery.
Equipment like bulldozers, cranes, and other fleet vehicles is vital to completing construction jobs. Before
using Asset Panda, this client was having a hard time tracking employee time with each of these assets. They
didn't know which workers were using which assets on a daily basis.
Implementing Asset Panda helped them track employee hours with various machinery by utilizing a check in
and check out feature. It also enabled them to stay ahead of their maintenance and repair requirements for
each of their fleet vehicles. Our holistic platform enabled them to protect the safety of their employees by
ensuring their equipment met required workplace safety standards.
Educational Rewards System
Yolo County Schools uses Asset Panda to implement and track a good behavior based reward system.
Children need a good environment in which to learn, but when you get a lot of kids together, it can be
difficult to maintain an encouraging environment. Yolo County Schools rewards good behavior like sharing
with other students and being polite in the hallways with points. Once a student earns enough points, they
can shop at a store for rewards.
Asset Panda simplified the point tracking process. Before making the switch, they were using Excel
spreadsheets and manual data entry to record times when students earned points. But in situations where
students have more than one teacher, trying to keep track of all of the points earned from class to class
manually is nearly impossible. By simplifying their rewards system, our platform enabled Yolo County Schools
to protect and maintain the intangible asset of a good learning environment.
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Service-Oriented Medical Care
Providing service to those in need is difficult to put a number to, but it's one of the most valuable things any
organization can do. One of our clients provides assistance to cancer patients. Rather than tracking physical
assets, they use Asset Panda to track service provided to each of the people they are trying to help.
Our platform enabled them to track the type of service provided to each patient, who carried it out, and
when the service was completed. Through tracking this, our client was able to become more aware of patient
needs and ensure each of those needs were met in a timely manner.
Asset Panda can help you track and identify the value of your company's intangible assets. Our platform makes it easy to identify what assets you have available, how long they should last, what maintenance and renewal requirements are necessary to keep them functioning, and potential gaps in your asset information. Sign up for a free trial to see how Asset Panda can provide a holistic software solution for tracking intangible assets.
© 2017 Copyright Asset Panda
About Asset Panda
Asset Panda, the most powerful, yet simple to use asset tracking software in the world, enables clients to
track their IT assets exactly how they want, and from the mobile devices they already carry. The platform
may be accessed either online or via free mobile iOS and Android apps that sync with the cloud. The apps
include a mobile barcode scanner, so there’s no need to purchase a separate handheld barcode scanner.
Users can add voice notes, videos, documents or photos to the asset’s information. The tool allows users to
view check-in/check-out status, GPS location, lease/purchase information, complete maintenance history,
insurance information, and the depreciation and in ation calculations your accounting and compliance teams
require. Companies of every industry sector and size – including some of the world’s biggest brands – have
chosen Asset Panda to help them manage millions of dollars’ worth of vital assets.
Tel: (855) 898-6058
Email Us: [email protected]
Headquarter Office: 3001 Dallas Parkway,
Suite 580, Frisco, Texas 75034
www.assetpanda.com