Hardware Inventory With Mobile App: Better Manage Laptops, Phones, Beamers or Screens

On this page you will find information on the following topics:

• Why Is an IT Inventory Using an Excel Template Disadvantageous?
• This Is How a Modern Hardware Inventory of Devices in Companies Works
• The Better Alternative to Hardware Inventory via Excel Template
• Efficiently Manage Hardware and Software Together

Can an optimised hardware inventory really help your company? Do work processes actually become easier when you use inventory management software? – Perhaps your company is one of the many businesses and organisations in which hardware and software have been managed rather carelessly up to now.

Quite a few managers think: It always worked somehow, why do we need a special programme for the inventory of our IT devices? At the same time, however, laptops are not always where you are looking for them and the overview of the computer inventory and IT environment leaves a lot to be desired. Not only since more and more devices are lent to employees in home office should one ask oneself the following question:

Why Is an IT Inventory Using an Excel Template Disadvantageous?

Most companies, of course, try to manage their devices and licences in one way or another. Often, IT asset management consists of individual spreadsheet documents. This is better than nothing, but far from a modern and efficient method of hardware inventory. A lot of inventory data and detailed information is not recorded and has to be painstakingly researched when needed.

Some administrative staff, for example, do not note down data on installed software. This leads to unnecessary duplicate purchases or delays in operations because licences have expired unnoticed. Especially when distributed workplaces require the use of virtual machines, decentralised management of existing software is indispensable. Excel spreadsheets, which may not be accessible from all end devices and work locations, are often of no help.

Printed versions of inventory tables are even more prone to error. They offer similarly few functions as magnetic boards in warehouses and workshops where the whereabouts of equipment are to be recorded. Inventory management of this kind is very dependent on concentrated staff and accessible individual rooms. It already often does not work for furniture, vehicles or tools and is completely unattractive for IT infrastructures.

Employees, after all, are now accustomed to completing administrative tasks through mouse clicks or smartphone gestures. Especially if your company has very extensive premises or a high proportion of mobile workers, hardware inventory with a mobile app brings advantages. After all, hardly anyone will be particularly motivated to go specifically to a certain room with a paper list or to call an administrative assistant just to report the renewal of a licence or the loan of a keyboard.

This Is How a Modern Hardware Inventory of Devices in Companies Works

Poor site management can result in losses: Company inventory is “forgotten” somewhere or “disappears” because its whereabouts have not been documented over time. If, on the other hand, you make the hardware inventory possible via a mobile app, you make it easier for your colleagues to update data.

A QR code can be generated for the entire IT inventory, but also for vehicles or machines. This is stuck on the object and can then be scanned in using a smartphone or tablet. Various processing options for the object then appear. For a easy inventory monitoring, for example, the location can be saved and updated via the smartphone’s GPS signal – in real time.

In cloud-based hardware inventory management software such as Timly, the location history is then visible from all linked accounts. If you wish, we can implement software accounts for you that work with your existing Active Directory data. This makes it easy for the entire IT department to see which employee recorded the location at what time. If your company owns larger assets, such as excavators or mobile industrial equipment, professional real-time trackers can also be integrated into the inventory management software.

The Better Alternative to Hardware Inventory via Excel Template

Unfortunately, traditional methods, often started out of necessity, such as the Excel inventory spreadsheet, do not provide a complete record of all IT assets. At best, they provide a rudimentary overview of licences, devices and maintenance intervals. A complete hardware asset management solution, however, also includes information on the condition of the object, the lending history or linked software assets. A really helpful IT inventory has interfaces to other company software.

In this way, follow-up questions can be answered directly, such as the question of responsibility for the maintenance task or the question of what the object’s current monetary value is. You do not need to keep your own servers ready for the large amount of data collected during the hardware inventory. Our software as a service package includes a connection to the Timly Cloud. You and your employees can access this at any time from the desktop PC in the office, the company telephone in the home office or even the tablet in the warehouse.

If you prefer to use your own server infrastructure for the inventory functions, we will install an on premise solution for you. This is just one example of how our property management software can be flexibly adapted to customer needs. Among other things, we also help you to import existing inventory databases into Timly – if required, also automatically and regularly via our API interface. In addition to hardware management, software inventory is also playing an increasingly important role. Professional programmes are increasingly offered via subscription solutions.

The various desktop or user licences are not always easy to keep track of. To ensure that each employee can use the necessary software at the right time, you can assign it to him or her as an inventory item. In the respective employee profile, employees can also make bookings themselves. The disposition function is suitable for long-term planning of software assets (but also of all other inventory objects). It can be used to reserve inventory for future times and employees, external persons or rooms.