magazine
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Air conditioning provider Building &
Maintenance Services Limited (BMS) is
using the Real Asset Management (RAM)
mobile app to improve the accuracy and
management of its asset register.
Specialising in the industrial, commercial
and leisure sectors, BMS engineers regularly
visit 150 sites across the UK, maintaining
anything from one to 900 heating and air
conditioning units.
The difficulty of maintaining audit trails
for so many assets using a paper-based
system prompted BMS to implement RAM’s
Series4000 asset software and asset tracking
app, which make it quick and easy for BMS
engineers to log the location of, and record
any changes to, its assets.
Steve Langmaid, Service Manager at BMS,
said: “Prior to deciding to go down the mobile
app route, our engineers would download
a spreadsheet when they were on site via
Dropbox folders accessed on their mobile
device. They would then check if the asset
was correct against the information held
on the spreadsheet. It was a highly time-
consuming and manual process, which also
gave us very limited real-time visibility of
what was taking place.
“Now, all the engineers have to do is scan
the barcode on the asset and complete a
simple series of questions embedded
within the system to confirm
that they have checked a piece of
equipment, that the information is
correct and that it matches the asset.”
The app ensures engineers can
upload information quickly and
efficiently from any location and
helps reduce the potential for human
error when tracking assets
across different locations.
Langmaid added: “The majority of our
workforce is field-based and the advantage
of RAM’s mobile solution over the other
providers that we spoke to is its compatibility
with both tablet and mobile phone devices.
One of the main benefits for us is the ability
to easily trace what work has been and is due
to be done. In addition, we have a complete
audit trail for every asset.”
On the asset trail
Keeping track
of assets
used to be
a relatively
straight-
forward
process –
albeit one
that was
boring...
Asset tracking & mobile working
Asset tracking is not
just for Christmas,
Easter or Year End
As businesses have become more
mobile, so have their assets, to the
point where it is no longer possible to
retain visibility and control of assets
solely through an annual audit. Instead,
says Karen Conneely, you should enable
employees to track assets continuously
with a simple smartphone app.
Society today is mobile in so many ways,
but while organisations have developed
any number of strategies to support a
mobile workforce and customer base, few
have implemented effective policies to
control and track an increasingly mobile
asset base that moves not just within, but
also beyond, an organisation’s physical
boundaries.
Keeping track of assets used to be a
relatively straightforward process – albeit
one that was boring and grudgingly
undertaken. Someone in IT, finance or
facilities management would perform a
physical audit, typically using a barcode
reader, perhaps once a year to gain an
up-to-date view on asset status and
location. This enabled Finance to update
the balance sheet and the IT/facilities
management teams to track asset
damage or loss.
In today’s highly mobile society, when
organisations manage assets on behalf of
other people or allocate expensive assets
to individuals for definite or indefinite
periods, organisations need to change the
way the asset base is managed.
Imposing Control
From the school or college providing
students with tablets and video
equipment for art projects to the NHS
Trust or GP surgery providing 24-hour
blood pressure monitoring or walking
frames to patients at home, or even
the hotel looking to keep track of
guests’ expensive luggage, assets are
permanently on the move.
So just how are those assets going
to be tracked? As the NHS increases
its focus on delivering more care in the
home, how are Trusts and GP surgeries
Kicking off a new series on apps for business, we look at how smartphones
could revolutionise asset tracking
Karen Conneely: smarter asset tracking
