Security issues create universal ROI from IT asset tracking
Security issues create universal ROI from IT asset tracking
Every office of every 21st Century company has PCs, monitors, printers, etc. All this equipment possesses a moderate fixed value in the hardware, enough to justify better tracking alone, on a strict cost-to-loss ratio.
There is much greater value in the data on board. When you factor this into the equation, it is hard to conceive of not using a low cost system to limit or eliminate loss.
Larceny through laissez-faire
It is not that your office is crawling with thieves. But an office environment is subject to human foibles. A fellow employee is let go, or resigns, and her IT equipment (and everything else of value in that office) is cannibalized. Someone takes the printer to their end of the floor, another the flat panel, and that over-caffeinated kid in engineering sees a chance to pick up another PC for his software testing.
All you need to do to prevent this is put an active RFID tag on the items, open up a software package, enter an ID, press a button and you can see on what floor and or what office or area the item resides, real time. If you are looking for a laptop, pull up the last time it walked out the door. Seems pretty simple, right?
Value Proposition
It has become common over the past decade for even the largest companies to lease, not buy, IT equipment. Major PC OEMs have entire divisions that lease PCs and peripherals. A multitude of service providers offer a rash of PC leasing options.
The business model makes sense. Why should a company buy, maintain and depreciate a CapEx when they can write off the lease as an expense? Also, since technology refreshes so fast, why not get a lease deal that has the built in refresh mechanism? However, one unforeseen problem stems from this model: what happens after two or three years of the lease when someone must find the equipment and return it, or face penalties?
Time passes and the office operates these systems and equipment. Who is in charge of tracking all the equipment down? Companies certainly cannot staff a team of bloodhounds when they only need to find the equipment once or twice a year for an audit or to take it back to the leasing company.
Tracking a PC is a definitively great way to utilize RFID, active or passive. Especially since its use for these assets is so easy to implement.
Once you implement such a system, why would you not also tag hard drives or other data-storage subcomponent assets? With an RFID system in place, a year of incremental cost is nothing compared to the wrong disc falling into the wrong hands.
This functionality is on the market with price points that fit any ROI you want to consider, including some turn-key systems, right off the shelf. Look at both passive and active RFID to make the best choice for your office.
There is much greater value in the data on board. When you factor this into the equation, it is hard to conceive of not using a low cost system to limit or eliminate loss.
Larceny through laissez-faire
It is not that your office is crawling with thieves. But an office environment is subject to human foibles. A fellow employee is let go, or resigns, and her IT equipment (and everything else of value in that office) is cannibalized. Someone takes the printer to their end of the floor, another the flat panel, and that over-caffeinated kid in engineering sees a chance to pick up another PC for his software testing.
All you need to do to prevent this is put an active RFID tag on the items, open up a software package, enter an ID, press a button and you can see on what floor and or what office or area the item resides, real time. If you are looking for a laptop, pull up the last time it walked out the door. Seems pretty simple, right?
Value Proposition
It has become common over the past decade for even the largest companies to lease, not buy, IT equipment. Major PC OEMs have entire divisions that lease PCs and peripherals. A multitude of service providers offer a rash of PC leasing options.
The business model makes sense. Why should a company buy, maintain and depreciate a CapEx when they can write off the lease as an expense? Also, since technology refreshes so fast, why not get a lease deal that has the built in refresh mechanism? However, one unforeseen problem stems from this model: what happens after two or three years of the lease when someone must find the equipment and return it, or face penalties?
Time passes and the office operates these systems and equipment. Who is in charge of tracking all the equipment down? Companies certainly cannot staff a team of bloodhounds when they only need to find the equipment once or twice a year for an audit or to take it back to the leasing company.
Tracking a PC is a definitively great way to utilize RFID, active or passive. Especially since its use for these assets is so easy to implement.
Once you implement such a system, why would you not also tag hard drives or other data-storage subcomponent assets? With an RFID system in place, a year of incremental cost is nothing compared to the wrong disc falling into the wrong hands.
This functionality is on the market with price points that fit any ROI you want to consider, including some turn-key systems, right off the shelf. Look at both passive and active RFID to make the best choice for your office.
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