Even in an era of sophisticated monitoring technology, property or asset theft still shows up in the news, and quite a number of businesses all over the world are affected. In fact, according to a Twitter poll started by M&P Survey Equipment, 88 percent of the responses affirmed that asset theft is still indeed a big concern for the respondents’ respective companies. 

In 2019, burglars stole a backhoe and used it to smash into Landings Restaurant in Portugal Cove–St. Philip's and swipe its ATM. That instance already marked the fifth time in 2019 alone that stolen assets were used for robbery in the area. Another person was arrested for stealing an S160 Bobcat brand skid steer loader in Moniteau County. In July, a Coleman Township man was charged with stealing a skid steer from a Firstbrook Line Road address in Temiskaming Shores. These are only a few among the many cases of asset theft in 2019.

Your company’s assets include your employees, your equipment, and your money, and you have to make sure that all these assets are used in the best way possible. Asset tracking is the manner of using the latest technology to monitor physical assets, know where they are in real time, their current condition, and what they are used for. An effective asset tracking system not only helps the company protect its assets, it also reduces administration costs. Because assets comprise such a large percentage of a company’s holdings, asset tracking is essential for meeting compliance and industry standards. Thus, setting a system for asset tracking contributes to a healthy bottom line. 

With tracking devices, asset management is made more accurate and reliable than ever before.

Features of GPS Tracking That Are Useful for Asset Monitoring

For business owners around the world, asset theft continues to be a major issue. Because sites are usually left unattended and anyone can get in and out while pretending to be one of the foremen, thieves find stealing assets a low-risk yet high-value job. It is even easier to sell stolen equipment to unsuspecting buyers due to unavailability of titles and registrations consolidated in one database.

To keep up with the growing demands of asset protection, many companies like Tracki have developed GPS tracking devices. Aside from reducing human effort and error, one of the most promising abilities of the global positioning system is asset tracking. Asset tracking not only prevents theft, loss, and damage; because assets comprise such a large percentage of a company’s holdings, asset management is essential for meeting compliance and industry standards. Thus, setting an asset tracking system that delivers real-time data contributes to a healthy bottom line. 

With GPS tracking devices like Tracki, asset tracking is made more accurate and reliable than ever before.

Real-time worldwide monitoring

Location-based remote monitoring systems help businesses optimize asset movement, reduce transportation costs, and increase the efficiency of assets. With GPS tracking devices like Trackimo, location tracking remains convenient and accessible anytime, anywhere, as long as GSM cellular reception exists, ensuring that the equipment or vehicles never go off the radar. Trackimo packs a powerful hybrid of GPS, GSM, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth tracking technology to accurately locate your assets worldwide in real time, whether they are indoors or outdoors.

Multiple-device tracking

Since you’re tracking multiple vehicles and equipment at the same time, you can add and manage several all the tracking devices you’re using on a single view on your desktop, tab, or phone. This makes it perfect for any rental company manager to monitor all the assets being rented at the same time.

Geofences

Whether you’re monitoring industrial assets, pumps, tanks, chemicals, vehicles, sensors, or anything else, your geofences alert you when anything is inside or outside of your custom geofence zones. Geofences create an automatic bridge to recovery by integrating law enforcement services to retrieve stolen property or when equipment is accidentally sent to incorrect locations. Geofencing can alert a dispatcher when a cargo van breaks from his route.

Safety

Your company’s assets include your employees. The SOS button in a GPS tracking device is a highly important feature to watch out for in choosing GPS trackers as it could save your drivers’ and other employees’ lives. If you’re using Tracki’s devices, tell them to simply press and hold the button for five seconds when in an emergency to alert the authorities or selected staff members of their current location, including directions.

Employee monitoring

A GPS tracking system can record the number and duration of downtimes, as well as unauthorized usage of company assets as proofs. All you have to do is either have a GPS tracking app installed on your employee’s mobile device or have your employees carry stand-alone GPS devices. Just geofence the building where your business is, and once an employee arrives at the building, the app or the GPS tracker will activate and start tracking their work time.

Advantages of Using GPS Technology for Asset Monitoring

Integrating GPS technology to ensure asset safety has significantly become a trend over the years as it economizes operations. As a matter of fact, the 2018 Club Cargo Theft Report done by the BSI and TT Club concludes that the use of GPS tracking devices in company vehicles, as well as the use of covert GPS tracking devices within the cargo, are important protocols that should be followed to help prevent theft. 

Keep track of all of your assets to minimize the impact of an item being stolen or lost. If you have a full overview of all of your assets, you can quickly find a spare or know if you need to order a replacement.

Here are the benefits of incorporating a GPS tracking system as a solution to asset theft.

Economized operations

Employing more security personnel to guard job sites can be very costly, which is why most small to medium enterprises avoid hiring a lot, but they also often end up not hiring enough to keep the place safe. Surveillance cameras, besides being expensive, are not enough to eradicate the possibility of equipment getting stolen. So to solve the problem, businesses turn to GPS trackers. Each tracker has an estimated value of $140. Say, a job site has 100 heavy equipment to monitor. The average annual cost is expected to be around $14,000 only. This is way lower than having to spend $26,400 annually on each guard, making GPS tracking devices a more efficient solution to equipment theft.

Whole-day monitoring

More than anything, GPS tracking devices can work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can have a GPS tracker installed into vehicles so the device gets power from the vehicle’s own electrical system. This means there is no need to recharge it when batteries run low. This only requires a quick, simple installation. If you are one of those people who are not comfortable with basic automotive work, you could have the GPS tracker installed and hardwired by professionals, but you can do it yourself if you have the skills.

Before GPS trackers, monitoring equipment has never been as easy as a simple press of a button. By attaching one tracker to each instrument or tool, business owners are made aware of the equipment's real-time location and condition. Anyone who has access to the tracker and the data it gathers will know the subject's whereabouts even when they're far from the workplace. Bosses will know if the equipment aren't where they should be and can call asset managers to inquire about it.

Worldwide coverage

When an equipment is in transit, there's a possibility that the transporting vehicle will enter a gray area where there is very limited cellular service. In this case, it will be very difficult to communicate with the drivers and foremen. Situations like this are the perfect opportunity for thieves to attack and steal whatever they can get. But with GPS tracking devices like Trackimo, location tracking remains convenient and accessible anytime, anywhere, as long as GSM cellular reception exists, ensuring that the equipment never go off the radar. 

Inventory tracking

Usually, businesses fail to report missing equipment because most of the time, they don't even know it was missing in the first place. This is a fact laid out on the NER's report. It's only when they actually need the equipment that they notice it has been gone for quite a while. Because of this lack of record keeping, equipment theft is one of the most common problems at job sites that do not perform daily inventory.

With GPS tracking, inventory management becomes ten times easier. By incorporating the tracking system into your day-to-day operations, locating your assets, especially the tangible ones, will not be as time-consuming and physically exhausting as it once was.

Alert system

The purposes GPS tracking systems serve are not limited to tracking and monitoring. Most devices also come with an alert system. On a programmed software or mobile application, business owners can set no-go areas (geofences), so when a bulldozer, loader, or any equipment approaches or exits the area, it will trigger an alert. This is a preventive measure for equipment theft. To ensure you are getting the most out of tracking, get yourself a device that will issue instant alerts if the device exits a safe zone, moves beyond schedule, changes location, or breaches speed limits.

Conclusion

Smart asset management is a new generation concept that proves to be successful in enabling asset owners to manage their facilities, equipment, and employees more efficiently. From fleets of vehicles to troublesome drivers, asset tracking solutions let managers relax in the office while increasing profit and productivity.