Ghost assets are procured physical and digital items logged in a company’s asset registry but are not physically available in the office. They are possibly lost, stolen, or deemed unusable due to being broken or having a missing part. Other reasons for the existence of ghost assets include unrecorded trade-ins, improper disposal of outdated devices, and accidental scrapping of unattended items. Even upgrading or donating of assets can become a culprit if not tracked properly.
Deploying IT management software open source can help track your assets easier and avoid accumulating ghost assets.
How Ghost Assets Affect a Business?
Organizations that are not aware of their ghost assets may experience the following impact:
1. Additional tax liability
Your assets are taxable. That said, if you have a lot of ghost assets in your inventory, you may have to pay more than what you actually need to. By eliminating your ghost assets, you can reduce a substantial amount off your company’s total tax bill.
2. Increased insurance premium
Ghost assets could be a part of your working assets, which is included in your company’s insurance coverage. Because of this, your organization has to pay inflated premiums for assets that do not actually exist.
3. Maintenance fees
If you have purchased an item, which eventually turned into a ghost asset, service providers may continue to charge you for this even if you no longer own it. The maintenance fees of ghost assets can eat up your budget, which otherwise could have been allocated to more important projects.
4. Employee theft
Your inability to keep an accurate record of your assets may be taken advantage by employees with bad intentions. They might try to steal your equipment because they know for a fact that they won’t be discovered until you fix your inventory.
5. Decreased productivity
Ghost assets can also affect the productivity and efficiency of the organization. For instance, an employee needs a tool for a certain task. However, it turns out that the asset marked as available is actually non-existent. When this happens, the employee won’t be able to do their job until they find another solution. This translates to wasted time and opportunities.
6. Compliance concern
If you aren’t keeping track of your assets, you might be fined for non-compliance. Take note of all the regulations going in and around your industry.
7. Misleading financial statements
A missing asset in your organization’s balance sheet can affect your financial statements. This inaccuracy will create a problem in your capital expenditure analysis for the years to come.
How IT Management Software Open Source Can Help
The disconnect between the various areas of a business is one of the reasons why assets aren’t tracked efficiently. Sometimes, changes made in one department do not reflect in the other departments. It’s also possible that changes do not appear in real-time. To avoid having these issues, you need to get the right IT management software open source.
The right IT management software open source can improve the connection and communication of internal departments. It establishes a streamlined asset registry that can be accessed by the different departments of the organization. Most IT asset vendors include functionalities that can eliminate ghost assets. This includes the following:
Asset life cycle monitoring
Provides a clear visibility of all your equipment and helps determine what their lifecycle status is. This covers the planning, procurement, maintenance, and disposal or retirement of the item.
Inventory management
Consistently monitors assets using innovative tools like barcode, GPS, or RFID. This enables businesses to figure out the real-time location of each item and provide a detailed overview of stock level metrics .
Maintenance scheduling
It schedules preventive maintenance across all assets to help avoid early deterioration and depreciation. Generally, preventive maintenance can bring you more cost-savings as compared to reactive maintenance.
Reports
It creates detailed reports to help businesses perform effective auditing. This feature is vital in the process of identifying assets that are negatively affecting your finances.
Cloud capabilities
It provides real-time data on all assets and allows access to a range of devices.
Final Thoughts
A great IT management software open source can help you identify and eliminate ghost assets. With an asset tracking and management solution to assist you, keeping records of your equipment will be a breeze. Contact ITarian to simplify your IT management.
