It’s no surprise that technology has a profound effect on a company’s ability to operate. The latest advancements are often integrated into day-to-day operations – including innovative asset management tools and strategies. Asset and inventory management are essential to success, allowing a business to track current resources and future asset allocation. And as technology continues to evolve, you’ll want to keep an eye on these management trends throughout 2018:
Bring Your Own Device
In the era of sleek tablets and cutting-edge smartphones, there is a mounting demand to access diverse types of information on mobile devices, especially business data. Asset and inventory management software previously catered to just desktops and equipment specifically designed for business operations, but now it’s available for use as apps on consumer-grade mobile devices. Employees are able to access management data on their own personal devices.
The Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) trend has raised the standards of enterprise mobility and is starting to gain a foothold in logistics. With cross-organizational access to asset and inventory data independent of location, multi-channel operations have become seamless.
Big Data & Analytics
Looking to optimize supply chain efficiency or reduce operating costs? Then turn to Big Data and analytics, a management trend quickly gaining popularity. Big Data is structured and unstructured data that when deciphered, holds valuable insight into operations. However, the sheer volume of Big Data is far too large to be processed by traditional management methods – this is where analytics shines. Modern analytical technology is designed to quickly and accurately process substantial amounts of data that can be used to influence management practices moving forward.
With Big Data at your fingertips, you will be able to track your inventory and assets in real-time, monitor daily operations, improve efficiency and even save money. Most of Big Data services are cloud-based software where the information is stored over the Internet instead of on a hard drive. This negates the need for expensive hardware, as well as installation and maintenance services.
Artificial Intelligence
AI is an asset management trend straight out of science fiction. When used in conjunction with Big Data and analytics, artificial intelligence can help you further optimize business processes. AI technology combs through Big Data to make connections and identify trends in asset and inventory management, so you will be able to easily isolate issues and work towards the highest possible efficiency. Adjust supply, pricing and transportation with solid data analysis backing your decisions.
AI can also tell you where your inventory or assets are located in the building or on the road during transportation. It can even let you know the condition of assets, alerting you when it’s time to replace a part or charge a battery, ultimately saving you time and money lost when dealing with unexpected repairs or maintenance.
