The work of almost any business is based on tracking goods, quality of services, logistics, and other important components. Control has a beneficial effect on the quality of the service or performance, which increases the efficiency and profitability of the business. To understand how does asset tracking work, it is necessary first to define the preferences of the business environment.
How does asset tracking help to improve the business?
Tracking assets in business regardless of the scope of the company is required to achieve the following goals:
- A quick search for goods in the warehouse or the hall.
- Reducing the risk of loss or delays in logistics.
- Drawing up a detailed report for each designated period.
- The ability to fully plan each step.
- Multi-stage quality control of customer service.
Improving the efficiency of staff.
IoT-based asset tracking automation will reduce headcount while reducing costs and eliminating human error. Progressive Internet technologies provide an M2M management system, that is, machines send signals to executable devices and are controlled by the same machines, but with a different algorithm.
Asset tracking algorithm
Asset tracking in any business environment works on a simple basis, which includes four general steps:
- The product or type of good is provided with a passive tag with a unique coded identifier.
- The reader disposes of a product or other asset.
- The data transmission channel provides signal transfer.
- The executor device receives a signal, converts it into a system for alerting a person, or into a set of commands for acting.
This algorithm may slightly transform, depending on the type of reader, as well as on the scope of the company, the number of goods, the type of service provided.
What are the asset tracking technologies?
The tracking of assets in business has been known for several decades, with the advent of the first automated inventory control databases. Below is a description of the most common types of business management based on IoT.
Barcodes
The label is a set of stripes (classic barcode) or cells (QR code). When scanning with a special device, a request is sent to the database, and if a match is found, the signal is returned to the executive device in the form of available product information.
RFID
Passive electromagnetic tags are widely used in logistics, as well as in the sales areas of large self-service stores. The tag is activated when passing through remote reading devices, for example, when trying to take things out of the store, or when a truck with goods from the warehouse passes through a checkpoint.
GPS
One of the world’s most famous tracking technologies. It differs according to the need for the object to have an active label. When a response signal from the satellite is detected, the coordinates of the monitored asset are identified on the display of the receiving device.
Bluetooth
One of the most efficient types of wireless communication. The two devices must be paired over a secure channel and be within the signal range. Reading and transmitting data requires a minimum amount of energy and does not require the involvement of a communications provider.
NFC
It is considered like advanced RFID technology. The tag must be strictly within the range of the reader. The system is distinguished by obtaining more complex information, as based on reading a barcode, but, at the same time, it does not require the concentration of the scanning device on the tag.
Benefits of Using an Asset Tracking System
The asset tracking system improves the efficiency of doing business and provides comfort for the responsible employees, because of several advantages:
- The software of executive devices is equipped with cloud storage or databases to store a huge amount of information
- A simple IoT interface will allow even a no-qualified consumer to use the system.
- The decentralized system gives you the power to track assets from anywhere in the world if you have an Internet connection and an installed application.
- Monitoring can be performed in real-time with automatic updating of the database
- Depending on the settings, the software will automatically generate reports for a specified period.
- Taking into account the constant renewal of the system, the risk of asset loss is eliminated, since they are under constant control.
- Possibility of conducting third-party parallel tracking from a remote device.
- Possibility of switching to M2M technology, which helps to optimize the number of staff and managers.
Thus, tracking assets using the IoT reduces the risk of error and allows you to increase the efficiency and profitability of your business.
In what areas of business is the asset tracking system used?
The asset tracking and monitoring system are indispensable in the following business areas:
- Logistics, transportation of goods, delivery service, online shopping.
- Warehouse accounting, storage of goods, organization of a central warehouse for a large retailer, arrangement of intermediate points for distribution of products before sending them to points of sale.
- Retailing, retail outlets – supermarkets, clothing stores, home furnishings stores. This also includes modern markets, malls, shopping malls, warehouse stores with a self-service room for customers.
- All enterprises related to television or radio broadcasting, duplication of analog or digital programs in various Internet systems in real-time.
- Office space management, planning the working day of employees, monitoring attendance, reading data from fingerprints, booking meeting rooms and conference rooms, analyzing the efficiency of using office space.
- Medicine and Pharmaceuticals – tracking patient history, disposing of drugs on time at expiration dates, checking inventory balances, and urgently replenishing vital drugs.
- Industrial production – control of raw materials, the number of goods produced, organization of warehouse accounting, checking shipments, drawing up a shift assignment, generating reports, increasing the efficiency of using the equipment.
- Analytics and business planning, consulting services, compiling statistics, processing incoming data.
Thus, asset monitoring and accounting system are used in almost all areas of business. The latest developments provide full control over every stage of the enterprise. One of the main advantages of the IoT is the scalability of the business. The same algorithm provides storage for any amount of data, using cloud virtual warehouses. The asset accounting market using the Internet of Things is estimated at billions of dollars and is growing exponentially every year. Every newly created company in a developed country is certainly equipped with a system of effective accounting of business assets.