Physical assets are the tangible items that your business holds. They can be anything from your company’s production equipment, product stock, property, IT equipment, and even office furniture. If it is a physical item that can be used in the business, sold by the business, or bartered for other assets, then it can be considered a physical asset.
While many businesses focus on their digital security to ensure that their sensitive data does not get into the wrong hands, it is important to note that the security and functionality of your company’s physical assets is often even more important – as it has the higher capability to disrupt your normal business activities.
With this in mind, here is everything you need to know about keeping your company’s physical property safe and functional.
Importance of Proactively Maintaining Your Physical Assets
Assets are items of value within your company. They help you generate revenue and facilitate the running of your business. If they are not in good condition or are not working properly then you often can’t deliver the service or product you’re supposed to.
In other words, protecting your assets means protecting your business. Here is why you should proactively maintain your physical assets:
Analyze Evolving Risks and Vulnerabilities so that You Can Minimize Them
Risk analysis is an important part of the physical asset protection process. With a proper understanding of impending threats, you will understand how to manage them before they negatively impact your business. This is especially relevant for businesses that hold very expensive assets.
Providing Information on an Asset’s Life Cycle
An asset lifecycle is the series of stages that are involved in managing an asset. As assets can last beyond a human lifetime, it can be difficult to consider disposing of an asset when it is far into the future. By gaining information about an asset’s lifecycle, then you can plan key activities such as the removal of the asset from operation or the recycling of its components. This will allow the asset to be used for as long as possible.
Planning Maintenance Schedules for Each Asset so that there Are no Disruptions of Service
Assets that are not regularly maintained break down and cannot be used, which will disrupt business operations. The purpose of planning a maintenance schedule is to minimize the loss of productivity by minimizing such disruptions. Ideally, maintenance should be scheduled outside the course of business hours or at least when an asset is not supposed to be in use. However, we do not live in an ideal world so workers will sometimes have to sit tight while the maintenance team performs scheduled work.
Track and Reduce Overall Maintenance Costs
Managing maintenance operations and staying on top of the costs that come with it requires the use of digital maintenance software. This software makes it possible to collect and analyze data on your assets so that you can make more informed decisions. This includes tracking every detail of your assets; from procurement to disposal so that you can analyze key performance indicators and contrast that with the maintenance cost. As an added bonus, deep insight into maintenance data will help in cutting down on unnecessary expenses and reduce overall maintenance costs.
How to Protect Your Company’s Physical Assets
Hire Someone to Do It
Losing a key business asset can cripple any business. The good news is that you can actually hire a professional to protect your critical assets and ensure that they are safe. Asset protection specialists work to deter losses in the workplace and devise security improvement plans that should be implemented.
Use CMMS to Keep Assets in Good Operating Condition
If you have several important assets to maintain (or more), that simply can’t be done efficiently without the support offered by a modern Computerized Maintenence Management System. After all, the main purpose of any CMMS is to help you organize, automate, and streamline your maintenance operations. It helps you schedule preventive work, stay on top of your spare parts inventory, track maintenance costs, and ensure the maintenance requests are addressed quickly and effectively.
Upgrade Your Security
It is never a bad idea to upgrade your business security. For example, you can choose to have parameter security that will be a means of controlling access to your business facility. This will harden your physical parameters and track people who come in and out.
You can also use video surveillance to ensure that all your assets are not stolen or damaged without repercussions. A secure server room should enable you to have an unlimited view of your entire business facility.
Summary
Simply put, a robust and well-organized security plan is vital for your business. A study plan for the protection of your company’s physical assets will help you stay ahead of the competition.
Smart business owners should understand what it takes to protect their physical assets. Benjamin Franklin once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. He was talking about health care at the time, but his statement is also very true when it comes to your company’s physical assets. After all, investing money in proactive maintenance and security systems pay off in the long run – you save money on asset replacements and generate more income through improved productivity.
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