The transformative effects of IoT on asset auditing

Organisations use Atlas by IOTTAG to track and audit tens of thousands of assets nationally.

When your organisation has tens of thousands of assets spread across multiple sites, performing asset and personnel  audits comes with certain expectations: locating and identifying everything is going to be time consuming, highly expensive, mostly manual processes, the tolerance levels for device attrition will be extremely high and tracking down lost or stolen items, that might have vanished long ago, can be a forlorn task.

Atlas utilises Bluetooth, RFID and a variety of hardware technologies to physically track and locate devices and bespoke software to collect, process, analyse and dynamically report on meaningful data. It all amounts to a one-stop, seamless, indoor-outdoor tracking solution that can be tailored to any asset auditing need.

As we’ve seen in other industries, like construction, the new data doesn’t just immediately deliver cost savings through eliminating manual tasks with automation, it can be analysed to deliver behavioural insights and subsequent efficiencies that weren’t available before, deducing new operational efficiencies for equipment and staff year on year.

Bluetooth tracking for assets carried by staff

One of our major government clients has tens of thousands of staff carried assets spread around 67 offices within Australia with a typical item being an employee laptop. Each device sports a low cost Bluetooth Tag which communicates with sensors on each departmental floor. Each Bluetooth Tag is similar to a quarter-size credit card and has a battery life of three years which represents the working life of the device.

Each has a scannable QR code which can be used to easily update the asset’s in real-time. If a device is offsite and shouldn’t be, security protocols can be immediately and automatically activated.

GPS tracking for stillages

Another major automotive company with fleets of stillages carrying high value assets has rolled out stillages outfitted with both Bluetooth and GPS tracking. The Bluetooth tracking is particularly useful indoor when an asset is being loaded at the depot as it can be tracked through all stages of servicing and this, in addition to identifying room level location, can be used to identify bottlenecks in workflows and create new efficiencies.

Once offsite the GPS location tracking takes over, automatically provide location alerts to ensure that an asset is either returned within the set time-frame or that it’s where it’s supposed to be on time.

Knock-on benefits

Atlas by IOTTAG has multiple devices for most use cases but the common denominator is that they’re all assets, staff actions or personnel which can be tracked by the Atlas system. At the basic level it tells partners, what’s in the warehouse, what’s outside of the warehouse and where it is now. This top-level oversight can then be used to improve operational efficiency.

Tracking also offers the ability to identify asset utilisation. This reduces hoarding and enables customers to manage their asset groups more efficiently.

Another major cost saving comes from security – it becomes far easier to locate an item that is lost –if it hasn’t checked into the network within the expected time. A team can be alerted and enquiries can be made before it’s too late.

Atlas software automations lead to real world efficiencies, CapEx and OpEx reductions.

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