When looking into software for any reason, one system is rarely ever able to fill the exact needs of every person. This is true in the world of asset management. We here at AdminRemix have learned this firsthand in designing and upgrading our asset management and help desk solution. This got us thinking, about what can improve our ability and enable the people we work with to accomplish more tasks and perform functions quicker.
Here are some ways that using integrations inside of your asset management system can improve your workflow and reduce the amount of time needed to manage your fleet.
Link to systems to import your devices.
Anytime you are managing assets, the ability to get your information into a system is key. The easier it is, can just make it better. Having the ability to use integrations with other systems such as the Admin Console, JAMF and others will help this process. To use Chromebooks as an example, the data that is put into your entity's Admin Console when you purchase new ChromeOS devices is most of the information that people track(outside of specific information decided by the entity). Being able to import this information straight into your asset management system versus having to use a CSV or type in the information manually, not only saves time but also reduces the risk of errors occurring.
Pull in your users from your active directory.
Similar to importing your assets, having a way to put the users in your domain into your asset management system will help with a lot of data tracking(such as who has what, and what location they are at). Being able to link to your Active Directory provider will once again ease the importation process. As with importing your assets, you will save time and prevent errors by doing so. With this, you should also be able to set up sync time so that when new users are added to your AD providers, they can be updated into your asset management system at the date and time that you set.
Improve the security of your asset management system.
Security is always important when dealing with any kind of information. When looking into an asset management system, see if the system has the ability to use Single Sign-on(SSO), Multi-factor Authentication(MFA), or both. If you can set up integrations within your system with either or both of these, you will help protect the data that you are managing, and prevent people who do not need access to your system from getting it. Having SSO allows for the ability to quickly log in to your asset management system by using the credentials for the people inside of your domain. This helps, as your users no longer have to create new passwords for every single software that they log in to. When you combine with MFA, you now create an even tighter layer of security for your information. With this added on, you will need to have an app linked to your MFA or have a custom system set up to email out a code. The easiest way to is by using an app, and if your asset management system has the ability, then this process will already be set on how to do this.
Use integrations like Zapier to use automated workflows from other systems.
There are many services that you can use to start to automate processes that your organization wants to have in place. Sometimes this can be in a calendar app, spreadsheets, or others. If these are things that you would like to be able to tie into your asset management system, then see if it has the capabilities to integrate with providers like Zapier. Service providers like these allow you to link many of the automated processes together and help them to work in unison to help make your job easier. Using the same type of integrations to help link with asset management will further simplify the jobs of the management staff, and allow them to be able to spend more time on the more important tasks associated with asset management rather than spend most of their time on mundane tasks. In addition, this will continue to improve your ability to collect information to help present to higher-up decision-makers what is needed to effectively manage your organization’s IT assets.
For more information to help you manage your IT asset inventory, check out more from our blog.