Category: Getting Started

Why Track Your IT Assets?

When your business has a handful of laptops, remembering who has what is simple. Once you pass 20 or so devices, it becomes hard. Past 50, it becomes guesswork.

A spreadsheet helps for a while, but it only works if someone updates it every time a device changes hands. In most small businesses, that does not happen.

What Goes Wrong Without Tracking

Lost devices stay lost. If you do not know a laptop exists, you will not notice it is missing. Devices get left behind at client sites, taken home and forgotten, or simply shelved in a cupboard. Without a register, there is nothing to check against.

You pay for software you do not use. Software subscriptions are billed per user. If you do not track who has which licence, you keep paying for former employees and for staff who never log in. This is one of the most common ways small businesses waste money on IT.

No one knows who has what. When someone leaves the company, someone has to collect their laptop, phone, and any peripherals. If there is no record of what was issued, items slip through the cracks. A monitor stays at home. A phone gets sold on. The next person to join has to buy new equipment instead of reusing what you already have.

Audits become painful. Software vendors do audit their customers, including small ones. If Microsoft or Adobe asks you to prove how many licences you have and where they are deployed, you need records. Without them, you may end up buying licences you already own or paying penalties for ones you cannot account for.

Security gaps go unnoticed. A laptop that no one is tracking is a laptop no one is securing. It will not get updates. It will not get wiped when it should be. If it had access to company email or files, that access stays open.

What Good Tracking Looks Like

You do not need expensive software to start. A simple register with the following columns is enough for most small businesses:

• Device name or asset tag
• Type (laptop, phone, monitor, switch)
• Make and model
• Serial number
• Assigned to (person or location)
• Date issued
• Status (in use, in storage, disposed)

The point is to have one place where you can answer the question “where is this device, and who is using it?” If you cannot answer that in under a minute, you are already losing track.

Practical Takeaways

• If you have more than 20 devices, move beyond a spreadsheet you update only when you remember.
• Keep a single record of every device, who it is assigned to, and its status.
• Review the register when someone joins or leaves, not once a year.
• Include software subscriptions in your tracking, not just hardware.

Tracking your IT assets is not about having the fanciest tool. It is about being able to answer basic questions about your own equipment. If you cannot, you are already paying for it in one way or another.

What Counts as an IT Asset?

Most people think of IT assets as laptops and desktops. In practice, the list is much longer. If your business pays for it, relies on it, or would have a problem without it, you should be tracking it.

Here is a practical breakdown of what counts.

Hardware

These are the physical devices your business owns or leases.

• Laptops and desktops – the most obvious category. Note the serial number, who it is assigned to, and the purchase date.
• Phones – company mobiles are easy to lose track of, especially when staff leave.
• Tablets – often bought for specific purposes and then forgotten in a drawer.
• Servers – whether on-premises or in a rack somewhere, these need tracking for warranty and maintenance purposes.
• Network equipment – switches, routers, access points. These are easy to overlook because no single person uses them, but they are expensive to replace and disruptive when they fail.

If it has a serial number and a cost, it belongs on your asset register.

Peripherals

These are lower in value individually but add up across a business.

• Monitors – often stay with a desk rather than a person, which means they get missed when someone leaves.
• Docks and adapters – small, easily lost, and frequently reordered because no one knows where the existing ones are.
• Keyboards and mice – low cost, but worth listing if you buy them in bulk.

Peripherals do not need the same level of detail as laptops, but a simple count per location saves reordering things you already own.

Software and Subscriptions

This is where most small businesses lose money through poor tracking.

• Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace – billed per user. If you do not remove licences when people leave, you keep paying.
• Design and creative tools – Adobe Creative Cloud licences are a common source of wasted spend.
• CRM and project management tools – Salesforce, HubSpot, Monday, Asana. Each is billed monthly per user.
• Accounting software – Xero, QuickBooks, and similar.
• Communication tools – Slack, Zoom, Teams add-ons.

Track each subscription, how many seats you have, how many are in use, and the renewal date.

Cloud Accounts

If your business uses cloud infrastructure, these accounts are assets too.

• AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud – track the account, who has admin access, and what it costs per month.
• Domain registrations – easy to forget until a domain expires and your website goes offline.
• SSL certificates – these expire and need renewal.

Why Each Category Matters

Hardware matters because it costs money to replace and is easy to lose. Peripherals matter because the cumulative cost of reordering them adds up. Software matters because you pay for it every month whether you use it or not. Cloud accounts matter because they hold your data and your billing.

Practical Takeaways

• Do not limit your asset register to laptops. Include phones, network equipment, and peripherals.
• Track software subscriptions separately, with seat counts and renewal dates.
• List cloud accounts and domains so nothing expires without warning.
• A complete register means you can answer “what do we own and what do we pay for?” without guessing.

How to Do a Simple IT Audit

An IT audit sounds formal, but at its core it is just finding out what you have. If you have never done one, you can make a solid start in an afternoon. Here is how.

Step 1: List Every Device You Can See

Walk through your office or workspace. Note every device you can physically see: laptops, desktops, monitors, phones, tablets, printers, switches, routers, access points.

For each device, record:

• What it is (laptop, monitor, etc.)
• Make and model
• Serial number (usually on a sticker on the bottom)
• Where it is located

Do not worry about perfection. A partial list is better than no list.

Step 2: Check Your Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace Admin

Log in to your admin console. This tells you what software licences you are paying for and who has them.

In Microsoft 365, go to the admin centre and look at active users and their assigned licences. In Google Workspace, check the user list and the licences assigned to each.

Note down:

• Total number of user accounts
• How many licences of each type you are paying for
• Any accounts for people who have left the company

This step alone often reveals licences you are paying for unnecessarily.

Step 3: Review Your Credit Card Statements

Software subscriptions are usually paid by card. Go through the last three months of statements and list every recurring charge that looks like software.

Common ones to look for:

• Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace
• Adobe Creative Cloud
• Slack
• Zoom
• CRM tools (HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive)
• Accounting software (Xero, QuickBooks)
• Cloud storage (Dropbox, Box)
• Project management tools (Asana, Monday, Trello)

For each, note the monthly cost and who is responsible for the account.

Step 4: Note What Each Device Is Assigned To

Go back to your device list from Step 1. For each device, record who it is assigned to. If it is shared, note that. If it is in storage, mark it as unassigned.

If you do not know who a device belongs to, that is useful information too. It means the device is untracked, which is exactly the problem you are trying to fix.

Step 5: Identify Gaps

Now compare what you found:

• Are there user accounts in Microsoft 365 for people who no longer work at the company? Those are wasted licences.
• Are there software subscriptions on your credit card that no one recognises? Those are candidates for cancellation.
• Are there devices with no assigned owner? Those need to be allocated or stored properly.
• Are there devices on your list that you cannot find? Those may be lost or taken home.

Write down every gap you find. Each one is something to act on.

Practical Takeaways

• You do not need specialist software to do a first audit. A spreadsheet is fine.
• Combine what you can see (devices) with what you can find in admin consoles (licences) and on your card statements (subscriptions).
• Do not try to do it perfectly the first time. An incomplete audit you actually do is worth more than a perfect plan you never start.
• Schedule a follow-up in three months to fill in the gaps and keep the register current.