As a technology manager you have been visited by educational reps from manufacturers that claim to have the latest and greatest advances in asset management. This one schedules, that one integrates with Blackboard, and this one does everything for you with the press of a button. Let’s take a moment and talk about what you need to consider when considering asset management software (AMS).
The first step is to figure out if your campus even needs AMS. Let’s consider the main selling points. An AMS system will allow you vision of the components in your classrooms. With it you can see the health of your equipment, make sure it is still connected to the system, power on and off, and schedule emails to be sent if anything goes wrong. The question is, do you need those features? If your campus doesn’t need an AMS then don’t even read the rest of this article or bother with any of these features.
Next is what is your current control system ecosystem? The big three are Crestron, Extron, and AMX; all of which have their own flavor of AMS. In talking with various reps from each of these companies in the past, they will all tell you their AMS will allow other certain features of other control processors on their system with little to no problems. Here’s the caveat. The features are not as pronounced when you are trying to control other manufacturers. Yes, you can add a Crestron to an Extron AMS but it takes some work to do so and not all the functions and features are available. This means that you can either commit to one control company from here on out or research a number of the overarching networked based agnostic AMS platforms.
Finally who is in charge? Who is responsible for the roll out of the AMS, and the upkeep? There are permissions to setup, email warnings and notifications to create, and the code to be placed in the various control processors. Figuring out who is going to spearhead the project as well as own it in the end is crucial from the start.
Asset management software is a great innovation in the AV industry. It was one of the first “cloud” based software that put AV into IT’s space. It gives you great flexibility and power to maintain your systems across campuses and networks. Do it right from the start and you will reap the rewards for many years to come.
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