A living nightmare: The consequences of not securing keys and assets

When the department’s senior leaders were reviewing their vehicle inventory, they realized one of their trucks was missing. Because they didn’t have any tracking or accountability system in place for their fleet vehicle keys, they had no way of seeing who checked out that vehicle and when. Despite an exhaustive search, they never found the vehicle. It was gone. Not only was it a financial loss the department had to account for, but it was a humiliating gut check, as they realized something had to be done to prevent it from happening again.

Unfortunately, too many organizations are operating like that fire department. Many don’t have any systems in place to safeguard their keys and assets and if they do, they’re outdated processes like pegboards and notebooks. There are modern solutions available, like Traka’s key cabinets and asset management lockers, that provide advanced storage, monitoring, and auditing solutions for the most critical assets of nearly every company.

Features like curfew notifications alert managers when a key or asset hasn’t been returned on time, which can reduce downtime spent searching for a potentially misplaced item. If there’s something wrong with a shared device or fleet vehicle, an employee can note that in the system when they return the item or key, which will remove that item or vehicle from circulation. This helps extends the life of the asset and reduces the likelihood of another employee unknowingly checking out a faulty asset.

Despite the clear and positive impact key cabinets and asset management lockers can have on security, safety, operations, and a company’s bottom line, there may still be some who have questions about these solutions. Many of those can be answered easily and simply.

There is one question, however, that companies should be asking themselves, which is perhaps the scariest one of all:

“What would have to happen to our organization for us to consider key and asset management solutions?”

It’s a worst-case scenario to ponder, one that was a reality for the fire department in Texas. Don’t face a similar fate and overlook the importance of key and asset management - the consequences could be terrifying! 

#TrakaSecurityScares