Blog / Inventory Control and Security
When it comes to inventory control, make sure you know who tracks what.
The importance for strong inventory control processes is the same for businesses regardless of whether they offer goods, services, or both. Sure, plenty of costs and capital are bound in products (which of course is why those who do sell manufactured goods) while services are more intangible, but that doesn’t make keeping track of what your business owns less important. It’s essential for even the smallest, simplest business’s leadership to answer basic questions like “How many computers do we have?” and “Where are they all?”, and we haven’t even begun to wonder who’s responsible for it all yet. Sure, it’s easy to keep track of things like desktops and servers because they don’t move around, but equipment like laptops, smart phones, and other mobile devices move regularly—they are, after all, mobile devices—and can often get misplaced or worse, stolen.
Why is inventory control and knowing who is responsible for what equipment so important?
There are plenty of good reasons, but the first major concern is security of your data if and when those mobile devices do get lost or stolen. Remember, these devices have access to your environment using VPNs, Wi-Fi, or possibly even other methods. Anyone who has access to such a device then has the potential to make use of it to get inside your network and start causing mayhem.
Good inventory control is also essential for offboarding when employees leave, so you can be sure everything has been properly returned before their departure. If an employee leaves but doesn’t return all yoru equipment, they could continue to access company resources (possibly without you knowing). Also, remember you’ll likely have to buy new equipment for the next person, so having wayward devices out there is not only a direct security risk but also an unnecessary expense.
There are three major takeaways from this:
- Have software to manage mobile devices.
- Have a system to track who is responsible for what devices.
- Make sure that returning all devices is part of the standard offboarding process.
It’s entirely possible that a single software solution can handle both items one and two of this list. However, not every business or organization uses a Mobile Device Management (MDM) solution, so simply having a way to ensure employees return work devices prior to exiting a company immensely helpful. Just always remember that without a method of tracking who has what, there’s no way of making sure that everything has been returned.
This week’s quote comes from the Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night; “Love sought is good, but given unsought, is better”.
If you’d like help with your own inventory control and security processes, contact a TRINUS cybersecurity professional at your convenience and we’ll be happy to help out.
Be kind, courtesy your friendly neighbourhood cyber-man.
