Having recently completed the gruelling Ironman 70.3 Durban, David Buck, Chief Information Officer at InnoVent, has some thoughts on how training for and participating in the three-leg triathlon means that any participant should look at the races holistically and not by their individual elements.
This year's Ironman, which required Buck to fit in training around work, being a dad, a husband, as well as his role as a CIO, was 70.3 miles, which is not the full marathon. It comprised three elements: a 1.9km swim, a 90km bike ride and a 21.1km run held in Durban.
During the race, he had time to ponder and concluded that, like the triathlon, there are three equally important pillars to asset management. The three pillars include software, the right team and a consistent process.
“What often happens is that companies only work on one aspect without the other, which leads them to fail in the process,” he says. For most companies with a staff complement of more than 150, it can be a struggle to implement a system to track, monitor and secure devices that are across the country, especially in an age of hybrid working.
At the same time, says Buck, one needs to consider the different departments dealing with assets, such as HR, which assigns them, finance that pays for them, and procurement, which needs to supply the units. All this needs to be communicated to IT, which will manage and support these units.
“As a result, you have several departments trying to manage your onboarding process, for instance, which can be complicated when people move within the company or leave. These departments don’t always talk to one another. Sometimes, a new laptop is authorised, but IT doesn’t know about it, which means they cannot monitor and secure the device.”
This, he says, makes asset management complex because there are several moving parts. However, there is a process that companies can implement to ensure they comply with this business requirement, and this occurred to Buck as he lived out his dream of completing the Ironman.
When it came to Ironman, he concentrated on the cycle and run at the expense of the swim because, until a few days before the event, the swim portion of the race had been cancelled by the organisers, citing that the water had high E. coli counts. The water cleared up and the swim was back on.
The whole life cycle
Just like needing to take all aspects into account when doing a triathlon, when it comes to asset management, the entire life cycle needs to be managed, from procurement to asset tracking, maintenance as well as disposal, although many companies ignore one or two key elements, such as tracking.
“I trained well for Ironman. I had the right shoes. I had the right bike and my ticket. But there were some things I completely ignored, such as the correct nutrition for the cycle, which led to cramps.”
To avoid the same problem in asset management, questions companies need to ask themselves include where the devices are, the cost, whether someone else has logged in other than the authorised user, as well as the financial obligations tied to that device, such as whether it needs to be paid off.
However, what ends up happening is that most companies are disillusioned with their asset management because they think they are following the right processes, but they aren’t ticking all the boxes.
“This requires focusing on each aspect of the process, which I also needed to do in the sport event but didn’t.”
As a result of leaving out vital aspects, companies incur more costs and end up with a frustrating, manual process, he says. If done correctly, all the aspects work in harmony and it becomes a seamless process that helps a company meet its business objectives.
Here are Buck’s Ironman learnings in relation to asset management:
1. Consistency – doing the right things every day, on time
“One of the things that I took out of Ironman was the importance of consistency, showing up every day and putting the right disciplines in place. Companies also need to adapt to changing circumstances, such as, for me, really hot weather, which required more water and energy drinks than I had considered. Getting to the point where systems are running easily to ensure minimal daily monitoring needs planning. This requires preparing ahead and not just throwing darts and hoping one hits a bullseye.” Leaving nothing to chance means the results are almost guaranteed.
2. Encourage one another and look to build a culture of celebrating the wins
“Asset management is a step-by-step process and cannot be implemented in a week. Your team needs to be motivated to climb the ladder. I was encouraged along by random spectators shouting for me along the way.
“Companies also need to celebrate the small wins and encourage each other along the way as they implement asset management, much as I celebrated having my number with my name on it. This will spur companies on, helping them gain momentum in the process.”
3. Surround yourself with the team that gets you to your goal
At the same time, one needs the right team, who buy into your culture to adopt proper asset management processes so that, a year down the line, it can be reviewed to see if the implementation is on the right path.
4. Choose the right tech!
The final element is ensuring that companies have the right technology and the correct partners, which Buck equates to making certain he has the right shoes and bicycle. “Do I have that to give me the best possible shot at finishing Ironman? That's all important.”
He is aiming to go on to complete the full Ironman in Port Elizabeth, but this time he will change how he trains and pay proper attention to nutrition, as he has learnt to take all aspects of the life cycle into account, just as one needs to do with asset management.
“Ironman was an extremely difficult race, but rewarding. It’s something I can look back on with pride each day. In just the same way, having the right asset management system in place will be beneficial to the company in the long run.”
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