Hitachi Capital Commences Total Asset Management Service

Hitachi Capital Corporation has developed a system that can be used by businesses to manage and take inventory of all assets and equipment such as data processing equipment and office equipment, and has launched a total asset management service (“Asset Navi Service”E to make the system available to the businesses in ASP (Application Service Provider) format.

1. Purpose of the Service

While businesses face an increasingly greater need to control their assets in the interest of internal control and personal information protection, in practice, many businesses struggle to accurately locate and control their assets. To help customers solve such problems, Hitachi Capital has developed an asset management system.

The focus of the system is to manage the locations of assets. The customer places on each asset a label printed with a two-dimensional barcode (QR code) after taking physical inventory of assets, and then uses a handy terminal or cell phone to read the QR code.

(Service outline)

2. Features of the Service

(1) Physical inventory using two-dimensional barcodes
Two-dimensional barcodes are read with a handy terminal to improve the accuracy and speed of inventory, and prevent errors from visual counting and fraud.

Two-dimensional barcodes resist staining and damage, withstand long-term usage, and can be read with cell phones. As the system also can incorporate photographs, the customer can easily verify the assets.

(2) Accommodates various types of assets
The system allows the customer to freely add specific control information for each asset category so it can be used for various types of assets, including office equipment, supplies, medical devices, and calibration apparatus, in addition to IT equipment.

(3) Can be used to control past ledgers and inventory records
Asset ledger is updated to include the latest records in each state of product life cycle, such as asset implementation, relocation, modification, failure, or disposal. In addition, the results and past records of physical inventory are retained in the system to facilitate asset traceability.

(4) Large number of customer-designated information items
The service allows the customer to set up to 44 information items for each asset, including date item, code item, and text item, in addition to the preset general items, so it can be used effectively as an asset ledger. The service also allows the customer to change the title of any information item.

(5) Inexpensive service via ASP
As the system is provided as an ASP service, it can be implemented quickly and inexpensively (monthly service fee is proportional to the number of assets).

In addition, the system's servers are installed at Hitachi Group's data center that boasts high levels of safety and security by detecting and notifying illegal accesses and backing up data.

As Hitachi Capital will update software and service hardware, the customer pays much less management cost than it would pay if it were to purchase the system.