One of the trickiest parts of administration to master for any IT
department is asset management. With so many hardware, software, and
contract components to juggle, the task can sometimes seem overwhelming.
But Edina-based Matters of Time >www.mattersoftime.com< has found a
better way. Operations manager Jay Hill chats about applications,
ownership, and keeping afloat in a tough economy.
How did Matters of Time get started?
The founders of Matters of Time, with support from family and friends,
rallied their minimal resources in support of ServTrax, an asset
management application with a primary goal of making maintenance
information available anytime, anywhere, and associating it with its
physical asset. We saw that companies are purchasing and maintaining
large volumes of expensive IT equipment and associated maintenance
contracts. It was clear that even the most sophisticated asset
management applications were unable to properly account for maintenance
contracts.
Why do you feel there's a need for what you provide?
Service Asset Management (SAM) is not an isolated problem but rather one
that most companies struggle with on an ongoing basis. Ours is a
comprehensive strategy that allow customers to capture all of the asset
information when it is introduced into their environment, manage asset
information and service levels throughout its lifecycle and, in the end,
assist in the disposal of assets by maximizing the residual value and
minimizing the total cost of ownership.
What does ServTrax provide that other management solutions might not?
We tightly associate physical assets to the intangible maintenance
contracts that companies invest in, to insure their systems are
operational. When a system fails, and we all know they fail, our
application can be accessed by administrators to gather service contract
details and initiate a service call within 10 minutes anytime, anywhere,
via Web browser. The ability for IT departments to respond to system
failures by engaging their service provider in a timely manner minimizes
costly downtime due to hardware failure. Operations departments are able
to gather comprehensive reports that detail their environment from a
hardware and services perspective, allowing them to more effectively
devise and implement a services strategy, while financial departments
are able to monitor and manage the services cost associated with their
environments.
What kinds of challenges do you find in developing and providing your
products and services?
We run into the same problems as most startups--there is only so much
time in a day, and only so much money in our checking account. For
example, budget limitations currently require us to develop our own
marketing material. The problem is that my 10 year old son can write
better copy and has more artistic ability than all of us
combined--unfortunately, we can't afford him. Our website is currently
on its third revision and finally people are not laughing as much.
IT budgets are growing, but it seems that IT management is still
strappedfor resources. How might your products fit into an IT strategy?
If the internally managed application is not properly deployed to
account for tangible and intangible assets, it can often be the root to
ongoing problems at substantial associated cost. Our model allows
customers to offset much of the asset entry information to their
business partners to acquire assets, therefore reducing the cost
associated with application administration. Better management of
organizational assets will quickly identify poorly managed or stranded
tangible and intangible assets, correcting these discrepancies generates
immediate return on investment, and often frees capital resources that
had previously been earmarked to support existing infrastructure. By
better aligning services through SAM, we feel customers will regain a
significant portion of their capital budget to support new initiatives.
do you know a local company we should cover? Let us know about it.
Send your local profile candidates to emillard@computeruser.com.
