Despite the emergence of "The Cloud", local hardware will always be required. Even the most basic small business client has a router, a network switch, a PC and one or more printers. Other clients may have Firewalls, Servers, Plotters, Multi-Function Units and any array of other hardware - most of it IP-enabled.
Multiply that by multiple clients, and you've got an awful lot of hardware that becomes really easy to waste a lot of time and effort trying to manage - if you're not organized.
From Chaos to Order
The first step in bringing order to the chaos is to buy a Label Printer. My personal favorite is the P-Touch Handheld range from Brother. Anything that you can easily carry with you, plug into the mains (battery operated is fine - but batteries run out, and you then start to forget to label things) and print labels will do the job. If you have more than one engineer, buy them all label printers and get them to label them with their own names - they'll be more inclined to look after them.
Next, organize a time for an engineer to visit client sites with his labeler at the ready - grabbing and labeling anything and everything with a power plug on the end and making a written note of each to take back to the office.
(Talking of power plugs, get your engineers into the habit of labeling these too, especially servers. Clearly knowing which plug belongs to a PC and which to a monitor is a real benefit when you're crawling under a dark desk on a dirty floor trying to work out what to unplug and what not to.)
Why Labels?
But why bother labeling things?
Firstly, you're acknowledging the existence of a device. If it's labeled, you know about it and can document it for future reference.
Secondly, when new zinc lever door handle"mysteriously" appears at a client site and a client calls you for support on it (probably outside your support contract) you can save yourself a heap of time trying to work out why Windows 7 Home Edition is installed on it rather than a Business O/S.
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