IT asset tagging in 2026 has consolidated around three best practices: Stronger-tier construction as the default, tamper-evident on every chassis seal, and QR codes on every tag for smartphone-based audits.
Laptops
Place a 1"x0.5" Stronger-tier vinyl tag on the lid corner with sequential serial in human-readable form plus a Code 128 or QR code. Pair with a tamper-evident chassis seal on the bottom-case screw line for theft and unauthorized-teardown detection.
Servers + rack equipment
1"x2" Stronger-tier on the front bezel of every chassis. Place the tag on the cold-aisle side so audits don't require opening the cabinet. For 1U appliances, drop to 0.75"x1.5".
Monitors + peripherals
1"x0.5" Stronger-tier on the back of the bezel, top center. For docking stations and KVMs, on the top surface where the cable bundle doesn't hide the tag.
Numbering scheme
Use a three-segment serial: site-code (3 char) + asset-class (2 char) + sequential (5 digits). This survives migrations between asset-management platforms because the format is independent of the platform's internal IDs.