IT Asset Management: What Is It & Why Is It Crucial For Your Business Bottom Line?

From hardware assets like desktop computers and servers to software assets such as licenses or new technologies such as IoT, businesses rely heavily on technology. As the business grows, so does the requirement for these assets, and thus in this phase of growth, it becomes difficult to keep up with which IT assets are used by which departments. With no proper or absence of an effective ITAM or IT asset management, companies miss out on the chance to utilize asset data to improve productivity and streamline operational processes. It also leads to wasted resources, compliance violations, downtimes, and even data loss or security breaches.

Having proper ITAM implementation services can be a savior for businesses as it proactively helps organizations manage their full inventory of technology. It ensures that every asset is properly used, maintained, upgraded, and disposed of at the end of its lifecycle. So how does it ensure that every IT resource is used efficiently and effectively? In addition to this, we will also give a small introduction to what is IT asset management, and its benefits and highlight an IT asset cycle.

What is IT Asset Management: An Overview

According to IBM, “IT asset management is the end-to-end tracking and management of IT assets. ITAM involves using financial, contractual, and inventory data to track and make strategic decisions about IT assets. An important part of ITAM is understanding the total cost of ownership and finding ways to optimize asset use.”

To gain full visibility into IT assets and to cost-effectively utilize them, it’s important to understand an IT asset lifecycle. As ITAM has two aspects. One is Hardware asset management includes the physical assets of an organization- the servers, laptops or computers, storage volumes, and more. Software asset management focuses on managing software licenses, contractual obligations to the commercial vendors of the software, and even security compliances.

Managing IT Asset Lifecycle

• Planning: You need a strategy or plan that lays out what assets are needed, and how they will be obtained, used, and funded.
• Acquisition: It involves acquiring the asset which can include building, buying, leasing, or licensing that particular asset.
• Integration: An asset must be part of the system or an existing IT infrastructure so it can interact with other assets for maximum value generation.
• Maintenance: Ongoing and continuous management, care, and upkeep throughout an asset’s life cycle ensures that it gives optimal value.
• Retirement: An asset that stops delivering value and the cost of repairing it is greater than its replacement, it's time to dispose of it and get a new replacement.

5 Reasons Why IT Asset Management is Important

ITAM implementation strategy, if done correctly, offers many benefits for businesses. Some reasons why ITAM is important include:

• Offers a Single Point of Inventory

Redundancy is key to developing a secure, stable, and reliable network where your employees and customers both can get the resources they need from your IT assets when they demand them. The main issue with IT assets is that it’s owned by a lot of people with no single person having complete visibility into all the systems. But with proper ITAM implementation services, you get a single platform that collects and centralizes asset data across your organization. This allows you to focus on your core activities, while through a single source of visibility, you can bring in changes when required without disrupting business continuity.

• Keeps Accurate Records of IT Assets

When a business doesn’t have full visibility of hardware or software assets, it cannot cost-efficiently utilize them or their usability. This hinders their tracking and thus businesses fail to assess the end-of-services/support and end-of-life of these assets. As a result,? an organization cannot identify potential issues of performance or contractual-wise before they arise. Not just that, to avoid unnecessary IT purchases and reduce costs, it’s essential that an organization has a clear picture of what assets need redeployment, upgrade, retirement, or replacement.

• Improves Employee Productivity

If you don’t know what IT assets are being used by your employees, and stay unaware of the asset's life cycle, it leads to the assets being obsolete and can harm their work. Obsolete equipment on the network hinders your workforce’s ability to leverage new assets and tools to effectively deliver new functionality and services. So, when you can track an asset’s life cycle and have the information on when it needs to be upgraded or replaced, you boost the overall productivity of the team.

• Crucial for Regulatory Compliance

There are so many industry regulations that are nearly impossible to follow without a proper IT asset management process. ITAM software monitors all software installed on all networks or systems to ensure they comply with the relevant license agreements. When you don’t have full visibility into all the assets on your network, you can’t be sure which particular asset isn’t following the mandated license terms and conditions, which requires safety measures or even proper disposal. Thus, you can be penalized or worse create a weak point in your network for malicious attackers or theft and get critical data or systems compromised.

• Smart Decisions-Making Across Organizations

IT asset management not only ensures that IT assets remain updated, upgraded, and following regulatory compliances but they do more. Effective ITAM implementation services enable the entire organization to be more innovative and deliver value more quickly. When the IT assets respond on time and provide access to valuable insights, the organization gains a competitive edge, delivering value more quickly. The organization has the right IT data and tools to move with speed and predict the impact of changes before they happen.

From Chaos to Control: How To Get Started With IT Asset Management

For an IT asset management strategy to be successful, there are certain requirements and best practices that should be observed. Here are 5 ways to manage IT assets:

• Define Critical Assets: Decide and highlight critical assets that could have a significant impact on your business operations and keep them updated in your inventory.
• Identify Cloud Resources: To ensure your cloud resources are being appropriately managed, monitored, and are in sync with cloud licensing, keep track of them as well.
• Develop an Inventory Management System: Doing so will give you a singular view of your IT asset inventory. This makes it much easier to implement asset tracking and get insight into their health, location, and usage and ensure they are appropriately managed.
• Proactive Maintenance: Keep a plan and budget for predictive maintenance and replacement to keep your IT assets running smoothly and securely.
• Performance Monitoring: Your IT assets are as good as the data you put into the system. So ensure that you have full visibility of the performance of your IT assets to address specific risks or compliance issues.

?How to choose IT Asset Management Software

IT asset management software is a tool that helps organizations track, manage, and optimize their IT assets, such as hardware, software, licenses, contracts, and warranties. IT asset management software to improve ROI by reducing costs, enhancing performance, and security, and ensuring compliance with regulations and standards. But how do you choose the right IT asset management software for your needs? Here are some factors to consider:

• Features and functionality: The software should offer features and functionality that match your IT asset management goals and processes. For example, if you need to monitor the lifecycle of your assets, the software should provide asset discovery, inventory, depreciation, maintenance, and disposal capabilities. If you need to manage software licenses, the software should support license compliance, optimization, and auditing. If you need to manage contracts and vendors, the software should enable contract management, vendor evaluation, and performance monitoring.
• Scalability and flexibility: The software should be able to scale up or down as your IT asset portfolio grows or changes. It should also be flexible enough to adapt to your changing business needs and requirements. For example, if you need to integrate the software with other systems or tools, the software should offer open APIs or connectors. If you need to customize the software to fit your specific workflows or preferences, the software should allow configuration or customization options.
• Usability and support: The software should be easy to use and learn for your IT staff and other stakeholders. It should have a user-friendly interface, intuitive navigation, and clear documentation. It should also provide reliable and responsive support from the vendor or provider. For example, if you encounter any issues or problems with the software, the vendor or provider should offer technical support, troubleshooting, and bug fixes. If you need any guidance or assistance with the software, the vendor or provider should offer training, consulting, and best practices.

IT Asset Management: Blueprint for Efficient IT Operations

IT asset management isn’t a new technology fad but has been in the business for decades. The reason it has gained so much momentum recently is due to the evolving IT landscape. Therefore, the only way to gain control and get the most value out of your technology is to go for ITAM implement services. It enables you to set up a dynamic enterprise technology blueprint for your environment that is not only accurate but also empowers your technology spending with great urgency. Remember, whether you choose a simple tracker or an enterprise-level system, what matters is that you select the option that will work best for your business requirements.

Having said that, it’s understood that? IT asset management is not a simple undertaking. Not every business has the technical capacity in their in-house IT team or resources to develop ITAM software to effectively carry out IT asset management. As a business, you could seek professional custom software solutions to give you an accurate view of IT assets inventory and keep your system up and running.